The Work Thread

[silverfox]

My full job started this week and I love it. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I always thought I'd be intimidated by middle schoolers but like... no. I LOVE THEM. Their big goofy bodies, their teenage-drama, the ways they hide themselves. Like, I LOVE IT.

Like, I'm a blunt AF person in IRL whenI know I'm right, so when this kid popped up with "It's not that I can't, I just won't," I looked him in the face and went, "You say that because you don't want to be embarrassed that you can't don't you?" and the kid stared at me and went, "Well, yeah." I can look at a kid and be sarcastic with them and they'll duck their head and go "yeah, well, Mrs..."

I'm SURE that the honeymoon period will end eventually, but till it does? I'm going to suck every second out of this. I'm FINALLY being able to meet kids and fill holes I always KNEW existed, but that I couldn't ever GET TO because I had 20+ other kids with other needs. I no longer have to choose which kids I can help. If they come to me, I can help them, period.

It's amazing and unless things change, I dunno if I'm ever going to go back to the classroom. (Which considering mine is a grant funded position will be in 2 years unless we find the money elsewhere in the budget.)

[Goblin]

This was cute and I'm sure some of you can relate. (I went to work throughout the whole thing, essential worker or something.) Just made me smile though. SFW!

https://imgur.com/gallery/jWPmNog

[silverfox]

@Goblin

Rofl! I get to be the front door person in the elementary school so this just feels so hug.

[Goblin]

@silverfox Maybe your students would enjoy watching this too

[saosmash]

Recorded CLE seminars would make a great insomnia cure.

[Ganymede]

@saosmash

We have those.

[silverfox]

VINDICATION

I came in with a vendetta about our kinder and 1st graders. These two groups have not had a 'normal' year of school EVER. So my push was to NOT pull them for any intervention beyond English as a second language classes until January. Their start data was exactly what we expected, they were behind like woooaaahhh. Did our progress check today and 75% of the kids behind are now directly on or above level.

It worked. The kids just needed to be in school.

Why was this a vendetta? Because it meant we poured all our resources into 2-8 (especially 2) and flooded them with support. All of those kids ALSO made growth.

It worked. We are moving the needle. Maybe the stress is worth it.

[Macha]

So stupid case reviews for other department - I'm told if the person was not called back for the reason listed in column G, after the date I was to look for, they were not assisted, and not getting the help with their long term care they need.

Some other bitch working the same day, took it to mean "Oh, well, they called her back after such and such a date, so she was helped."

Uh no. We're supposed to find out if they were ASSISTED by someone from that department, for XYZ reason. Telling them that their evaluation expired, does not cover them getting an appointment for another eval.

(I also resent this bitch. For reasons) So I called my boss, and asked him for clarification, told her I did, and she's still trying to argue with me.

Bitch, there is a mute function on Teams chat for a reason.

[Juniper]

Had a new starter at the office today and I've been excited because we need someone else around who actually knows how to code.

New starter arrives at 9 and my boss has done NO prep. She has no desk, no PC, and no login details so I can't even give her a loaner.

And of course it falls to the women of the office to get this shit arranged and cover for his laziness. Preparing ahead of time is not that fucking hard, but he doesn't apply an iota of effort into doing organisational work (i.e. HIS JOB).

I am tired of picking up the slack and having my time getting eaten up by busywork. I'm a qualified professional, not your goddamn maid / receptionist. Setting up the conference room and buying the milk isn't exactly something I can put in my portfolio to angle for promotion, but my male co-workers are free to hog all the glamor work that will progress their career. And that's if they're not blatantly taking credit for my shit.

Fuck the boys club.

/Rant

[Groth]

@juniper

I think by doing tasks outside your job description you risk perpetuating the idea those tasks are your job.

If you want that to stop, it may be worthwhile to draw a hard line and insist the people who's job it is to do those things do them rather than pick up their slack. They may accuse you of being uncooperative/"not a team player" but unless they're arranging milk and setting up workspaces etc they don't have much ground to stand on.

[Ganymede]

@Groth

I don’t think you fully grasp the dynamics of women in the workplace.

[Misadventure]

@ganymede how do we all work to change that dynamic?

[Ganymede]

@misadventure said in The Work Thread:

how do we all work to change that dynamic?

It will take time.

But it would be real nice if men and women in leadership positions recognize that you don't need to be an authoritarian to command authority.

It would also be real nice if a company's leadership be unafraid to give exceptions and embrace diversity.

And it would be real nice if staff recognized that everyone is going through something and how important it is to empathize with one another.

That'd be nice.

[Juniper]

@groth You're absolutely right but it's one of those things that is harder than it sounds.

I'm assigned these things by name, so if I want to not do them, I need to explicitly say no, come up with an excuse, and have a fight about it every time. The guys never have to fight to be free of busywork, they're blissfully unaware by default.

[silverfox]

This kind of discrimination happens in schools too where women are the majority of the work force. Men (unless they are gay which is a whole different conversation...) are assumed to be "better" at discipline and will disproportionately end up with more challenging behaviors because "they just need a male influence". This leads to many of our amazing male educators burning out quickly and leaving the field altogether.

[Quinn]

@juniper For years I would fight against things like that and then on reviews be told "I'm hearing a lot of 'that's not my job' and you need to be more of a team player" and when I would say "Why does Jim not get asked to do these things?" They would frown and write down 'hostile rather than helpful.'

The fun flip side of that is being promoted a few times and when you defend your team being told you 'mother' them rather than, you know, being a good manager and standing up for your team.

[Atomic]

After learning to manage up(Silicon valley geek meets Midwestern Office), I am seeing my role at work change drastically. Less technical, more leadership -- by a very large margin. I have to admit I really, really like the change. I had been very concerned with my burning out around pure tech.

I still carry critical duties; the on call rotations and critical issues, but my plate has been pretty heavily cleared off to let me do the projects I am driving without a lot of distraction. I feel sometimes that I log in at 7 am, work for 2 hours, and then... don't do a whole lot for the rest of the day. I still work, don't get me wrong, but it's coasting and barely engaging me. I get more kudos now than ever. It's weird. I think I found the cadence that my brain needs to do my best work(I did similarly in college).

My boss wants to keep our team fully remote. My workplace provides us a recurring stipend for WFH expenses. They require vaccination OR ELSE. No jab, bye Felicia. No fucks given if you're in the office or not.

They provide us amazing benefits and more front-loading vacation than I have ever seen outside of Europe. I get in trouble for having leftover PTO. I am paid well. I get bonuses.

Pinch me.

I almost feel guilty, but there's a reason for all the awesome, too.

When we fuck up, people can actually die. And they die badly.

Still, wouldn't trade it for anything. Our KPI is how many cancer patients we match with donors and get to live.

After years of shitty tech jobs, I feel like I landed in the right place.

[Macha]

@atomic ... this is my kind of job. Not just the remote and wfh stipends. But trying to HELP people that are sick.

It's why I'm so mad that right now they're training me for a department, and we're not doing the job right. We're cutting corners because they're so 'behind'. I get so frustrated.

Here's hoping those interviews yesterday bear fruit.

[Groth]

@misadventure said in The Work Thread:

@ganymede how do we all work to change that dynamic?

http://www.equalityjourney.eu/blog2/2019/4/3/norm-criticism-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-necessary

https://www.includegender.org/facts/norm-criticism/

By making social expectations explicit and evaluating them critically it's possible to have good conversations about if they bring any value or should be abandoned. Most discrimination of this type is done for no other reason then 'this is the way things are' so the solution is to force explicit justification and evaluation.

[Misadventure]

NM