Friday, December 14, 2012

My Busy Thursday and Friday after 12.12.12

I don't mind helping other people out. In my line of work, sometimes we are required to have subclasses for other teachers who are either absent or are late. I am already used to that. But to actually pick up where someone left off just because they were neglective of their duties is just bad. I helped a new member of our team today. I made sure that he had a computer on standby for his classes. I gave him pointers and made sure he was okay. As a protocol, we are required to always check our schedule and refresh it just in case a new student comes in. He is an experienced teacher. Far more experienced than me even. I don't want to judge him but now, I am thinking he didn't do it when he should have. To make the story short, He missed a class while most of us were busy having one.I get it. It is his first week here so mistakes and bad luck can still happen. I just never expected it to happen today when three people have been helping him set everything up. I was asked by my leader to call the student but the student's class was supposed to be 40 minutes earlier. I was hesitant to do it. Not because I didn't want to help him out but because I didn't know what to expect from the student. When I called the student's number, a woman answered in Korean. She didn't speak English well. She passed the phone around to other people. Finally, after a minute or two, she asked "Why call so lately?". I was embarrassed. I said sorry. I tried to explain to her that another person was supposed to call them but I did it for him. Sadly, all she ever understood was me apologizing. I told my leader to report the incident to our boss who just went back to Korea last night. He will probably be pissed by it but I don't want to be the one who will be scolded. I did my job after all.

Thankfully, the class was rescheduled for a later time with a different teacher. Anyway, I started my work later than usual yesterday as my 5:30 student postponed her class today due to her current condition. I wish I could understand what she meant. I mean, I did understand part of her message, just not all of it. The least I could do was wish her well. I consumed her class time for eating breakfast. Two pancakes with butter and syrup started my day right. A cup of hot chocolate completed it. I only had a few students yesterday but I intended to use my free time wisely. Writing articles due this weekend is one of my goals yesterday and today.Apparently, I still need 4 articles about Japanese culture and 6-8 more about love, sex and relationships. I am feeling positive that I will be able to achieve all them until Friday night as the weekend will be a busy one for me.While typing one of my articles, I heard my leader having a class. She was having free talking with her student about LASIK Eye Surgery. She corrected her student by telling her that LASIK should be called Laser instead. Sure, Laser Eye Surgery is right but LASIK isn't wrong either. It is an acronym which stands for: Laser Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis. Quite a mouthful so definitely hard to pronounce. What was unacceptable was the fact that she kept on mispronouncing the acronym despite my help. Sad but true. I know leaders are people too and nobody's perfect but shouldn't people practice what they preach? She always tells me to be careful with what I teach my students but now I wonder if she is careful as well. In her earlier class, her student said something about him attending a year end party and having a black out. She immediately told him that the expression black out was wrong and that it meant power outage. Sadly, black out had many meanings. One of them includes to faint or to lose consciousness. I couldn't help but send her a message once again about her
mistake. Tsk tsk!

Yesterday, I had a short meeting with our leader and new member. The meeting was mostly to educate the new guy on what he should and shouldn't do. He had questions but we were ready to answer every last one. I found out how uncomfortable he is with teaching students while in front of the camera. Basically, I told him some of the things that I hated but said them to him without the intention of showing him how much I hated them. I told him that we need to "act" in front of the camera. Knowing that he was an experienced teacher, his eyes widened in disbelief. He said: He was a teacher. I jokingly said that he is not just a teacher but an actor as well. Two jobs in one. I was being sarcastic of course because that was how I reacted the first time I was told about it by our leaders and bosses here. I was also told to be perky and to smile more. I told that to the new guy as well. Like me, he didn't like the idea. He just couldn't process it. I told him to be prepared to handle kid students, he seemed not interested in the idea. He said that he would rather have 20+ phone classes than have less than 10-20 video classes. He said that things are harder here in this company. I agreed with him because in all honesty, things are becoming ridiculous here.I understand how much they want to maintain the quality of each class but shouldn't they be concerned about the quantity too? Problem is, once you have at least two or more students who will stop studying with you even if these students didn't really leave because of you and had personal reasons for leaving, you will still end up being blamed for it since you are their teacher. In other companies, we have a lot of students and we just keep on working. We do maintain the quality of our classes but at the same time, we don't bother ourselves anymore regarding such trivial matters. If a student will leave without complaints about you then why should you be bothered? I heard that things will get stricter around here by next year. I pretended to care and note down things but honesty, I don't because I intend to speak to the manager by Monday and hand my resignation. I know now at this point that they have no intention of processing any of my benefits so what's the point? Offering me that they will do it provided that I will continue working for them next year is just blackmail. I will choose my baby over this company in a heartbeat.

So, my Friday morning has just begun but I am hoping for a good day. I got my schedule planned out already. I am hoping that everything will turn out well this day. I still have 8 articles to write until tonight. I am glad that at least I was able to write something yesterday although not a lot as I had work and chores to do as well. Hopefully, I can write at least 3 or 4 at work during my free time today provided that nobody will disturb me with non-important things. I still need to wash some clothes when I get home later and even cook dinner as well. I am excited for the weekend eventhough I know I will be tired once again. Christmas will be coming soon and I haven't even started my Christmas shopping yet. Sheesh! Looks like I need to coordinate with my mom this year. I don't think I am in the right shape to be shopping in very crowded places. Looks like my baby bump will be quite a challenge to me. Hoping for a great Friday and a wonderful weekend. Smiling despite all the work that I need to do for a stress free weekend. Yahoo!~
This is how I perceive myself today and yesterday.
 
The message my student sent me yesterday about her sickness. I honestly did not understand everything. Too many medical terms, I guess. >_<;

If ignorance is bliss to some people then to me it is annoying. Practicing what you preach has got to be the biggest comment that I can say about what has happened yesterday and today. I don't mean to be rude but they judge me for the mistakes I do at work. Why shouldn't I do the same to them?

No comments:

Post a Comment