Just smile, nod, and tell me I’m fabulous.

When I tell people what I do for a living, I usually get one of three reactions.

Reaction #1: “Oooooo…little kids are sooooo cuuuuuute!!! I am so jealous!! It must be so fun to color and sing all day.” This reaction tends to send me into a bit of a rage and compels me to regale these individuals with the insanely long laundry list of roles that teachers must balance, inform them of the incredible amount of planning and thought that goes into our days and point out that, unlike those who work in an office, I must complete all my daily tasks while simultaneously holding my own pee for eight hours at a time.

Reaction #2: “If I could spend some time volunteering, I would definitely work with children like you.” Ummmm, moron, teachers get PAID because we work INSANELY HARD. But that’s cool, I know you’re really on-line shopping all day in your air conditioned cubicle and are just feeling incredibly unfulfilled and worthless.

Reaction #3: “Wow!! You work there?!? You’re totally like Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds!!” Ok. First of all, no…just no. Second of all, I do not routinely wear leather to work. And lastly, I would not touch high school students with a pole. You idiot.

I won’t even respond to those who immediately point out that it must be nice to have my summers off. I feel as if they should just be shot.

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13 Comments
  • Wait…you mean to tell me that teachers don’t just color and sing all day. I guess I should just get out now.

    I am always amazed that my professors sell the whole “summers off” lie. I come from a long line of teachers, I know better. Oh, it makes me so angry when I hear how lucky I will be to work in a job where I “get off at 3, get a one week break every three months, and get the summers off to lounge at the pool.” Whatever…

    September 28, 2007 at 3:06 am
  • You lazy slacker- I know that at 3 PM, you just kick off your shoes, lounge on the couch and eat bon-bons. That’s what you do all summer, too. You bum.

    September 28, 2007 at 8:00 pm
  • You speak the thoughts of teachers everywhere! I love your blog–it makes me laugh and keeps me sane!

    September 28, 2007 at 11:00 pm
  • My mother-in-law made the mistake of demanding I do something for her once since I “just work until 3 o’clock everyday.” She’s never done that again, and likely, her ears are still on fire from the bitching out I gave her.

    People shouldn’t talk about teaching and teachers at ALL if they’ve never been there.

    September 29, 2007 at 2:38 am
  • Tense Teacher – I can’t even imagine!!! And I agree, everyone should have to teach for at least one whole day (at least!) before they get to open their mouth. I took my husband to work for a day…best thing I ever did!

    September 29, 2007 at 12:54 pm
  • I was going to add my little diatribe about how we all get out of work at three and have all these vacation days etc etc…but everyone’s already said it 🙂

    September 29, 2007 at 3:19 pm
  • Anonymous
    Reply

    In my first interview I thought I would be funny and when they asked me to list three reasons I wanted to become a teacher, I said, “June, July, and August.” I didn’t get that job and he had NO sense of humor. Now, I come from a long family line of teachers, so I knew better. I spent my first 3 summers after beginning teaching, getting my Masters. It was required within 8 years. Right after I got it, they changed the requirement. I have several more endorsements added to that now. We never seem to be able to stop.
    Do people in the real world realize we are paid for the number of days we TEACH and not the holidays? That’s right. We don’t get holiday pay. We aren’t paid for our summers either. We have our paychecks divided up so it LOOKS like we are getting paid but we aren’t. So take that all you fools who think we have too much time off.
    Plus, I have a 3 foot pile of papers to grade. I someone who thinks I get off at 3:00 would just send me their address, I would be happy to mail them to you for grading each week.

    September 29, 2007 at 4:18 pm
  • I was going to add, “don’t forget that teachers only work half a day” but I see others made it to that comment first.

    And, you get to go to the bathroom when the bell rings.

    One of my favorite comments is that you are a city worker. You don’t have to work hard. Just sit there and give the kids stuff to keep them busy.

    September 29, 2007 at 11:03 pm
  • My friends and I, we always complain that no one is ever going to make a movie about us. And then we threaten to jump out the window. (Crazy white lady really works on these kids.)

    September 30, 2007 at 4:51 pm
  • I am sitting at my desk at the end of a long day literally CRYING from laughing so hard at your blog. And my blog is listed on yours! Thanks for the laughs.

    October 1, 2007 at 8:05 pm
  • Anonymous
    Reply

    I’m a university student in the teacher education program and I get the same kind of responses when I tell people what I’m studying. I have done student teaching and it is hard and a lot of work! I spent extra hours after class was over working on projects from the day or preparing for class the next day. And if I did this much work you can only imagine how much more the teacher had to do! People who say stuff like that should try preparing for class and see how easy it is!

    November 8, 2007 at 8:11 pm
  • Anonymous
    Reply

    I’m a college student in a secondary education program. I haven’t started my student teaching yet, but I feel for you. My mother seems to think teaching will be a day at the beach. Despite some of the horror stories you share on your blog, overall you’ve made me more excited to become a teacher because I can see that you really love your kids and get a sense of fulfillment from your job.

    December 11, 2007 at 4:55 pm
  • Anonymous
    Reply

    Ahh! That’s one of my biggest pet peeves. Thank you for writing that so well. I am going to forward it to everyone I know!

    April 8, 2008 at 6:42 pm

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