Like Rodney Dangerfield - I Get No Respect
Okay, yes, that's an exaggeration. I waited a few days to post this to see if I'd still be upset about the issue, and I am. At the end of the school year, each person is asked to clean out their room of any personal belongings, make sure things are locked up, that computers are turned off, etc, so that the custodial staff can clean over the break. On the sign-out sheet, I checked off the appropriate things, and then added a specific request that my room not be used as storage this year. This is because, when I first started this job, I came into my office to find a bunch of miscellaneous junk that people didn't know what to do with. So, in addition to doing the normal beginning-of-year preparation to begin speech therapy, like reading and reviewing files, doing observations, contacting parents, making my own lists and getting organized, I had to clean out my office of this extraneous crap. I thought I would side-step this whole scenario for next school year by making my request early.
The other day, I went to my office to check a few things and to get some materials, and what do I find in my office? A pile of shit. Well, not really shit, but someone else's belongings that they have stored in my office. There are two parts to this that piss me off - that this is after my specific request for my office not to be used as storage, and the fact that all of the items are piled in such a way that make it almost impossible for me to get to my materials and my files. This is just adding insult to injury, since this is at the school where I get told by a fellow educator that "I don't count as a staff member since I don't do recess duty" (which is the feeling of at least 25% of the staff towards all itinerants, even though we are there as a resource to them and to help our shared students). This only aids in increasing my doubt as to whether it was the right decision for me to commit to one more year here. This may seem like small beans to other people, but for me, it's one more thing on a growing pile of negative things that tell me that I'm not respected at my worksite.
The other day, I went to my office to check a few things and to get some materials, and what do I find in my office? A pile of shit. Well, not really shit, but someone else's belongings that they have stored in my office. There are two parts to this that piss me off - that this is after my specific request for my office not to be used as storage, and the fact that all of the items are piled in such a way that make it almost impossible for me to get to my materials and my files. This is just adding insult to injury, since this is at the school where I get told by a fellow educator that "I don't count as a staff member since I don't do recess duty" (which is the feeling of at least 25% of the staff towards all itinerants, even though we are there as a resource to them and to help our shared students). This only aids in increasing my doubt as to whether it was the right decision for me to commit to one more year here. This may seem like small beans to other people, but for me, it's one more thing on a growing pile of negative things that tell me that I'm not respected at my worksite.
posted by Notta Wallflower at 8:27 AM
3 Comments:
Notta, I feel for you. I believe anyone who works with kids has a tough enough job with the children, their parents and the unsupportive administrative staff. It sucks that they couldn't tell you out right that they were going to put crap in your room instead of fooling you into believing that your decision was important to them. Just take a deep breath and realize that there are some of your coworkers who have lost their souls at that job and are just bidding their time till retirement. They made a decision to be miserable, don't be one of those people.
Angelique - Even though I sometimes complain about my job, I could never be miserable because I still love working with the kids. If it was just them, without all the other BS, I wouldn't be contemplating a change. I just looked around and saw all the other spaces that were empty (like the library, tutoring room, psych office, etc), and wondered why they had to pick my room. My summer off is my deep breath before one more year. :-P Thanks for your words of support - they help. :-)
Julia - I don't do recess duty because I was at 3 different schools last year. You only get signed up for duties when you're at one place all week, which I never am. :-/
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