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Episode 1: When is Job security not enough?
69 Plays3 years ago
In this episode we duscuss when is job security not enough? Should we just accept a job as is understand our job will not always make us happy or bounce? When is enough, enough?
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Much Do About Nothing'
00:00:11
Speaker
Hello, everybody. My name's Amanda Attaway, and this is episode one of Much Do About Nothing. And this is actually literally a last-minute podcast that I decided to create with just random ramblings about today's world and questions that I have on my mind.
Stress and Awareness
00:00:29
Speaker
I'm actually in the process of creating another podcast, let me tell you a story, and I was working on it when I had this thought.
00:00:38
Speaker
Stopped recording my intro for it. I went to bed and then this
Managing Stress: A Video Game Analogy
00:00:42
Speaker
morning. I wanted to get up for I you know for my job I've been teaching for over 13 years and so I Woke up literally sick to my stomach vomiting because I did not want to go to work
00:00:54
Speaker
And I shouldn't be complaining. I know there are a lot of people out there that have it worse than me. I am very aware of that. And I do, you know, a lot of people, we tend to have this attitude where this person goes, Oh, I can't do it. Oh my God. And we're like, but your life is so much better than mine. So you should have to do it. We all have different levels of aggravation, different levels of stress. We all handle it differently.
00:01:19
Speaker
Think about, like, if you were doing a video game, this one person, they may be able to do level 12 from the back of their hand, and then, you know, this person can't even pass level one. We all have different levels of stress that we can handle, and we may not be able to understand each other on why this person can handle it less than we can. I mean, maybe you're just a superwoman, and they're not, or a superman, or super, you know, him, her, we, she, they, you know. But we all have different levels of handling things.
Societal Overwhelm and a Thought-Provoking TikTok
00:01:49
Speaker
And it got me to thinking about this question. When is enough enough? When did society change? Where I just feel like I can't do it anymore and that my life is this continuous cycle over and over again. And I already had this feeling in my head, but then I heard this TikTok this morning.
Calling in Sick Due to Stress
00:02:10
Speaker
I actually called in sick today for my job, and if this podcast becomes popular, my boss is gonna know, oh, she called in sick, but they're gonna learn a lot about more of this podcast by the time I'm done. But I just couldn't go today. And I work from home. This is why I can't complain. I am an online teacher. I teach my children from the comfort of my house.
Teaching: Respect and Workload Challenges
00:02:32
Speaker
And I've loved my job for over three years. I've been doing online teaching for three years.
00:02:39
Speaker
I have a bachelor's degree. I've actually continuously gone back to school. I just spent $2,000 on a dyslexia training because I wanted to help my kids. And so it has nothing to do with not loving the profession I'm in.
00:02:55
Speaker
Except it does have everything to do with the fact of respect. I don't think it's the flexibility. I've been in jobs where it hasn't been flexible as long as I've had weekends or time I could take off. It has everything to do with how you're treated and the load they give you. It's not even necessarily 100% how they treat you. And if you can hear that in the background, that's my dog. Sorry about that. This first podcast, it's going to be rough.
00:03:19
Speaker
if it continues I'm gonna be super happy on where you know where things go if it becomes popular and if it doesn't this is out there in the world just one episode so um but anyway um I
00:03:33
Speaker
realized that it's not, you know, it's respect, but also the load that your supervisors give you. As a teacher, we used to be able to just teach. I could go in my classroom. I could look at my lesson plans. I had no problem doing trainings, whether it was at the beginning of the year, end of the year. I had no problems getting advice from another teacher if I had a troubled student, but it has become almost like this
00:03:58
Speaker
competition of survival in the classroom, because not only do I have to understand all of my students, which has always been there, but dealing with the parents, if a parent is not happy and they threaten the word lawsuit or they threaten, that the principals treat them like it's Burger King and that their way is God, instead of have it your way. And my philosophy is that teaching, it is not Burger King. I can't have it my way 100%, I know that.
00:04:27
Speaker
But you can't have it your way 100% either. You have to find a middle where you can mutually respect each other and work together. You should be just as much responsible as helping your child as I am. And if you don't know how to do it, we should be sticking together and working to improve that.
00:04:45
Speaker
Um, so that's one component of it when it comes to, you know, students in the parent side, but there's also another component of it. And that has to do with administration side of things.
Training Sessions and Class Sizes
00:04:57
Speaker
Um, just this year, I swear, I think I've had over 2030 trainings for, and half of it, I think useless for what I need it for. I completely understand cyber training. I really do, but I don't think I need to have it every month.
00:05:11
Speaker
Okay, and I completely understand, you know, you know the sexual harassment trainings and I do understand having to understand about child abuse but You not only give me all these trainings you want me to do and I swear I have had literally 20 this year that has frustrated me but you also give me a time limit on doing them on top of teaching my classroom and
00:05:40
Speaker
on top of having to do lesson plans that you want me, the new thing is flexibility. You want me, at first it used to be, complete your lesson plans, have them ready for two weeks, you're teaching all your children this lesson plan, we want those lesson plans. And now, we don't want your lesson plans two weeks, no, correction, we still want your lesson plans two weeks in advance. But you have to be adaptive to your children. Every child is different and you have to teach every child differently.
00:06:10
Speaker
And I understand every child's different and I have to teach every child differently. But you're giving me 60 kids in a course of the day that are on my caseload that you want me to individually do each one. And out of these kids, you have the parents who of course love you. You know, I love my child. My child is a star in my family. But again, your child is the star in your family, not in my family. And that you want me to do one-on-one, every one of these learning coaches want me to do one-on-one with their kids.
00:06:39
Speaker
but I don't have enough man hours in the day to do one-on-one. I need to at least have groups of 10. And so if I offer or ask for help, let's work together, we'll get some more staff in. The company I currently work for because of certain enrollment does not want to add staff, but they want you to still teach thoroughly and properly
00:07:09
Speaker
but have this many kids. And I know this is the exact, please tell me if I'm wrong, but I feel like this is the exact struggle also in the public school system, brick and mortar is what we, you know, when you're not doing it online, that's what we call it. You give a teacher over 30, 40 kids in one classroom and then expect them to individualize their instruction
00:07:34
Speaker
with all of those kids, you are creating an impossible task. I believe that no classroom should have more than 10 to 12 kids in it, no matter what grade you are, because then it's doable. I can have two or three groups for this kid, I can do these two kids a one-on-one, I can create those times. But you are expecting the impossible. When you're asking a teacher to have 40 to 60 kids,
00:08:00
Speaker
on their caseload or in their classroom. Do their lesson plans two weeks in advance. Do all these trainings, but you know, just you wait. They have to be, they're due in a week or two. And, and to constantly make these phone calls or collaborate with these parents and have these, these meetings. Oh, all in the course of the nine to five day, mind you. And actually it's eight to five day, mind you, with teachers. Sometimes you have to be there at seven, seven thirty.
00:08:26
Speaker
and do car duties and do volunteer work. Because even online, I have to volunteer for testing. I have to volunteer for different activities, whether it's assemblies online. All of us that work at these certain companies do. And you're wanting all that done all at the same time.
00:08:44
Speaker
And so maybe what's happened, and I know this isn't just teaching, it's just the example I'm giving because that's the profession I'm in, but I think this is what's happened all over the country. And, you know, let me know if I'm wrong. I'm gonna give you guys an email address that
Listener Feedback Invitation
00:08:59
Speaker
you can write. It's actually my podcast email address for the podcast I was creating on top of this, but I guess I'll just temporarily use that email. We'll see if anybody messages me. We'll see, so.
00:09:11
Speaker
But you can email me at willyoutellmeastoryatgmail.com. I'll give you those details at the end as well, too. So I think in any profession, even as a police officer, as a cashier, or store associate is what it is now, you know, that is the problem. They're wanting you to do twice as much as what you could possibly humanly do, and then
00:09:40
Speaker
Expect you to do it all efficiently. Now, do you want me to do all of this correctly and efficiently, or do you want me just to get it done? Because that's what it feels like. It feels like they just want me to put a stamp on it, and then when it's not incorrect, oh well, we gave you the training. It was there. You should have done it.
00:09:59
Speaker
I actually was at a Dollar General one day and I saw that the associates there, they have them not only cashiering in the front of the store, but also stocking the entire store. And I completely understand this is because we have a shortage of people wanting to work in all professions right now. So they're having them do both. But I honestly think that that's not the solution either.
00:10:27
Speaker
I don't have a solution. I know a lot of people are saying, well, you're saying all this, but do you have a suggestion what to do? I think we're just gonna have to start slow. I think we need to go back to the morals of, and some companies didn't have this anyway, but we need to go back to mutual respect, working as a team and finding a solution, touch and go, not at the expense of the respect of that employer.
00:10:58
Speaker
an employee, not employer, employee.
00:11:01
Speaker
I guess that's where I'm at on this. So if you have an employee that needs training, give them time to learn. If you have an employee that has over 20, 30-something clientele, you're going to have to get that clientele to understand that you're working on a system. And for these companies that we can't hire, this is the problem, we can't hire anybody because we're not selling anything so we don't have the money to do it.
00:11:31
Speaker
I honestly think that if they took that chance and they hired those people and trained them and respected them, then your profits would go up because you would have more open store hours, you would have more one-on-one interaction with the people in the store or whether it's its teachers. And let's do teaching as an example. If you have more teachers, my company cut
00:12:00
Speaker
had teacher cuts because they had lack of enrollment. And that can happen in a public school, even the public schools are required. We've had where we lost some because there wasn't enough students. I feel like if you get more faculty in, more teachers in, less classroom size,
00:12:25
Speaker
and allow them to have that time to do the things you're asking, you would have a better, happy system of teachers. You'd have a better, happy system of not all parents are going to be happy, but I think you're going to have a system slowly adjusting to a better system. I mean, you cannot please everybody, and I really feel like
00:12:49
Speaker
We need to go back to that, not only parents understanding that. Look, look, you are just as responsible at home with working with your kid as I am responsible at school helping your child. But we are not perfect. I am human. You are human. We are going to make mistakes. Let's make them together. Let's work together.
00:13:08
Speaker
Let's not argue with each other. Let's not be hateful. And the rudeness. What has happened in society where people feel like they can talk down to you these days? I just do not understand it, and it's kind of frustrating me, even in my profession.
00:13:25
Speaker
I did the math and pay is an important thing because on top of everything else as well. It's not my number one thing. I've been teaching for years and it's not been about pay. It's become about pay now because I'm deciding is my pay worth staying. That's where now is becoming worth pay. And maybe I'm the only teacher feeling this way, but it's not I'm greedy and I want more money on more on the lines of I need the money to stay
Is Teaching Worth the Pay and Stress?
00:13:50
Speaker
to motivate me to stay is how I look at it now.
00:13:57
Speaker
The way you're treated, the way people are degradated in their jobs, that's why they don't want to stay. And now, I just recently did math on my paycheck and realized I'm only getting about $20 an hour. And some people would be like, well, that's great. But I went to school for over four years. Again, I just spent $2,000 on a dyslexia training that I wanted to do because I wanted to help my kids. I've done all these extra things.
00:14:24
Speaker
And I've gone into school longer and I'm getting paid about $20 an hour to be yelled at by parents and just, you know, disrespected by administration and doing extra things that make me feel like that I'm not even doing the one thing successfully that I went to school to do. And then it comes down to is it worth it to stay. And I don't know where I'm at right now, you know.
00:14:53
Speaker
As I go through this journey on this podcast, you know, and I'm going to try to add music in the background later. This one is going to be very rough. I'm going to say it now. Do I stay or do I go? Right now, I feel like I want to go. I'm scared because I don't have another job. I'm scared because I'm my future. I don't have stability right now, if I leave. But at the same time, I'm emotional to my family.
00:15:22
Speaker
I'm letting down those I love around me, trying to keep it up together. And I have literally the attitude every day that I wake up, today I'm going to fail at something, which is it going to be? And no job, no profession, no work should you feel that way. You should always feel like your employee is giving you the tools to be successful, no matter what you do. You should always feel like you're encouraged in that workforce.
00:15:49
Speaker
because that will drive you to keep staying. Loyalty and devotion will, in most employees, and there's always gonna be a greedy employee, but I would say probably about 85%, 90% of the time, if an employee is 100% happy in their job, even if it's just 97% happy, will stay a lot longer than if we feel like we're crap. So please tell me if I'm the only one that feels this way. You can write me on my email.
00:16:20
Speaker
And I'm going to go ahead and give you guys that email address again so that you have it. And this is actually the email that I was going to actually use for my other podcast. So I find it ironic that I'm using it for this. All right. So you can email me at will, the letter U.
00:16:43
Speaker
W-I-L-L-U-T-E-L-L-M-E-A story at gmail.com. So I'm going to spell it out now. W-I-L-L-U-T-E-L-L-M-E-A-S-T-O-R-Y altogether one word at gmail.com. Tell me what you think.
Conclusion and Call for Thoughts on Job Market
00:17:01
Speaker
What is your thought on today's job market and society? Are we just a bunch of complainers now because we got a week off from shutdown and we just realized how much better it could be for our mental health? Or literally, has there been a shift in self-respect in the job force? Because that's where I'm feeling. I'm feeling like even
00:17:21
Speaker
They were, you know, my bosses, the ones I had at least, that were appreciative, you know, even though they know I'm leaving because I just respectfully disagree with something that's going on in that job, there was never any 100% malice. Um, where now I feel like it's, there's no respect when you leave. You're like, just don't let the door slap you kind of attitude. And there's no respect while you're there either. They're not appreciating the fact that you are there.
00:17:47
Speaker
So let me have your thoughts. So this was episode one.