Work is Ugh.
I will not be going to work for 10 days but still I fall asleep and wake up thinking about how things are completely asinine. Today, as last week, I worked both the morning and afternoon sessions. My boss is always saying to the PM aides how well the AM group works together and how much better the program runs in the AM. Mmmm whatever. I mean, yes, they do seem to be closer friends than we are in the afternoon, and they do nice things like make sure people in other rooms have snack set up. We don't really do all that in the afternoon, but we are nice to each other and help out when we can.
Let me tell you something, though. The program is run differently in the morning. It seems like they really have the routine down. Why do they have it together in the morning and we in the afternoon don't?
You really want to know? It's not because we're stupid or hate each other or are uncooperative. It's because we never know what to expect. This bus loading thing is different every day. In the morning, at a prearranged time, the aides go to the door to find out the order of the busses on the curb. Everyone takes a clipboard and walks to all the classrooms, gathering the kids to load the buses. It seems to run like a well-oiled machine.
In the afternoon, for one thing, we are not clear on what time we are supposed to meet by the door. One day I got out there and not a single person was there, then they look at me like I'm stupid because I don't know what's going on. Then once we have the bus order, we have to ask our boss how we're doing things. Every day. Because we can't just do it the way they do it in the morning. No. Some days we do it that way. But then there are days when we bring out only the kids from our own classrooms and check them off the attendance lists. There are days when we need to use the intercom, then my boss feels "like a freakin' bus dispatcher," not to mention the fact that you can be standing right next to the phone and not hear what was said, only that something was said. So you'd have to go out in the hall to ask and them people look at you like you're stupid. Some days we take the kids straight out to the bus, other days we stand around in the hallway. Today I did not personally load a single bus, because I was running from class to class gathering up missing kids. Sometimes I get the exasperated looks and verbiage from the boss because I stop to tie someone's shoe or zip their coat or take a kid to the bathroom. Because I already know I'm supposed to be doing something else? Like I can read her mind?
If things are not running smoothly in the afternoon session, you don't need to talk to us like we're all of the problem. If we knew what to expect, it could work just as well in the afternoon. It really could.
Let me tell you something, though. The program is run differently in the morning. It seems like they really have the routine down. Why do they have it together in the morning and we in the afternoon don't?
You really want to know? It's not because we're stupid or hate each other or are uncooperative. It's because we never know what to expect. This bus loading thing is different every day. In the morning, at a prearranged time, the aides go to the door to find out the order of the busses on the curb. Everyone takes a clipboard and walks to all the classrooms, gathering the kids to load the buses. It seems to run like a well-oiled machine.
In the afternoon, for one thing, we are not clear on what time we are supposed to meet by the door. One day I got out there and not a single person was there, then they look at me like I'm stupid because I don't know what's going on. Then once we have the bus order, we have to ask our boss how we're doing things. Every day. Because we can't just do it the way they do it in the morning. No. Some days we do it that way. But then there are days when we bring out only the kids from our own classrooms and check them off the attendance lists. There are days when we need to use the intercom, then my boss feels "like a freakin' bus dispatcher," not to mention the fact that you can be standing right next to the phone and not hear what was said, only that something was said. So you'd have to go out in the hall to ask and them people look at you like you're stupid. Some days we take the kids straight out to the bus, other days we stand around in the hallway. Today I did not personally load a single bus, because I was running from class to class gathering up missing kids. Sometimes I get the exasperated looks and verbiage from the boss because I stop to tie someone's shoe or zip their coat or take a kid to the bathroom. Because I already know I'm supposed to be doing something else? Like I can read her mind?
If things are not running smoothly in the afternoon session, you don't need to talk to us like we're all of the problem. If we knew what to expect, it could work just as well in the afternoon. It really could.