Today was exciting.
I excepted a job posting to teach high school US History. When I arrived at the school this morning, I found out that, despite what the job posting said, I was only getting a half day's work (and pay).
Something similar to this happened a month so ago in this same district. I had planned on registering a very firm complaint about this at the end of the assignment. Before that could happen, though, I was asked if I could fill in the rest of the day for another teacher, who's sub had not shown up. I was told that if I accepted I would be paid for two half days, rather than one half day.
I probably should have complained anyway, on principle, but by the end of the day I just wanted out of the building.
The second half of the day was spent with a special education class. I had a lunch period separating the two parts of my day, and I ate in the special ed room so that I could go over the lesson plans. The remaining two class periods of the day were rather vague. They simply talked about taking the kids to the library, with no mention of what they were supposed to do.
Near the end of lunch another teacher came in, asking if I knew about the trip to the library. I told him that I had seen it mentioned, but no specifics were given. At this point he explained that my class was meeting up with two other special ed classes, and they were all taking a public bus across town to the public library.
The trip was really very easy. I was told that the teachers usually just spread out around the building and read, trying to set a "good example" for the students, who pretty much just screw around the whole time.
We returned to school with about 25 minutes left in the day. The kids were wound up pretty high, and I was not left with any material to fit the situation. I told them to "sit and read quietly." Most did, the rest sat and talked, thinking I couldn't hear them.
Okay, so, here's my question to all you other subs out there...
If you accepted an assignment online which was posted as being an entire day (at a full-day's pay), and when you arrived you were told that the assignment was only a half day... would you be upset? Would you feel cheated? Am I being melodramatic?
Personally, I won't accept partial day assignments unless it is the day of, and there are no full-day assignments available. I feel like the district is cheating me - a "bait and switch" sort of deal.
As I said, I had a similar problem with this district a while back. I didn't write about it, and I probably never will. I usually try to keep the material here positive and funny (or at least light-hearted).
Suffice it to say, I was under the impression that the district understood why posting jobs incorrectly (in regard to the pay scale) was not in their best interest.
I would absolutely feel cheated if that happened to me, fortunately it hasn't yet. I see it as the person who did it taking $60 from me, because I would have been paid that much more if I had taken a full-day job rather than their half-day that they tricked me into taking. You have every right to be upset about that and I would probably suggest to them that I agreed to work a full day so I should be paid for a full day.
ReplyDeleteI have had this happen as well. When I talked to the district sub coordinator about it, she promised to get me another full day to make up for it, and she came through the next day. I have also had teachers cancel on the morning of a job. It's happened twice and it drives me nuts because I have already turned down other jobs to take this one. On the other hand, I rarely schedule more than half day at Middle School! ;-)
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