work issues
life was going so well... the weekend in Denmark couldn't have been more perfect and was followed by 36 hrs of not working, and Cakes coming over. i was looking forward to a 2-day week, where i'd be giving my students a test anyway, so everything was supposed to be nice and smooth. can you guess?
about half an hour before my lesson yesterday morning, my boss calls the school and tells me another teacher is sick so could i please combine the two classes. uh.... she knows i'll do great. yes... and i understand. really i do. it was too late to cancel the class, half the students were already on their way. so fine. but that only left me 25 mns to find something else to teach as, although the levels of the two groups are quite close, it's still not the same and i couldn't possibly just give them the same test.
when my boss got to the school a little before the start of the lesson, she assured me she would cancel the lessons for the next 2 days, so it was just today. i put in that, if i was going to teach 2 groups, i also wanted to be paid for them both, and she said she'd talk to the big boss about it. then, at the break, she came back and told me i'd be teaching the other group on Friday. now, i don't work on Fridays. i've taken them all off, it being summer and everything. i reminded her i didn't work Fridays, and she said there was nothing on my schedule for then. and she'd asked my friend and colleague Tinkie, who'd apparently told her i was available. i reminded her that the lack of lesson on that day was due to the fact that i simply didn't work then. after the lesson, she said she'd just cancel both lessons, if i couldn't teach. i looked at her blankly. both lessons? why? apparently she'd already put me down to teach my own group on Friday. she said she'd told me. uh, no, i retorted. oh, but it'd been on my schedule since Friday, she'd hoped i would have seen if before going away (i wasn't at school after Thursday lunchtime!). she really didn't get it, did she? when a teacher is not avaiblabe on the schedule, it's because they can't work then!! too stunned to say much, and in a hurry to meet Cakes, i said i'd think about it. this also gave me time to think more rationally about the situation.
as i walked in this morning, imagine my surprise when i found out that a) i'd only been paid for one class, and b) i was apparently teaching Fridays. so i went in to talk to her and mentioned the pay thing first. she looked at me, apparently surprised, and said, of course. there were less than 10 people in the class, so it wasn't as if i needed extra pay. i argued that, if the sick teacher had been there, she'd have been paid for the lesson, so 2 teachers would have been paid, so it was only fair i should have her share, if i took care of it. she said she saw no reason for that and was sure the owner would agree (note to self, take this up with him tomorrow, when i can catch him). she also told me this had happened lots of times before, often for more than a week, and it had always worked that way. i reminded her i was teaching an exam class and couldn't just incorporate random people in my class, and if i wasn't going to get paid for the extra work/help, she could happily cancel the other group. then i moved on to the teaching Fridays topic. i explained that, as it was summer and i couldn't afford to go anywhere, i'd decided to take all the Fridays off. she said she understood, she did the same. but then, she'd talked to the owner and they'd 'realised' not everyone worked everyday and so people who didn't wouldn't be offered contracts. i just looked at her. sounded like another of her threats (it's not the first time she threatens not to give us more work if we don't do as she says), seen as i have a contract already. unless they're looking at changing them, making our working conditions more permanent, etc... and hopefully getting more pay! i repeated the summer thing. oh, ok, she said. then she asked if id' be working Fridays in September. i said yes to drown the issue, but looks like that's another topic i'll be discussing with said owner tomorrow...
most of the time, i love my job. about 3 times a year, when she pulls these crazy stunts, i really, really hate it.
about half an hour before my lesson yesterday morning, my boss calls the school and tells me another teacher is sick so could i please combine the two classes. uh.... she knows i'll do great. yes... and i understand. really i do. it was too late to cancel the class, half the students were already on their way. so fine. but that only left me 25 mns to find something else to teach as, although the levels of the two groups are quite close, it's still not the same and i couldn't possibly just give them the same test.
when my boss got to the school a little before the start of the lesson, she assured me she would cancel the lessons for the next 2 days, so it was just today. i put in that, if i was going to teach 2 groups, i also wanted to be paid for them both, and she said she'd talk to the big boss about it. then, at the break, she came back and told me i'd be teaching the other group on Friday. now, i don't work on Fridays. i've taken them all off, it being summer and everything. i reminded her i didn't work Fridays, and she said there was nothing on my schedule for then. and she'd asked my friend and colleague Tinkie, who'd apparently told her i was available. i reminded her that the lack of lesson on that day was due to the fact that i simply didn't work then. after the lesson, she said she'd just cancel both lessons, if i couldn't teach. i looked at her blankly. both lessons? why? apparently she'd already put me down to teach my own group on Friday. she said she'd told me. uh, no, i retorted. oh, but it'd been on my schedule since Friday, she'd hoped i would have seen if before going away (i wasn't at school after Thursday lunchtime!). she really didn't get it, did she? when a teacher is not avaiblabe on the schedule, it's because they can't work then!! too stunned to say much, and in a hurry to meet Cakes, i said i'd think about it. this also gave me time to think more rationally about the situation.
as i walked in this morning, imagine my surprise when i found out that a) i'd only been paid for one class, and b) i was apparently teaching Fridays. so i went in to talk to her and mentioned the pay thing first. she looked at me, apparently surprised, and said, of course. there were less than 10 people in the class, so it wasn't as if i needed extra pay. i argued that, if the sick teacher had been there, she'd have been paid for the lesson, so 2 teachers would have been paid, so it was only fair i should have her share, if i took care of it. she said she saw no reason for that and was sure the owner would agree (note to self, take this up with him tomorrow, when i can catch him). she also told me this had happened lots of times before, often for more than a week, and it had always worked that way. i reminded her i was teaching an exam class and couldn't just incorporate random people in my class, and if i wasn't going to get paid for the extra work/help, she could happily cancel the other group. then i moved on to the teaching Fridays topic. i explained that, as it was summer and i couldn't afford to go anywhere, i'd decided to take all the Fridays off. she said she understood, she did the same. but then, she'd talked to the owner and they'd 'realised' not everyone worked everyday and so people who didn't wouldn't be offered contracts. i just looked at her. sounded like another of her threats (it's not the first time she threatens not to give us more work if we don't do as she says), seen as i have a contract already. unless they're looking at changing them, making our working conditions more permanent, etc... and hopefully getting more pay! i repeated the summer thing. oh, ok, she said. then she asked if id' be working Fridays in September. i said yes to drown the issue, but looks like that's another topic i'll be discussing with said owner tomorrow...
most of the time, i love my job. about 3 times a year, when she pulls these crazy stunts, i really, really hate it.
posted by The Archaeologist @ 1:53 PM
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