Thursday, September 11, 2008

The down side....

...of being a teacher:

You can't just call in sick. IF you did that, they would probably laugh in your face. If you wake up at 3 am with chills and hot flashes simultaneously, a throat that is near closing up, and body aches of a 90 year old, you still have to take 18 steps to be assured you don't have to go to work. If you are me, you take 19 steps. I have never called a sub at the crack of dawn so I had no clue what the level of appropriateness was. So, I got up, got ready, and went to school on the assumption that I would be working that day unless some poor soul could save the day. Mind you, I have never been so tired in my life. Apparently this bug that is going around may as well be called the "sleep it off until you feel better" illness. I felt like I could have gone to sleep for days. I went in and spoke to my principal who told me that subs get calls at the earliest hours possible and they are used to it. So I go to my learning cottage and start to go down the list. Luckily, I hit the jackpot with sub number 3. Seth has already brought me an arsenal of vitamin water just in case I was going to have to stick it out (God love him) so I am frantically chugging it while "getting things ready" for the sub.

This is part two of why you can't just call in sick. I mean, I am a control freak so I could have just let things go as they were, but I would imagine subs hate teachers that do that. So, I got everything set and ready for the day. It becomes almost like you have to plan to be absent from work. You have to plan to get sick or the headache that is added becomes more of hassle than the actual being sick part. Not to mention, if you are out more than one day, the level of getting back on track becomes a nightmare.

If you ever wake up, call in sick, and go back to sleep, when you do get up raise a glass of OJ or whatever your healing liquid of choice is to all of the teachers out there who are secretly cursing people like you. **Disclaimer - I'm sure there are other jobs that have to go through the ringer to be absent from work. I just don't know what they are.**

On the up side, I think I have almost slept it off. I wasn't awake for more than two hours yesterday and that was when I was at the doctor. I abruptly woke up this morning with the odd sensation that I needed to be vertical for a while. So off to work I went!

3 comments:

  1. AMEN! It is infinitely more work to NOT be at work when you're a teacher. I have talked to many people who don't understand why I can't just call in sick and let "them" deal with it. It just doesn't work that way.
    Hope you are feeling 100% soon!

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  2. Not only do you have to do all of that if YOU are sick, but you also have to do it if you have a sick child who needs to stay home. And while you go in and make sub plans, you have to have someone to watch the child. :( I am really looking forward to that! :)
    Glad you are feeling better!

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