Translators

I love translators. One of the reasons I love them is they can be messengers of my bad news, and I don't have to face the reaction. I'd been dealing with a kid with a hole in his tooth for some time, most recently requesting from his Mom that she bring me a note from his supposed dentist for his supposed treatment. To no surprise, I never received a note, so I decided to go one step further with an ultimatum: produce a note from a dentist or I will have to notify CPS. I'm not sure I'd have been able to say this to a parent so calmly if I had to say it to her face. Luckily for me, Hole in Tooth's mom doesn't speak English. I found a translator and told her the message I wanted her to relay to this parent. She raised her eyebrows at me but said she knew the kid I was talking about and hoped something would be done. As expected, the parent was quite unhappy, but not at the translator per se, as the translator was simply relaying a message. Angry parent or not, the plan worked: there was a note on my desk by the end of the next day: Hole in Tooth was finally taken to the community dentist.