A chat with Bossman

After finishing my 9h lesson yesterday, I went to the office and saw that Bossman had arrived. He didn't say anything, so I asked if he had received my email, which he had (even though he couldn't have been bothered to reply to it). He told me that Wednesday was not a good day this week, but asked if we could chat today even though Bosswoman was still at our other school. I told him that was fine.

I started off by telling him how angry I was last week, which he had already heard from others. However, they seem to have embellished the truth. He had been told that I was hurling abuse (meaning swearing). I remember using the 'F' word once, but then decided that I would keep my language under control. However, if he meant that calling the office 'a bunch of idiots', then yes, I was abusive. Perhaps it's a case where the truth hurts.

We then went into the reasons for my lividity.

Firstly, he completely agreed with me that Pompous Ponce was 100% wrong in the way he keep the log book for class S. He took the photocopies that I had made as evidence and promised to take care of that situation.

Then, we went into the issue of New Girl and driving. BM told me that when he hired her, she was able to prove to him that she had a valid, full driving license. He then said that he didn't think he needed to ask her more questions, such as if she didn't mind driving on motorways. I agreed with him, who would? He tried to tell me that she's still getting used to the signs, but I countered with the fact that the important signs are similar to the UK, and he gave me 'a look'. He then mentioned (again) that he was 99% sure that if he had sent NG to teach class S, she would have gotten lost and the class wouldn't have happened because it's tricky to find. I surprised him by saying that the only reason it's tricky to find is because the directions are the long way (they take you past the town of M and bring you back). As I found out when I returned on Friday, there's a much easier way (too bad I didn't write it down, I only memorised it).

I then brought up the fact that him that NG wasn't living up to the conditions of her employment (cheers Tim) by refusing to drive when needed, and he agreed but mentioned that she was fulfilling the the other parts of it, and was a good teacher. He finished this part of our discussion by telling me that he was giving NG one more month to be able to drive on motorways, and after that he would stop letting her use that as an excuse. I countered that by asking if he had 'an action plan' to help her driving, to which he, unsurprisingly, responded, 'No.' So, I suggested one. I suggested that he could have YS take NG on drives at weekends, but let NG do the driving. I didn't offer to do it myself, because, frankly, I have better things to do with my weekends. He liked that plan and said he'd talk to YS and NG about it.

He then went on to tell me that I had lost a lot of respect in the eyes of YS, Old Secretary (she was there also, but kept quiet) and the two or three others who had heard it. I looked at him and said, 'I don't really care what they think of me, I'm here for my students not them', and he looked shocked, but smiled (no students were around when all this happened last week).

From there, we continued talking about all the problems that are caused by the stupidity of the office. I agreed to have more patience (again) and he agreed to try to get them to do better (again). However, we both agreed on the fact that that probably won't happen.

Overall, it was a positive chat, and I feel better now. Not completely, but mostly.