The real reason I'm working on Christmas has everything to do with the ruthless machinations of a Canadian. And for this reason I will be petitioning the president elect to add Canada to the axis of evil - something that should've been done long ago.
This is quickly becoming a complain-about-work blog. At least it is until I quit, or get
Eventually I will move back to America and have to be prudent about what I write online. That day has not yet arrived, thus I will proceed:
I never thought Vancouver (the other preschool teacher) and I would be close. She's a decent person. But there was this one time she freaked out when I spilled water-soluble paint on a piece of laminated paper. And then there was this other time I was helping a student with a book and she barked, "Don't help him!" and physically yanked my hand from the page. Little things like that have restrained me from buying matching "Best Friends" heart pendants for us.
Then on Monday it got a whole lot worse. She hoodwinked me into working on Christmas. Yes, she has seniority, and yes if someone has to do it, it should be me. But the way she went about it was extra nefarious.
One week ago:
Vancouver: I wonder if we're going to get Christmas off.
Me: Do we usually?
Vancouver: Yes, but that was with the old supervisor. I don't know if the new supervisor will give it to us or not.
Me: Hmm. Guess we should ask.
Vacouver: Actually you shouldn't worry about it. They won't make you work. We'll only be working on the play that week, so there's no reason for them to make you come in.
(She works with the kids for their Christmas skit in the morning before my class starts.)
Monday:
Vancouver: I'm going to go ask Supervisor for Christmas off, I'm nervous. I hope I get it.
Me: Good luck.
She disappears into the office and reappears minutes later looking guilty. She approaches me and talks into her sleeve.
Vancouver: So I get Christmas off but you have to work.
Me: What? Why?
Vancouver: Because Supervisor said I could have it off but you have to be here because they need one teacher.
*There are actually two Chinese teachers who will be working that day too. One of them speaks fluent English. And all we'll be doing that day is arts and crafts. So what the supervisor really meant was we need at least one white person to oversee the cutting and pasting.
Me: That sucks.
Vancouver: Yeah. You could try and talk to her. Oh I know! I can ask one of the afternoon teachers for you.
Me: Yeah?
Vancouver: Yeah R is a Jehovah's Witness so he doesn't celebrate Christmas.
Great. Problem solved, I figure. Working on Christmas is the opposite of celebrating Christmas, so this should work perfectly for all.
Tuesday:
Vancouver: So I don't think I can ask R.
Me: Why?
Vancouver: Because he's a Witness and we're going to have to do Christmas stuff, and he can't do that kind of stuff.
Me: But wont he be teaching in the afternoon anyway-
Vancouver: Yeah, but that's cram school stuff, the kindergartners will have to do Christmas crafts and he can't do those.
Me: Maybe they can do something else...
Vancouver: You can ask management.
Me: Well can you ask him, because I don't want to ask management whether or not he can work for me if he's not willing to.
Vancouver: No. I think you should just talk to them.
When Vancouver let me know she secured her Christmas at my expense and had no intention of helping me get mine too, I ended the conversation. Then I rushed to the nearest phone booth for my costume change. The person who emerged was not Leslie the preschool teacher, but Leslie the malevolent ice queen. Uncalled for? Maybe. But losing Christmas to a Canadian makes me cranky.
Later Vancouver tried to compensate for her snakiness by hovering over my students' art projects making inane comments. Little does she know this only made her seem more overbearing than usual. I succeeded in ignoring her.
After lunch I caught the supervisor who completely shut me down on the Christmas front. I will post about that awkward occasion later.
But! I will continue to hunt for a substitute: If you are a fluent English speaker in the Taipei area who would like to earn a few extra bucks on Christmas, and my eternal friendship, please hit me up. Asian-looking people need not apply. That's what kind of school it is. I know because James applied and they told him so.
To cheer myself up, I went home and rewatched this. If you were recently victimized by Canadian trickery, I recommend it.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment