Monday, November 16, 2009

No Phone

Making breakfast this morning, "No Phone" by Cake was on the radio ... appropriate because my phone hasn't rung with sub work since last Tuesday.
To be fair, Wednesday was a holiday, so this is my third day in a row with no work. The first day this happens, I'm usually really glad to chill on the couch, play with the internet, read, etc. The second day in a row? By that point I'm feeling a little bored and quite guilty for doing nothing, so I will check my to-do list and do errands, cleaning, set-aside projects, and all those pesky business-hours-only phone calls.
But the third day? Now I'm working on half-baked conspiracy theories about the sub office, my unlucky sub number, and swine flu. I'm checking my cell phone's battery life every five minutes. I'm running calculations with my bank account balance, my expected paycheck from last month's work, and what I could possibly earn this month what with the slow phone calls, and the holidays and parent-teacher conference days that are coming up. It's not pretty.

2 comments:

  1. I know you feel. I've written several posts about being demoralized when the calls don't come. I worry that I've somehow offended the staff at a school or made an error in protocol with the sub line on a previous call.
    Even though some jobs are no picnic, we are doing it to work, and hopefully get a better job soon.

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  2. I've recently applied to be a substitute (they don't call them "guests" here) teacher, and I've spent so much time agonizing about whether I'll be a horrible sub and end up being eaten alive by wildy uncontrollable students that I'm afraid I might feel relieved if I don't get a lot of calls! I hope I gain confidence in my skills quickly so I get out of this mindset. Either way I hope I don't have to substitute too long before I can get my own classroom as an art teacher.

    I hope you start getting lots of calls soon!

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