“Don’t act huffy like I owe you something.”
Quite right.
Very early on in my teaching career, I was a sub (briefly). We were able to define the boundaries of how far we were willing to go. You could even specify which schools you wanted and if those schools liked you, the principal would ‘endorse’ you or something and you’d be top of the list to sub there, so you’d see a handful of subs who almost seemed to be full-time at the same school because they were called so often.
You could also define what level you wanted: Lower Elem., Senior Elem., Middle School, High School. I was worried about getting called enough so I initially said Middle and High School. Then I discovered that if you included Middle at all, that’s all you ever got called for since a lot of subs hated Middle. I came to hate subbing in Middle as well because most Middle school classes went directly into hooligan mode the moment a sub showed up. Since those were the early days of student accountability being practically non-existent, they figured they could get away with it (and usually did). I was my own worst enemy because it’s not in my nature to complain about matters to admin, and because I was, apparently, better at navigating hooligans in Middle than some other subs. To my horror (and without my knowledge initially), two Middle school principals ‘endorsed’ me which meant that, all of a sudden, I was getting called everyday but only ever to one of those two Middle schools. The principal at one started buttering me up (she would buy me coffee when she knew I’d be coming in) and musing about permanent openings she expected to be coming up on staff.
After a month of this, I called in and said “high school only” from now on since I’d heard there was plenty of sub work in three area high schools. I actually got a call from a super on a Saturday questioning my desire to sub in high schools since I’d been getting “glowing reviews” in Middle and that was where the real need was. No thanks. High school. That was where I wanted to land a contract anyway.
So there was a day I’d booked off (you could do this by calling in in advance). It was a week before my wedding, and I needed to run some errands and also had a dental appointment booked. I got a call from the sub coordinator just as I was in the car ready to go out for the day. I told her, “Sorry, but I booked it off.” She said she knew that, but they were desperate for subs as there was a record number of unexpected teacher absences and they were calling everyone regardless. Gave me a massive guilt trip which, foolishly, I fell for as a young teacher. I relented and said I’d cancel my dental appointment. Then she said I had to report immediately to one of the Middle schools (which I said I no longer wanted, but the principal had asked for me specifically). Whatever. It’s one day, right?
So I rush off to the school since it’s already getting close to the morning bell. I arrive, and the secretary, who’s looking frazzled and taking three calls at once, thrusts a sheet at me with my assignment. The AP (bit of a jerk) is standing in the hallway directing student traffic and frowns at the sight of me and looks at his watch as if to say, “Late!”. Uh… I booked today off and got called at the absolute last moment. Piss off, AP.
My assignment says I’m teaching PE for the day and directs me to report to Ms. Smith, the department chair of PE, for instructions. Now Ms. Smith is one of those gum-chewing women coaches whom I’m convinced was the model for the character of Sue Sylvester on Glee. She starts by trying to rake me over coals for being so late and informs me this is very unprofessional. When I try to explain I got a late, emergency call, she butts in with, “The bell is about to ring. I don’t have time for excuses.” Then she looks me up and down and says, you DO have a change of clothes, I hope? You can’t wear those shoes in the gym.” I say, no, I don’t have gym clothes or sneakers with me. She explodes and says, “Well… that’s just fantastic! How the hell did you expect to teach PE in wingtip shoes??” I said, again, I was called late.
Several times in the course of the day, Ms. Smith stormed up to me in the gym to tell me what I was doing wrong and saying they weren’t paying me to “stand around” and telling me I should be more actively involved with the students and their games of basketball / volleyball / badminton. She ranted that the students weren’t handling the badminton racquets properly and were damaging them, and “Are you blind? Can’t you see what they’re doing to the equipment??”
Note: I absolutely HATE sports and don’t know or care to know the official rules of most games.
At the end of the day, I heard Ms. Smith stormed down to the office and loudly announced to the principal that I was “useless” and should be written up for incompetence. The principal defended me (thankfully), but it really is proof that no good deed ever goes unpunished.
