Came clean to boss

[boboff]

Sorry, have changed it!

Any other words I should avoid, apart from the obvious ones!
I'll try a few


Capitalism
G W Bush
Hippy
Lesbian
T***o
4x4
Incinerator
national service
Spam
Chav


Ha, it's only T E & S COwens emporium that is censored, funny!

[Annpan]

We keep as few as possible words on the spam list - T***o is their to stop there adverts getting onto the site (some ads work by linking onto topics that contain certain words) Others are there to try to stop spammers.


Helsbells - Are you still making your cards? are you selling them somewhere? links please

[wolfsong]

well it is one of the most offensive words known to man

waitrose B&Q lidl aldi T***o coop sainsbury's asda woolworths (archaic term)

Thats wierd

[Thomzo]

I know exactly how you feel. Us accountants are expected to work stupid hours. If you don't then you aren't "committed". It's useless taking a lower paid job, you just do something even more boring for the same length of time.

I have revolted (I am generally quite revolting) by deciding to contract. It's like supply teaching but you tend to get work at the same place for several months. Often it is to cover maternity leave or to do a specific project. Fortunately, it's quite accepted in finance.

The downsides are no job security or sick pay (theoretically the higher hourly rate makes up for this). The biggest benefit is that contractors aren't expected to be "committed" so bosses don't particularly care if you go home at 5. Plus you get paid by the hour so you get paid for working overtime. At the moment I am intentionally "between contracts" and doing nothing about changing that situation. I "work" far longer hours doing DIY and gardening and, like you, I am looking for another way of earning a living without having to go back to work.

Good luck getting the job sorted out. I hope you manage to find a compromise that suits you.

Cheers
Zoe

[Helsbells]

But you get 12 weeks paid Holiday a year?

That is twice the national average. If the average hours for people are 40 hours a week, 8 hours a day, then for you to work the same hours in a year it would need to be 9 hours plus, which 8 till 6.45 with an hour for lunch is spot on.

So in reality it's the job which is not suitable, as the hours are too long. As a team of teachers you do need to all work the same hours over time.

But if you are not happy, you will not be as effective either, there is a big difference between attendance and effectiveness. If you work less hours, and you are dissatisfied your achievements will not be very good, you will get more negative feedback, and feel less motivated still. This is an ever decreasing circle, and will end up making you ill.

Work less hours, but do it with a happy heart, and an enjoyment of what you are doing, or give it up.

At our primary school, of which I am a governor, they have funded Teachers so they only work in the classroom for 4 days a week. As a result of this Absenteeism has all but vanished from teaching staff, meaning the extra budget set aside for Supply is not needed. They also shut the school for "Consultation Day" which is basically parents evening during the day. This again reflects a desire by the head teacher not to unnecessarily inconvenience the teachers.

So having said that you should put up or shut up(if it comes across wrongly, what I mean is you must not do a job that makes you unhappy in the medium term, it will effect your health), it does really depend on who is in charge as to the atmosphere in the school.

A bloke who arrives first, and leaves last probably doesn't like being at home and spends most of the time in the office looking at "ish"(oops!) in any event, you shouldn't feel like you have to attend the same as he does. But you should do the hours you want, that are acceptable, being happy and productive, and you don't owe them any more than that.

Clearly you dont really understand what it is actually like being a teacher, how hard it is, how stressful it is and that we need those 12 hours paid holiday not only to recover but also to plan what we are doing for the 40 weeks that we are at work.

You do not seem to have understood my point at all, I have already said that I do enjoy my job. My bug bear is not with teaching it is with "the man" it is with the way society operates, it is with capitalism!! In the words of Tom Good "a job is a job is a job, its quality of life I'm after".

[Rosendula]

Clearly you dont really understand what it is actually like being a teacher, how hard it is, how stressful it is and that we need those 12 hours paid holiday not only to recover but also to plan what we are doing for the 40 weeks that we are at work.

You're making it sound like teaching is the only stressful job out there. Plenty of people do very stressful jobs and get paid a lot less, have less holidays, and work a lot more than 40 hours a week. I had one such job before my youngest was born. I was employed for 30 hours a week, initially on £8 an hour, but because I worked extremely hard at building the organization up I earned myself a payrise in my last year putting me on the local government scale point SO1.3. I got 4 weeks a year holiday.

My job was stressful, I had a lot of responsibilty, very little appreciation, I did things outside of my job description. I worked a lot of overtime which I was told to take in lieu, but couldn't because that would make me behind in my work, and I would have to do more overtime to catch up.

Like you, I enjoyed my job, despite the pressures. Unlike the impression you are now giving with you "you don't understand" cry, I didn't think I was the only person out there in that situation.

Sorry Helsbells but I think you're feeling a bit too sorry for yourself at the moment. Do something about it if it's that bad. Stop feeling sorry for yourself if it's not.

And I am sorry if that all sounds harsh.

[Helsbells]

Yes I am feeling sorry for myself

I am probably not explaing the way I feel at the moment very well. I have no one to blame but myself for people misunderstanding me.

I am not trying to make myself sound hard done by or just get sympathy, what I love about this forum is that there ARE people who feel like me, and I wanted to hear other people's stories of being in a similar situation (and perhaps how they overcame it).

I am sorry that I came across as sounding like I was saying that no one understood my situation, what I was trying to say was that boboff didnt understand what I was trying to get across, not that he, or no one else understood what it is like to feel like me.

Hope this makes sense.

[Annpan]

My sister has recently qualified as a teacher too and she works practically all her weekends and at least half (probably more) of her holiday time doing work plans and arranging the lessons, buying materials and making learning props for her class. I think people sometimes think you wander out of the school at 3.30 at the end of June and that's it for 2 months... which would be great... but it doesn't happen like that. Teachers are also under increased pressure of deadlines, targets, paperwork and 'personal professional development' and other such bureaucratic nonsense.

The teachers that care spend all the time they can doing it all right.


I just don't think it is fair to tell someone, who is clearly stressed and looking for a bit of support, that they have it easy. Share the love guys


Besides, that isn't the point.... I guess escape routes from 'the Man' are available, just difficult choices sometimes have to be made.

[Helsbells]

On the up side, I did recieve a note on my desk today from my boss thanking me for all my hard work!!

Thankyou Annpan for your support.

x

[red]

Helsbells, have you done any other jobs before teaching? just wondered how you felt it compared.?

In answer to your original question.. no i wouldn't have thought it was ideal to tell your boss that ! sorry if you are going through a difficult patch at the mo. i think my advice would be to look to ways to motivate yourself a bit more in the job - as in the long run this will actually mean you will feel more fulfilled as a result, and this in turn will make you have a better quality of life. Particularly if you are planning on just killing time before parenthood.

if however, at the end of the day, you just dont want that job that much.. then perhaps time to think of something else altogether. sounds like it wont be teaching art though, as from your posts, it seems you have explored the less time options. only thing I would say is I imagine that art teacher jobs are very popular? so think carefully before you change, as Rosey points out, there are plenty of other stressful jobs your could find yourself doing, with less pay and less holiday.

If you are trying to find ways of living on less money.. perhaps the start is to give that a go... restrict your money and see how it goes.

[JulieSherris]

I quit my job about 4 years ago.....

I worked as a secretary for a 'family man'.... for just over 4 years. It was a small business, with just me in the office.
During that 4 years, I had to 'hide' a LOT of expenses that weren't related to the business, and also that the wife was never allowed to find out about... I was sent along to the solicitor when he got divorced & also to court - once I went along & the boss went to play golf!
I had to organise 'social partners' for his boys nights in.... I was given a bag with a cash stash to mind, while he went off on his hols.... oh, there were lots of things I had to do that really wasn't part of the job description!!

Anyway, one morning I woke up & decided that I'd had enough.... so that was that.
Hubby wasn't too happy to start with & money got a bit tight for a while, but we adjusted & we got over it....

I don't go out to work now - and if I did, where would I find the time???
On a typical day I start my pottering around 8am and can still be found wandering around 'doing' at 10pm!

Am I happy?? You bet I am!
Hels - stick in there - one day it will be right for you to make certain changes in your life & then you'll never look back - I was 44 when I gave up work - still plenty of time for me to enjoy the freedom, and old enough to appreciate it too

Chin up - you might be working for the man... but he has to dig in his pocket to pay you- whether he likes it or not!!

[boboff]

Ann, it's not that I don't understand, it's just I think Teachers in the main go from being educated at school, to Uni, to PGCE to teaching in a school, and never get to see "real" stress.

I ran a small business for 10 years, and having to work 90 - 100 hours a week, running two shifts, doing the accounts, having to jump in when people left taught me that unhappy people will make themself ill and will go sick at the worst possible times.

But hey, I gave up a very very well paid job, that I had managed to almost make myself redundant from, to grow veg and look after my two kids, so my wife could train to be a nurse, and it's the best thing I have ever done.

My life was work for over ten years and I missed out on much, I would wake at three in the morning having dreamt through a weakness in a cash flow projection, or deciding on a course of action to take to win business with a Supermarket or such, or scheming to buy a business, or merge with a business, all purely to try and safeguard the 30 or so people I employed. After all that time, stress and hard work, I now realize this effort was completely one sided, I feel a bit of a mug because of that.

Sorry if you feel I don't understand, but perhaps you should think again about what I meant, not what you thought I meant.

[TheGoodEarth]

Helen,

I admire your honesty telling your boss what you were thinking. A good boss would respect your feelings and deal with it appropriately.

I know exactly how you are feeling. It is very difficult to come to terms with the lifestyle were are forced to lead these days. Like Thomzo I also work contracts mainly in big corporates and some days it nearly drives me insane. I yearn for a simple'ish' life where I don't have to work full time and listen the the utter drivel I hear most days. I am scunnered by it all.

Sadly like the majority I have a large mortgage and other financial commitments which mean I can't just pack in the corporate cesspit. I would love to but can't figure out a way to do it.

Lots of people feel like you but some have higher tolerance levels than others.

BTW as an example of the tosh I hear on a daily basis this was said in a meeting yesterday. "can you two coordinate and make sure that you land together"

[Helsbells]

Will let this thread die soon I promise, just needed to add one more message.

After I finished Uni I worked as a photographer in a portrait studio for about 6 months, (sounds lovely but was actually extremely stressful but without any of the enjoyment of teaching, and a much lower wage.) Then worked in an office for a year and a half as an accounts assistant for a catering company which was the totaly opposite, extremely boring!!

So feel I have experienced the world at least a little bit, certainly havent gone from education to education.

Well last night I watched a programme called Running S****burys, and there was a man who absolutely loved his job as complaints manager, he was really cheerful and positive. I want to be more like him, so I think (untill I have a baby!!) I will try to be more positive about my job and look at the good side rather than the negative. This is hard at times, like today when I only got in from school about 15 minutes ago! But I have to make the best of it.


Thanks everyone for your comments, you have all really helped me.

xxx

[caithnesscrofter]

helsbells, it is interesting that you say in your post that it isn't necessarily teaching that you have the prob with... But, with the way society operates and ultimately capitalism. Have you ever read any of john taylor gattos' books? When i was in school and then later pressured with going to university i always felt there was something just fundamentally and inherently wrong with the school system and what motivation and ambition it serves up to children... It is capitalism, consumerism and all the trimmings. The current system of schooling perpetuates the crazy way society operates under capitalism and the ugly produce and consume circle. When i read john gatto it was like reading something i already knew but, he explains it so well through experience. Is this maybe why you are unhappy with your job? You love teaching children but, the system of how and what and the method in which you have to teach within the system seeks an entirely different goal of moulding children for their purpose under the capitalist system rather than the goal and way of life for which you believe children should be headed for? just a thought!