BY ROSS FARLEY, BAYSIDE RESIDENT
When I was in high school, smoking was socially acceptable, and many teachers smoked, but they were not permitted to smoke in the classroom.
One of my teachers regularly smoked in class and the principal would try to catch him in the act by walking along the hallway and looking into the classroom. However, the principal used to make a distinctive sound shuffling his feet on the concrete floor, so we always knew when he was coming. When the teacher heard shuffling shoes, he would stub out his cigarette in his fingers and drop it in his trouser pocket. No one said anything but he would smile at us, and we would all smile back. The principal would look in the room and perhaps say “hello”, but we all knew what was really going on.
On one occasion the teacher failed to extinguish his cigarette before dropping it in his pocket. Soon smoke started rising and the teacher started slapping his leg to put the cigarette out. By then the principal was gone, the teacher had an embarrassing hole in his pants and everyone, including the teacher, had a good laugh.
