sometimes I wonder what people really expect out of their job choices. I don't mean to 'diss' any of the people I know, friends, family, etc who I will speak about - but I read comments about their jobs/careers on FB and in emails sometimes and it makes me shake my head. For example, I have a ton of teacher friends. I did a year of the program myself before I realized that was not the line of work I wanted to get into. Anyway, I see a lot of them commenting about not wanting to spend Friday nights or weekends doing school work. Or that they were up late marking papers, etc. Well - what did they think was going to happen? Especially the ones who have been in the job for a DECADE or more - they knew what they were signing up for didnt they? Teachers make far more today that they did years ago, and there are extra concessions made for staff meeting days, professional development days, and in my local schools even recesses and lunch are covered more by Teaching Assistants than they are by teachers themselves. But I still see the comments on a regular basis and it baffles me.
I knew what I was getting into with my job. I know that I cannot possibly make a large amount of money per hour without charging parents an arm and a leg every month (daycare/preschool). I know that, so I don't whine about it. In fact, I complain that the govt is changing so many rules, we end up having to charge the parents more afterall. I am concerned with them and their children, and know that because of that I have to take a lower wage than I could even make working at Dairy Queen. I make about $2/hour LESS than teenagers who start at A&W for heaven's sake.... but I realize that, I accept that, and I continue in my job for now because it works around my kids in school, and my youngest who attends the center with me. I accept that once he is in school, I will probably move on so that I can earn more money. But for now, I fully accept my job for what it is, and know that sometimes I am working outside of daycare hours to prep for the coming months plans and I only get paid hourly.
However, in Salary jobs such as teaching, you have to just go with the flow and suck it up, or do something else. My dad's job in Parks was salary paid and that meant sometimes he was working 7 days a week (especially during high season like summer for the campers/visitors). He would leave around 5am and be back around 6pm if things went well. But it evened out in off-season times like him having the entire month of April off every year, or shorter days and very few weekends in the winter. Sometimes he was working on courses for his job late at night and on weekends. Sometimes he had to go away for training. That was his job and he accepted it. End of story.
But yet again I see people commenting that boo-hoo they have to work on their job stuff on the weekend. It's a SALARY paid job. You cannot take in assignments from a class at the end of the day and mark them during school hours to get them back the next day because school time is over.... so you have to do it at home. It's been like that since forever. Teachers worked like that long before special concessions were added through unions and such over the years. They lived and breathed being a teacher 24 hours a day and were paid less than half of what they are now.
I love my children's teachers, they have been great. I'm not dissing each individual person - there are people in all sorts of jobs where they regularly complain about issues centered around the job itself - things that are no different than anyone else in the career, things that have been the same for decades if not longer, and were in fact in place long before that person chose to take that job in the first place. As in - they knew things were like that beforehand, and then spend the next 10 years complaining about it. That makes very little sense to me.
Teachers are required to work approximately 200 days per year. Most people work 250 or more (including holidays and vacations). In order to make up those extra days, they have to work a little extra during the school year. Here's the thing though - Teachers don't necessarily put in that extra time every night, every weekend. It's only during especially busy times that teachers have to put extra time in, and because of that, they need to start looking at the forest for the trees. I don't get paid weeks or months off without serious maneuvering.
ReplyDeleteYes. And it's not just teachers, that was my main example because of seeing someone post about having to do school work on a Sunday on FB... after being a teacher for more than a decade, you'd think they would just be accepting of that issue by now.
ReplyDeleteI also remember working with a woman many years ago that complained how her hair smelled all the time because of work - we were working at KFC! She complained that she had to shower when she got home or her husband couldnt stand it at bedtime. Oh boooooooo. At that time, jobs were available like CRAZY around here, she could have quit and got another job if she hated it that much. She could have had a job the next day if she tried - but no, she complained about it for over 2 years before I quit. If she is still there, she is probably still complaining lol.
I got tendonitis in my wrists while working for many years in grocery stores, but it was just an accepted part of the job back then. Just like those who work anywhere that repetitive hand motions are used. I went to physio, learned different ways to stretch and move my hands during idle times, and it was much better after that. Some people choose to wear a wrist brace to help them out, etc. There are ways around it, but if you really dont like it - MOVE ON. Find something else as soon as you can.
With the teaching profession though, I see it a lot. I wonder what they want done in order to 'fix it'? Only work half a day so they can spend the other half marking tests, forcing the school districts to hire double the teachers? (as in, the one working in the afternoon would be spending the next morning marking and prepping, and vice versa?). Like seriously - what can be done? I knew as a CHILD that teachers had to mark tests and read essays at home. I knew it as a teenager, I knew it when I entered the program myself - so why after all these many many many years are so many still talking about how much time they spend 'off school hours' doing their JOB? If you dont want to do that, or if you want to start a family and dont want to be marking tests while dealing with a toddler, then it's just simply time to change careers. If you like your job and dont want to leave - then deal with everything that the job entails - which means a lot of time working OFF hours because there just simply isnt a way around it that doesnt cost bazillions of dollars for the masses of people who rely on their education.
So my bias is right up front: I have to say right off teachers are the most UNGRATEFUL self important pieces of work I have ever come across. I pretty much DESPISE them and feel no shame for that. Once upon a time in a land far faaaar away teachers were a group of dedicated professionals who had pride in their work, an interest in their students, their students goals and future prospects. Since they have become part of the PUBLIC servant class more and more are just in it for the outrageous pay and benefit packages on our dime.
ReplyDeleteIf I was to become a plumber I would be hard pressed to complain, lament about the smell of feces, seeing as that feces is the reason I get paid what I get paid. No body but another Teacher could possible feel sorry them and their work conditions. Reality check is in order.
Well, my partner said that next time we have a teacher's strike around here, or more things are cut in order to deliver a raise (like full day kindergarten getting the axe in town last year, when the cost of it matched almost exactly to the amount the board had to pay teachers for a raise that was long in dispute) - he is going to go out to the school parking lot and take photos of their cars because almost every one is a new car withing 203 years old tops. Post on his facebook, email them around, etc... because he is so fed up.
ReplyDeleteI love my daughter's teacher and havent had a problem, but the whole system is just broken. And now the rules and such are filtering down into my job at a preschool - making our boss provide time for us to 'program plan' within daycare hours, which forces her to hire yet another staff member one day a month to cover those hours, which in turn increases the cost for parents. We are almost always full, we run largely by word of mouth because people like the way we run the center... but we are creeping up over $600/month which is about half of what I make there and is even causing ME difficulty because I take my son to work with me.... I can almost not afford to put my own child in my own workplace because of demands like this. The govt didnt just think it up on it's own - other daycare staff across the province have complained that they dont want to do all this program planning on their own time so eventually the rules were changed to allow for it to be done on paid time.
Most professional development courses run M-F during the day, so my fellow staff members and I cannot attend them unless our boss finds a replacement. We choose NOT to be paid our hourly wage on those days, but what happens if the govt goes along the school track and starts requiring our boss to pay us on days we attend courses, along with our replacements? Yup, the fees will go up for parents AGAIN. Or the center itself will take a loss, when it's already not a profit-making machine as it is. In that case, the whole place will be shut down and all those families will have to find new care (when most centers are full to the brim already), and the staff will be out of work.
Is that really what my provincial 'coworkers' want? They are biting off their hand to spite their face and they don't even see it. It also might become required that my boss enters a benefit program. We cannot afford that so we would have to up parent fees again - but guess what? Three of the four main staff do NOT want a benefit program because we already have good programs through our spouse's work (mine is up to 100% coverage on almost everything, so a secondary benefit program is useless to me)... but I would have to pay for it regardless, because others in the province are demanding the govt step in and require it.
The way I see it, if you want a job with benefits that pays a certain amount per hour and has all the bells and whistles - you go find a job that does that, you dont take a different job and then try to force it to change.
oops of course I meant 2-3 year old cars, not 203. Mebee I shood hav lernt to type right in scool
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