What I’m Reading
Apr
9
Game-Time Decision
Filed Under Uncategorized
I made the mistake recently of counting up how many weeks I have left in the school year. While there were far more weeks left than seems possible, I still feel like I must be nearing the end of the line. We’re already well into April! That means only May and part of June! Plus I have next week off for April break! Oh who am I kidding? Summer break is forever away and I am NEVER GOING TO MAKE IT.
Sorry. Had to take a minute there and get hold of myself. The thing is, I gave myself a deadline of April to decide what I wanted to do about this job. Since we still do not have a contract here (going on two years now!), the likelihood of my middle school position coming back still does not seem great (going on four years now!). Should I stick it out and hope that next year will be the year I get to return to what I actually want to do, or cut my losses and start applying to other schools? If I’m being honest here, both options sound pretty terrible to me, but salary-wise I’d be dumb to leave this district. Ugh. It sucks that everything comes down to money, doesn’t it?
Lately everything about school has been pushing my irritation levels to maximum capacity. There are days when the kids are so far up in my grill that I actually feel a physical response to flee. Have you ever had thirty 8-year olds shouting your name while you try to do something? It’s alarming, to say the least. The other day I had a line of twenty kids waiting to check out books and one lone kid at the front of the line who had this conversation, mostly with himself: “Hmmm. I have a question… what was it again? Hmm. Oh yeah, I remember! Wait. What was it… oh yeah! So, do you have any books in this library?”
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THE END.
And it’s not just the kids. A couple weeks ago I came back from the bathroom to find two teachers huddled over the printer. One of them nudged the other and hissed, “YOU ask her!” Come to find out, they were arguing about how to open the printer tray to add more paper. This is not a joke, people. Two grown-ass, Masters’-degreed women could not figure out how to open the paper tray of a printer. Commence self-destruct sequence.
On the bright side, poor Jay will listen to me complain until I run out of ranty things to say. That’s not to say I enjoy bitching about it, but I have some willing listeners and that’s pretty great. And my weekends have been so jam-packed with the awesome that it makes the work weeks bearable; beaming a shiny beacon of light at the end of the ugly work tunnel. I guess I couldn’t really ask for more than those weekends with my awesome friends and amazing boyfriend.
(But seriously. Should I stay or should I go?)
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8 Responses to “Game-Time Decision”
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I say this with the authority given me as a person who constantly urges people to get dramatic haircuts:
GO!
The school district clearly does not value you, your skills, or your contributions to the kids. They have not made any progress in creating a secure contract for you. Leave them in the dust! You are way too good for them and their dimwitted, non-printer-loading cohorts.
I think it would be worth looking into other opportunities, even if the money isn’t as good. A job that doesn’t make you want to tear your hair out (does that exist?) might be worth a smaller paycheck.
Maybe I should take my own advice…but they keep giving me raises so I stay.
I just closed my law practice to do a total 180 and be a chef and a personal trainer and devote time to my writing. It wasn’t until I got out that I saw how much it was wearing me down. Give things a look around. You might find the money can be worked out another way.
There is no harm in looking or even actively pursuing another position in another district. You’ll never know what you could get (salary-wise or “this is what I want to do in the first place”-wise unless you go for it.)
Do it! We’ll all be cheering for you!
xox
There’s no obligation to leave even if you start looking elsewhere, right? So it can’t hurt to see what your other options are – you can always look around and then decide that staying put is the best thing for you. But don’t close yourself off to any opportunities! May as well scope out the scene. Good luck!!
Can’t hurt to look, right? I say apply to other districts and see what happens. If your job is making you this miserable, you’d be crazy not to at least explore your options. I’m sorry it’s come to this — I completely understand how hating your job can ruin your life.
As someone who has left jobs that made me crazy, my advice is to start looking elsewhere. Or else somehow focus on learning to re-love where you’re at. Good luck to you!
Oh, this is just too awful. Good luck, whatever you decide.