When 'the same' really isn't 'the same'

Our school has three cars for teachers to use for incompany classes. Every Monday, we have to sort out who will use which car and when due to the fact that four of us need cars early in the morning and none of us go to the same place. I usually take care of that even though it’s Young Secretary’s job. However, a while back YS put out a memo saying that teachers are to get permission from the office before taking a car, so every week I tell her what we are going to do (to make sure I’m following our official procedure) and she gets her knickers in a twist and says, ‘It's the same every week,’ (meaning that the car situation remains the same). I was a quite irritable yesterday, and told her off when she made that comment.

‘YS, the situation is not the same every week. Smileroid doesn’t need one tomorrow, but when he does either Whingebag or I wait for him to get back and run off with the car he brings back, depending on the need for a car Monday evenings, which also changes. If he doesn’t, I take a car in the evening to make sure it has enough petrol in it for me on Tuesdays. If he does, he puts petrol in it. It also changed when Clown got a new class a few weeks ago and we needed to sort this out again because the office didn't realise that four people cannot drive three cars at overlapping times. You many not realise this, but it’s NOT the same every week!’

She looked surprised that I would talk to her like that.

I felt better.

That figures

Our schedules are a bit wonky right now due to exams taking place and it turns out that I only have one class on Friday, an incompany class, meaning that I don’t have to go to the school at all. Two others, Fun Colleague and Clown, also don’t have to go to the school that day. Great!

Not wanting his staff to be in too high spirits, what does Bossman do?

He schedules a bloody mandatory department meeting for Friday!

Comments

Due to 'comment spam', I've changed to Blogger comments. While I do prefer Haloscan, it doesn't provide a way for bloggers to protect themselves from things like the above-mentioned spam. However, Blogger comments (when on the 'Only Registered Users' setting) make people be a bit more responsible for their their posts and save me the time of having to clean up the Haloscan comments.

I apologise in advance for any inconvenence that might be caused by the change.

**** Update: 21 June 16:19 ****

Apparently, Blogger comments doesn't like me. When clicked on, it didn't provide a comments field, so I'm back to Haloscan now.

Staff laughs

Sitting in the office on a break:

Young Secretary: 'Look, someone's got a photo radar speeding ticket.'
* MrT and Pompous Ponce look at it *
MrT: 'Who is it?'
YS: 'It's WhingeBag.'
MrT: 'That doesn't look anything like her.'
PP: 'It's because her mouth is closed.'

Laughter.

Wish me luck

I had a slight explosion at the idiocy last week and said a few things to Bossman that I probably shouldn't have. He's been at meetings ever since then (I'm positive that his absence has nothing to do with last week) and today is the first day I have to see him since then. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit nervous.

International Webloggers’ Day

For International Webloggers’ Day, I though I’d briefly explore the phenomena of the Anonymous Work Blogger.

Who are these people and why do they blog?

Anonymous Work Bloggers are all around you. The chap sitting in the cubicle next to you at work, the lady in the shop down the street, the nurse you take your child to see, the landlord of your local, the vet who treats your cat and other people you know. They’re regular people that have decided to give the world a view of things that aren’t normally seen due to sanitisation.

Are they afraid of getting caught?

Quite. Anonymous Work Bloggers are only a click of a mouse away from being discovered by their colleague and/or boss, which would probably lead to unpleasant circumstances. Anonymity is the key, but an Anonymous Work Blogger should never be unworried about not being caught.

Is the risk part of the fun?

It is for more than a few Anonymous Work Bloggers. Wanting to defy authority is a trait inherent in human beings, and Anonymous Work Bloggers feel they have the power to do exactly that on the internet. However, once an Anonymous Work Blogger gets too arrogant, they can sabotage themselves and their world can come crashing to the ground.

Should I start an Anonymous Work Blog?

The decision is yours, but be warned of the risk. If your blog is discovered, you might be in violation of your contract and it might be easy for your company to get rid of you. I’m not trying to encourage or discourage you from starting an Anonymous Work Blog, but make sure you consider everything very carefully before making your decision.

Are there any webrings for Anonymous Work Bloggers?

I just happen to know of one called the Anonymous Work Blogs Blogring

Happy Blogging, everyone.

Incompetency at its best

I needed yesterday morning off for personal reasons and WhingeBag substituted for me for two classes. Frankly, both were disasters even though I had spoken to her on Tuesday and had given her lesson plans with specific instructions on what she needed to do and photocopy for each class.

When I got to work on Wednesday afternoon, Bossman asked me where the answers to the practice exam I had left for class P were. I told him that I had given them to WB, and he told me that she had told him that I hadn’t. Not only had I given them to her, I had also watched her put them into class P’s folder! I walked into the teachers’ room and asked her what had gone on. She told me what had happened and then also told me that I hadn’t given her the answers. I went over to group P’s folder and pulled out the paper with the answers, and magically she remembered that I had given them to her.

I then asked her about group R. She said that they laughed and did some of the work I had left for them, but then THE ENTIRE CLASS GOT UP AND LEFT thirty minutes into a ninety minute class!

Apparently, I can’t even take only half a day off.

A need to know basis

Among the things that happened yesterday was the cancellation of a teachers’ meeting that I didn’t find out about until I arrived back at work in the evening for it. Bossman had cancelled it shortly after I had left on an afternoon break and didn’t even have the courtesy to attempt to call/SMS/email me to let me know (Clown was in the same situation). A bit irritated, I then went to the teachers’ room to make a few photocopies for today and expressed my displeasure at not being told it had been cancelled. Pompous Ponce was there and smugly said, ‘You could still go into the room and have the meeting by yourself.’

My reply?

‘At least I’d be having intelligent conversation then.’

Decree

New Girl has officially been renamed WhingeBag. DaftBint was my second choice, but she whinges more than she is daft.

Several things fell apart at work at just about the same time today, but I don't have time to blog about them now and might not have time until the weekend (exam season is in full swing).

Couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.

Conversation in the office yesterday:

New Girl: ‘My company K class didn’t show up on Tuesday.’
Bossman: ‘They sent an email at 11:00 saying that they couldn’t attend class.’
NG: ‘AT 11:00? AND I WASN’T TOLD ABOUT IT?’ [Her class is at 15:00]
BM: ‘We didn’t get it til 16:00.’
NG: 'Oh.'

BM managed to get around NG, but what he really meant was that in the five hour period between the message being sent and received, neither Secretary from Hell nor Young Secretary had checked the email.

I’ve been complained about

At the end of a chat I was having with Bossman yesterday, he said to me, ‘Please be nicer to the office.’ I let out slight chuckle as ‘What?’ came out of my mouth. He then told me that he had had a complaint about me from the office. I informed him that I knew who it was and that it had to do with photocopies. He asked who I thought it was and then confirmed my suspicions that it was Secretary from Hell. He also confirmed that I was right about the reason. He said that she had told him that I had been very demanding and impolite when having them made and that I was asking to have too many made.

A bit of necessary information: This is exam time and I teach both of our classes that will be taking Cambridge exams (B2 and C1 level for those in the know) as well as our internal school exams this month (I also have other exam). I waste a lot of (unpaid) time making photocopies and asked Bossman (at the beginning of May) if I could have the secretaries’ help with them this year, to which he agreed.

The conversation went like this:
MrT: ‘You had told me that I could ask them to make photocopies when needed, so I did. I gave her several papers that I needed copies of on a Tuesday morning at 9am and asked her to have them ready for me by 11am on the following day. When I needed them, I asked her them and she hadn’t made them yet. I asked her, not in a rude way, to make them and bring them up to me before the ninety minute class ended, which she did. ’

BM: ‘The secretaries are busy at times.’

MrT: ‘All three of them were there, so there was no reason for her not to have had them made.’

BM: ‘All three of them? Yes, they should have been done.’

MrT: ‘I don’t feel that I was rude at all and that this is a valid complaint.’

BM: ‘She can be difficult at times.’

MrT: ‘At times? You’d be surprised how many teachers have had problems with her.’

BM: ‘Really?’

MrT: ‘Yes, talk to them and find out. I’d like to consider this a non-issue.’

BM: ‘Don’t worry, it is.’

So, the person who didn’t do what she was supposed to do complained about me for asking her to do what she was supposed to do to the person who told me that it’d be okay to ask her to do it.

Is it me, or does this sound odd to anyone else?