WEYMOUTH, Mass. — Last week, local mother of two Stephanie Mendoza proudly informed her kids that she’s a gamer now that she regularly plays the New York Times Spelling Bee, according to local reports.
“I want to tell you boys something super exciting: I game now, just like you!” said Mendoza over dinner to her teenage sons. “It’s not Call of Battlefield or whatever you call that shooty game you two play with your friend Kayden, but it’s definitely a game! And guess what? Your mama is pretty darn good at it!”
Laynie Vaughn, a colleague of Mendoza’s, confirmed her claims of gaming prowess.
“Steph is hands down the best Spelling Bee player in our office. Every day our team does the puzzle during lunch and she always guesses the pangram way before anyone else,” said Vaughn. “She has been getting a bit carried away recently, though. Yesterday when our manager couldn’t make it past the ‘Solid’ rank, she laughed and said ‘Get good, noob’ in front of everyone. Then when she reached ‘Genius’ she stood up and shouted ‘G-G-E-Z’, whatever that means. It was kind of startling.”
Mendoza’s older son Edward, 16, says his mom’s new behavior has indeed become worrisome.
“I’ll admit, at first I thought it was pretty cool to have a gamer mom. She let us stay up and play COD until like 3 a.m., even on school nights.” he said, rubbing the bags under his eyes. “But she hasn’t done laundry or made dinner all week and I’m not sure she’s taken a shower either. And when my 11-year-old brother asked her for help with his English homework, she said no because it was a ‘skill issue.’ She told him to ‘grind harder’ and just went back to clicking letters. I wish my mom wasn’t sweaty at Spelling Bee.”
At press time, Mendoza was seen throwing her phone across the room after failing to figure out the New York Times Connections puzzle.
