A somber day

Today was a somber day. It was both New Guy and Nice French Teacher's last day.

NG unceremoniously left at about 12h30 with handshakes and good wishes. He was nice, and I still think he would have worked out well if he had stayed.

Old Secretary, Secretary from Hell and I drank champagne and ate cake with NFT in the office before she left with hugs, kisses and tears in her eyes.

Best of luck to you, NFT

A need to know basis!

The Saturday class ends tomorrow, however, the only student left in it hasn't been told yet. The first week of July,. I asked Bossman to write him an official letter or call him to let him know (having taught the Saturday class a lot, I know the student well and he's a great guy). I reminded him the second week of July and he got a bit indignant with me, so I decided to stay out of it. According to Secretary from Hell, BM is going to call the student this evening and tell him.

I doubt we'll see him at our school again.

Censorship!

Bossman has put a filter on the computers at work and has blocked websites belonging to the 'Job Search' category.

Paraniod?

Update on IC

Incompentent Colleague has been gone for almost a month now, but he has been heard from. Here's the latesst:

From Ditzy Teacher, who was not so secretly in love with him:

1. He owed the petty cash € 50 when he left and told her that he didn't repay it because Bossman shorted his pay € 50 at the end of June. Young Secretary has verified that that was a lie.

2. He owes a student € 50 also!

3. He's working at a Summer school in England

4. In May, he asked BM to write him a recommendation so that he could get work at other schools in our town (due to BM's cutting his hours when he went freelance). IC then went to Spain for a long weekend, but really had 3 job interviews, only one of which he went to - he later told DT that he couldn't be arsed to go to the others. He got the job and starts in Spain in October.

From Bossman

IC has sent him three emails apologising for leaving like that and the messes he left, and has asked BM to rehire him to start on 1 August (he said that the last email IC sent sounded quite desperate, so perhaps the Spain thing has fallen through). I asked BM if we should expect IC back and he assured me that we shouldn't.

Another one down.

Bossman and I were alone in the office this afternoon, and I asked him about the guy who's coming in mid-August. He then told me that he had called the guy earlier to discuss accommodation with him, and the guy told BM he had decided to accept a different job.

 

BM wasn't all that happy when I burst out laughing.

That was quick!

I asked Bossman about the new teacher today, and he told me that we were supposed to have a Canadian lady start on 1 August, but she called him yesterday and told him that she had changed her mind and didn't want the job. He told me that he's now hired a guy (but he didn't say from where) who will be starting just before I go on holiday in mid-August.

 

Perhaps we should be guessing whether he'll actually make it to the school or not. 

Psssst

Rumour has it we'll be getting a full time teacher to replace New Guy at the beginning of August. Would anyone like to guess how she'll last?

Young Secretary and I have decided to wait and meet her first.  

Teacher Arrested

Teacher Arrested

At New York's Kennedy Airport today, an individual later discovered to be a public school teacher was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule and a calculator.

At a morning press conference, Attorney general John Ashcroft said he believes the man is a member of the notorious al-Gebra movement. He is being charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.

"Al-Gebra is a fearsome cult," Ashcroft said. "They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in search of absolute value. They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'there are 3 sides to every triangle'."

When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes."

(Cheers to Jax for this)

Bye NFT

Nice French Teacher is leaving our school at the end of July. Why? It depends on whose story you listen to.

First of all, the fact: Her husband has been transferred. He's been working there for a month now, and they've decided that it's too far for him to commute home every weekend, plus she misses him during the week.

Secondly, NFT has never liked Bossman and Bosswoman. I'm not too sure of the history of all that, but they've never really got on (she's worked at our school for 20+ years now - and BM/BW only bought it 3 years ago). NFT has refused to attend social functions put on by BM and BW - always finding an 'excuse' not to. However, she also confides in Young Secretary, who then tells the rest of the world. The final straw was a few weeks ago at the French oral exams.

Here is BW's version of it: According to a student (A), the French exam jury (NFT was on it) gave him a very low mark because they didn't like his topic (YS was also on that board and said that he hadn't prepared his topic well, nor had he made it interesting). However, BW believed the student (he was one of her students) and had a talk with NFT about it. NFT said that she didn't want to work for BW anymore, since BW didn't trust her judgment as part of the board.

I'll really miss NFT. She was one of the first people I met when I started working here, and is a very nice person. Kind, caring and always willing to do anything for her students. A great teacher and woman.

Dropping like flies

Dropping like flies

Saturday Colleague is now gone.

I walked into Bossman's office yesterday to discuss a few things with him, and he said, 'What are you doing the next few Saturdays?' to which I replied, 'NO!' He said, 'No?' and I replied, 'What you're really asking me is if I can work the next few Saturdays, and I can't. I have other things going on.' He laughed, because I had read him like a book.

He had just got off the phone with Saturday Colleague. She called BM and insisted on a 25 hour a week contract (she's currently freelance), or she'd quit. He said that he'd gladly give her one, then she dropped the bomb on him. She could only work Mon - Fri 8h - 12h.

Do the math. That's 20 hours.

BM then said he could give her a 12 or 18 hour a week contract, but she refused. She gave him one last chance to accept her original offer, he declined - rightfully so, and she quit. Bossman may sometimes be a bit confused and disorganised at times, but he's not dumb.

Luckily, the Saturday class is scheduled to end the last day of July.

Back online

I've been offline for about 36 hours now, not by choice. There was a problem with the DSL in my area and the whole street was offline. It's fixed now and I'm back.

Gossip about New Guy

Young Secretary and I were chatting this afternoon and I mentioned that Bossman didn't seem very happy yesterday, so she shared a few things with me.

 

Ditzy Teacher told YS that New Guy had said (on Monday) that he'd be quitting at the end of July. Apparently, he's not happy with anything in his life right now...work, his flat, etc so he'll be returning to his country of origin to try to figure things out.

 

YS also told me that NG told BM yesterday, which is why he was in such a bad mood. Apparently, he got extremely upset with NG - something totally out of BM's character.

 

Another one bites the dust.

Update on New Guy

New Guy's been here for 2 1/2 weeks now, and things are starting to change a bit.

When he first got here, he told me he didn't smoke. I'm a non-smoker and hate smoke, so I thought that'd be great. Another non-smoker to hang out with in the teachers' room. However, at the party on Friday, he was chain smoking. I asked him about that on Monday, and he told me that he used to smoke, and he likes a cigarette or two when he drinks. Fair enough, other people who have quit smoking have told me the same. Today, I saw him smoke several cigarettes crouched down on the balcony of the kitchen so no one could see him (one of the windows on the second floor gives you a clear view of it, which, apparently, he has yet to discover).

Also, his clothing has changed. The last two weeks he looked quite dapper, and this week he's started dressing down...jeans and t-shirts.

Young Secretary thinks he's gay.

Runner

Incompetent Colleague did a runner yesterday and emailed Bossman from England at 18h yesterday evening to inform him. As it turns out, Ditzy Teacher knew about it a week in advance and even drove him to the airport. She was in tears this morning because he's gone.

 

I can't say I'll miss him.

Party time

Last night was a lot of fun. The school rented a cabin outside of the city and had a combined end-of-year/graduation party. All the students were invited – day classes, evening classes, incompany classes, etc. Everyone brought a salad, their own meat and Bossman/Bosswoman bought drinks (beer, wine, coca-cola, sprite, etc). We shared our salads on a table on the veranda, cooked our meat, ate and talked. At 21h, we had a graduation ceremony for the three graduating classes, presented them with their diplomas and then resumed the merriment until 4am.

 

The students who graduated had been my students for two years and I’ll miss most of them.

Short skirts

While I was busy with oral exams earlier this week, Incompetent Colleague had to teach my group R. They're a good lot, a class of fourteen girls and one boy and are only one year away from graduation. I had told group R that IC would be teaching them once this week and they were fine with that, as he taught them once when I was on holiday in December and they know what kind of teacher he is and don't expect too much from him. Before I go on, I have to tell you that IC is a timid and kind of shy person who hates being around large groups of people (lord knows why he's teaching).

 

After I finished oral exams on Wednesday, I saw one of the girls from group R as she was leaving the school. She was wearing a short skirt, which is not unusual for girls to wear at this time of the year, but very unusual for this particular student to wear. I asked her how the lesson had gone, and she said, ‘It was IC’s usual kind of lesson. Also, we played a trick on him. We know he’s timid, so all the girls in the class wore short skirts today to see what his reaction would be.' I laughed.

 

A bit later, I saw IC. I asked him how the lesson had gone, and he told me. He then said, ‘It was very strange, all the girls had short skirts on and it made me very nervous.'

I love group R.

Haloscan?

What's going on with Haloscan? I've just noticed that all the comments posted before May have disappered from my blog. They're still on my Haloscan account, but they're not on here. Ideas?