Wally, the Art teacher, rushed into my classroom while
I was discussing with my students a very serious situation arising from a story
that had just been read to the class.
The topic was on alcoholism.
Wally apologised for the interruption and requested
that I follow him out of the classroom in order to discuss a very serious
matter. I just could not believe that
Wally was capable of discussing anything serious, because he had the reputation
for making fun of the most serious events that touched on our lives as
teachers. However, I was not about to
make light of his request. He broke the
silence as soon as we got out of the class and had secured the door shut.
“I just received
an invitation to visit the Bacardi Rum facilities, and I would like you to go
with us.” declared Wally.
“Bacardi factory, what’s this all about Wally? I thought that this was going to be something
serious.”
“Yes, it is,” said Wally. “You see, after we go on the conducted tour
around the factory, we will be taken to the reception room where you could
drink as much rum as you want, and it is all on the house.”
“When were you thinking of going?” I asked.
“Immediately after School is out. There are six of us,” he said as a form of
encouragement.
“Alright,” I said, “will meet you after school is out.”
“Now, I hope you can see the seriousness of the matter,”
said Wally with his usual contagious laugh.
By this time, the students were already discussing the
various issues about alcoholism and I must admit, I felt a little guilty that I
was about to set a very bad example to these growing high school students who
were espousing the many dangers of demon rum.
After school was out, Wally and five of us (all
teachers) settled down in his car, and off we drove to Brampton
When we got there, we were met by a gentleman dressed
in a suit and complete with a smile from ear to ear. We followed him in and were ushered into a
room with a large desk in the center of the room. A white screen hung on the wall at one
end. On the opposite side, a projector
was set up and ready to go. The film was
all about the history of the Company which had started off in one of the Caribbean islands and it traced its development and
expansion around the world. There was silence
during this showing. We were then taken
on a tour of the factory which obviously conformed to all the health standards
since it was spotlessly clean. At one
end we could see bottles neatly in line and filled automatically with rum,
corked and sealed. The bottles then made
their way to boxes and were neatly placed into them by machines.
We then proceeded to the hospitality lounge which was
the main purpose of our visit there. As
Wally had promised us, we could drink anything that Bacardi produced and at the
rate that we were drinking it seemed very obvious to us that before long all of
us would be inebriated. Fortunately for all of us, one of the teachers in the
group was able to exercise much greater restraint than the rest of us and so he
became the designated driver to get us all home. After an hour, we were very sauced and loud,
but no one seemed to mind us.
The next day, Wally informed me that we would be going
back to Bacardi soon. He explained that
as long as we called ourselves a group from an association or institution, we
would be let in to once again make a round of the plant and then to the
hospitality lounge. Our group went to
Bacardi at least four times under different names. After our second trip, our host became so
used to us that he allowed Wally to run the projector while most of us
snoozed. Wally soon ran out of
acceptable names for further entry into this water hole, and so our trips to
Bacardi became a memory.
And you thought that teachers were a paragon of virtue
huh?!!!
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