What a BITCH
Last week, a colleague of mine, senior to me both in age and rank, told me that she was going to email me next term's spelling list for me to vet, so as to ensure that the listed words are suitable for our current pupils.
This morning, I opened my mailbox, found a document from her, and opened it. It was an empty list - nothing more than a template to be filled up. I was puzzled, so I approached her, and told her that I received a document from her but the spelling list was empty. She said that she thought she had the list but it turns out that she doesn't, so "you have to find the words from the textbook and send it for printing by this week".
I was taken aback and pissed off by her attitude. So i said, after some thought about the matter, "I thought I was supposed to just vet your list. I wasn't told that I had to prepare one from scratch."
She then turned tables on me and said cavalierly, "It's very simple. You just look through the textbook and see which words you want to test them on, that's all. Don't worry, it's not difficult at all." As if the problem was my ability to come up with a list of words for Primary 2 kids.
Since it was an urgent matter, I decided to just get the job done and then think of a way to confront her properly at a later time.
Later in the day, this same person came up to me and said, "We need the list printed and distributed to all the classes by this Wednesday because one of the teachers will be on extended MC and she wants to go through the list with her class before she takes her leave."
As you can imagine, this got me absolutely worked up. I looked at her and was tempted to say, "You know, if you wanted it so urgently, you could've just done it yourself, since it was your job anyway." But I tried to keep my cool, looked her in the eye, and said, "You could've told me earlier that you couldn't find the list so I would have done it over the weekend."
Guess how she responded to that?
With a what's "wrong-with-you" and "don't be ridiculous" look on her face, accompanied a deep sigh, she said, "Look, it's really simple. All you have to do is flip through the textbook and find words. It won't take you all day."
So all i said was, "Yeah, I'm just telling you. I already got the stuff printed." Then she went off to another colleague of mine and started complaining to her about me.
Bloody hell, I drew up the list in a matter of 5 minutes and settled the entire task within the hour. If the problem was my ability to find, type and print a list, then I'd probably be too dense to see that she was being a complete bitch. This is obviously a matter of principle, and she has made me look bad by turning tables on me. What I cannot tolerate, is that she is senior to me and she's chummy with everyone around me, including my supervisor. So no matter how I try to confront her, I'd be at the receiving end of her crap at the end of the day.
The thing is, the spelling list is a tiny task that anyone can do. I'd have gladly done it if anyone was asked to volunteer to draw it up. What I cannot stomach is her stinking attitude and her "You're a rookie who is still struggling with everything, including coming up with a simple spelling list; I've been here longer and everyone likes me so don't bother standing up for yourself" attitude.
This happens to be the same person who called for a meeting on a school holiday, and then canceled it without informing me. When I told her that I wasn't told about the cancellation, and that I'd taken a cab to school on a school holiday for nothing, all she could say was, "I've been very busy, so next time, you should check with someone else regarding matters like these." Well, I'd obviously do that if they were the ones who told me to go for the meeting in the first place. I later found out that I was the only one whom she did not inform about the cancellation.
This morning, I opened my mailbox, found a document from her, and opened it. It was an empty list - nothing more than a template to be filled up. I was puzzled, so I approached her, and told her that I received a document from her but the spelling list was empty. She said that she thought she had the list but it turns out that she doesn't, so "you have to find the words from the textbook and send it for printing by this week".
I was taken aback and pissed off by her attitude. So i said, after some thought about the matter, "I thought I was supposed to just vet your list. I wasn't told that I had to prepare one from scratch."
She then turned tables on me and said cavalierly, "It's very simple. You just look through the textbook and see which words you want to test them on, that's all. Don't worry, it's not difficult at all." As if the problem was my ability to come up with a list of words for Primary 2 kids.
Since it was an urgent matter, I decided to just get the job done and then think of a way to confront her properly at a later time.
Later in the day, this same person came up to me and said, "We need the list printed and distributed to all the classes by this Wednesday because one of the teachers will be on extended MC and she wants to go through the list with her class before she takes her leave."
As you can imagine, this got me absolutely worked up. I looked at her and was tempted to say, "You know, if you wanted it so urgently, you could've just done it yourself, since it was your job anyway." But I tried to keep my cool, looked her in the eye, and said, "You could've told me earlier that you couldn't find the list so I would have done it over the weekend."
Guess how she responded to that?
With a what's "wrong-with-you" and "don't be ridiculous" look on her face, accompanied a deep sigh, she said, "Look, it's really simple. All you have to do is flip through the textbook and find words. It won't take you all day."
So all i said was, "Yeah, I'm just telling you. I already got the stuff printed." Then she went off to another colleague of mine and started complaining to her about me.
Bloody hell, I drew up the list in a matter of 5 minutes and settled the entire task within the hour. If the problem was my ability to find, type and print a list, then I'd probably be too dense to see that she was being a complete bitch. This is obviously a matter of principle, and she has made me look bad by turning tables on me. What I cannot tolerate, is that she is senior to me and she's chummy with everyone around me, including my supervisor. So no matter how I try to confront her, I'd be at the receiving end of her crap at the end of the day.
The thing is, the spelling list is a tiny task that anyone can do. I'd have gladly done it if anyone was asked to volunteer to draw it up. What I cannot stomach is her stinking attitude and her "You're a rookie who is still struggling with everything, including coming up with a simple spelling list; I've been here longer and everyone likes me so don't bother standing up for yourself" attitude.
This happens to be the same person who called for a meeting on a school holiday, and then canceled it without informing me. When I told her that I wasn't told about the cancellation, and that I'd taken a cab to school on a school holiday for nothing, all she could say was, "I've been very busy, so next time, you should check with someone else regarding matters like these." Well, I'd obviously do that if they were the ones who told me to go for the meeting in the first place. I later found out that I was the only one whom she did not inform about the cancellation.