Nutters

First, I'd like to shamelessly advertise that I've updated my photo blog. :)

******

A small rant. I'm currently watching the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Bill O'Reilly is the guest of the moment, and he's totally slamming Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize win! What a total jerk! I heart Al Gore, and at least Al Gore is actually doing something versus wasting oxygen by talking about nothing. Err.

******

Now on to a bigger rant. In fact, it's so big, I'm going to give it a name. It's called, "Some people should not be allowed to be teachers, much less call themselves functioning adults."

Intrigued?

Okay, be forewarned, this is a long post. I still have a headache from today, and it's past midnight. I subbed today at my former high school. I was subbing for a teacher who taught Earth Science. Sounds easy enough, right? I thought so. The morning was going pretty smoothly, and the kids were not being overly horrible. They were being a bit noisy, but if noise is the only thing I have to complain about, the day is going quite well.

Well, the first class period went well. The second class period came. The kids were being a bit noisy, but it was nothing horrible. In fact, they were quiet compared to the first class. A few of the boys were out of their seats, not really doing their work. I had asked them to sit down, but they were ignoring me. Okay, great. I know how to pick my battles. They were being quiet, so I planned on leaving a little note for the teacher to let him know the boys weren't really participating in class. I thought that would be the end of it. Oh was I wrong!

One of the boys that I had spoken to, was digging through his lab drawer, when he accidentally pulled it out too far. It hit the ground with a nice blunder. Before I could even stand up to see what had happened, the teacher from the next door class came bursting through the adjoining office the rooms shared. He immediately started screaming at the class. "What was that??? What are you doing in here? SIT DOWN!!! What do you think this is? What is your problem? I don't get paid enough to deal with you guys' crap!!! Sit down and I don't want to hear another peep out of any of you! I have HAD IT!" After this speech he then felt the need to glare over at me. I met his eyes with a raised eyebrows. I mean seriously! Yes the boys should have been sitting down, and yes they made a blunder. Is screaming at the whole class at the top of your lungs really necessary? Did he really have the nerve to glare over at me as if I were a naughty student?

We got through that hour without any more incidents. I was very annoyed, but I tried to hide it from the students. Unlike other people, I try to act like a reasonable adult around children. The next class period came in, and again, they were being pretty well behaved. There was a little talking, but the noise wasn't that bad. The kids were all in their seats, all doing their work. What else could a sub ask for? A girl got up to sharpen her pencil, and of course, Murphy's Law had to strike. As she stood up, she accidentally knocked her chair over. The heavy chair hit the ground with a huge thud. Here came Mr. Crazy Nutso teacher running in to the class again. (Which did leave the question of why the heck was he sitting in that office when he himself had classes to teach?) This time, it went way beyond him screaming. He was just 100% out of line.

He came in screaming again, in a total and utter rage. First, he screamed at the girl who knocked the chair over, hardly letting her explain what happened. Then, he walked over to the inner windows of the office that faced the classroom, and started ripping posters from the windows! (I have no doubt the teacher I subbed for probably put those posters up to keep this crazy guy from looking through the window.) He went back in to his office, muttering something about "If she won't watch you then I will!" Was this guy really just implying that I wasn't doing my job, to an entire roomful of students? Who the hell did this guy think he was? Now I was beyond annoyed, I was just pissed. One of the students got up to close the office door, and he screamed "Don't you dare shut that door! The door stays open!"

At this point he came storming back in to the room again. Of course, he picked out the two timid, shy girls in the back to focus his anger on. He yelled "Where's your work? Why are you sitting their making posters? You have work to do!!!" The girls looked at him as if they were going to cry. I wanted to stop him, but I knew that the only way to get his attention would be to yell at him. Since I knew my temper would get the better of me, I didn't say anything. I knew there was a better way to handle this jerk. One of the girls, a little blond girl who was a little pudgy, quietly replied with "We finished our work. These posters are for a project we are doing. Our teacher said if we finished all the work the sub gave us, we could continue on our projects."

The teacher yelled at the girl who spoke up. He said "I said where is your work? What are you, deaf? I don't need the explanation, just bring me your work!" Another girl in the room, who didn't seem to be the shy or timid type, shouted "Don't let him talk to you like that! You did nothing wrong! He's not your Daddy!" I thought for a minute the class was going to stage a revolt. Suddenly the shy girl found her backbone, because she yelled out "No I am not deaf! Who do you think you are? You can't talk to me like that. Are you deaf? Didn't you hear me when I said my work was done??"

Wow. I was shocked! On the inside, I was rooting this girl on. Good for her! The teacher was beyond himself with rage. He threatened the girl with suspension, thinking it would make her cower to him. Instead, she got up and walked towards the door. He then gave a very childish retort of "Yeah go ahead and run, you little baby! Run away!" The girl turned around on her way out the door and said "Yup. I'm running away. How do you like me now?" The entire class was in an uproar at this point. The teacher, needing the last word, said "Yeah, looking at you, I don't think you could run even if you wanted to." I could not believe he was now making comments about a student's weight!

As soon as he went back in to his room, I had a student go for a security guard. I was not going to deal with this crazy nut for every class period! As soon as the security guard came in, the first thing he said was "Good lord. Let me guess. That idiot from next door came over here yelling? He's even done that with the teacher here. Don't worry, I know those girls didn't do anything wrong, they won't be in trouble. He's a control freak. Just leave a detailed note for the teacher, and I will go and deal with him. And after I talk with him, if he so much as sets a toe in here, you send a student for me. And for the love of God, tell your students to keep that door shut! I don't know what he thinks this is, but this isn't his class, and I wish that office door had a lock on it."

Well, at least he was taken care of. The other class periods, he moodily walked up and down the hall outside the classroom, but he didn't dare come in or say anything. I made sure to leave the teacher a play by play of a note. Just when I thought the day was a complete bust... some of the students were apparently sympathetic to me. The word got around school pretty fast! I had some of my old teachers stopping by to visit, telling me what a great job I was doing, and requesting me to sub for the classes in the next few weeks. By the end of the day, I had already lined up five jobs for the next two weeks. Ha. I was really hoping on my way out I'd run in to Mr. Crazy in the hall, so I could give him my two cents. Of course, he had already left.

******

End of rant. I won't even go in to the rant about the $400+ I spent yesterday paying the mechanic who fixed my car.

Actually I tried not to take the stress of this home with me. With the help of Mr. John Mayer and my iPod, the stress was tolerable.