Luxury Flame Pure Luxury We had to live in a hole in the ground,with a bit of cardboard over the top for shelter, and schools were only for the wealthy and..........
19 atm, my first Z @ 17 on my L's then TT 7 months later n had 2 zeds for about 7 months, the first one was NA so that was my work car then my TT was for fun weekends.
55 on Tuesday. Good age! I am at that happy age where you really don't have to keep putting up with the S**t in your job, you could just walk out the door and put it all behind you. Best of all, the people who rely on your expertise have suddenly become extra-considerate. I wonder why?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY on Tuesday John Man feel sorry for the years of hell my mates and I put you through when you would try to teach and everyone would do their best not to listen, and you have to put up with a new bunch of hyperactive highschoolers every year! Anyway hope you have a good birthday :thumbsup:
Cheers , Tim! :thumbsup: Thanks for your good wishes! I'm a lot more philosophical about it all now. Kids are kids - they have their problems - they're just trying to assert themselves. I like working with young people - they can be exasperating at times but they generally have a fresh view of the world and at their best can be delightful. One word of thanks from an ex student who's succeeding in his or her life is worth all the rubbish you have to put up with from the sorry, insecure ones. The problems I've had with kids are nothing compared to working for an uncaring bunch of w**kers called the Dept who don't know you from Adam, never acknowledge anything you do and give you no support. Could you imagine working for 30 years for somebody, only to get an award for 25 years service and to be told to write your own history for the Chief W**ker to read out at the presentation ceremony so that it looked like he knew me? Add to this colleagues who can't be bothered learning how to use computers and expect you to do everything for them, and it's enough to drive you up the wall at times! Add to this a workplace where you could be transferred without warning or explanation to virtually anywhere in the state, and the person only a couple of rungs up the promotion ladder from you has basically the power of life and death over you - they could have you transferred on a whim or just because they wanted a mate in your job. You've got no appeal and they don't have to explain why to anybody either. You could wind up working in a school where being assaulted by students is a daily hazard, or hundreds of k's from your home - no small thing when you've invested all your money in having a nice home. A workplace where the Union says that working hours of 8:00 to 6:00 are OK. How many workplaces would require you to get a certificate to practice, including a police check, which costs you about $70 a year, then expect you to get yet ANOTHER separate police check. How many workplaces would give you Long Service Leave, then send you a threatening letter during the leave because "you were absent from duty for a period exceeding 7 days without explanation." As you are probably only too well aware, the dept "s**ks s**t big time". It is a heartless, soulless employer, who has no concept of how to motivate its workers, shows no interest in them, and because it treats the slackers and the hardworkers exactly the same, eventually destroys the people of quality who work for it, leaving them complacent and disillusioned. Kids have an excuse - adults don't. I'll go on working for all the nice kids I teach and those workmates who care and kmow that I care too.
Happy Birthday John I would have been very tempted to make up some outrageous work history for that Chief Wanker to read out at your presentation ceremony. I'm very fortunate indeed that I don't have to live my life that way as I'm self employed. I can imagine that you are really looking forward to retirement and moving on from this situation. Only 14 months for me now:thumbsup::thumbsup:
Tassie+Secondary teacher= new found respect I have no idea how you do that :wacko::wacko: Its bad enough having to cope with a 19 year old and a 18 year old here at home. But to do it for other peoples kids everyday is a form of masochism. :sick: Happy birthday for Tuesday John!
Thanks for your good wishes, Cliff! :thumbsup: And yes, it was very tempting. I'll have to come up with something suitable at my 40 years of service presentation (if I make it to 2009)
Thanks Graham I appreciate what you've said. I've never before mentioned what I do for a living, but as I've been "outed" by Plasmo, I'll just have to grin and bare it! The general impression one gets from the community is that teachers are somewhere below used car sales people and real estate agents (my apologies to any of you who are involved in those esteemed professions for comparing you to teachers). We seem to be scapegoats for everything that goes wrong with society today, even though we try our hardest to do our best by the students and their families, as well as coming to grips with all the new stuff continually being added to our job by the Dept as a kneejerk reaction to the media and society. I usual give my occupation on forums as "IT support officer" "training officer" or if I'm really desperate "public servant" :unsure: (although I don't know that the last one has a much better reputation!). As I have to look after the schools IT infrastructure as well as train staff and teach 4 classes any of the above is a correct description of my position, I'm not really lying!
