'Cause I am.
Year 21. Yet another year of not getting the step - forget a raise, just the step - that was promised me when I signed my contract. I'm losing $3,000 in pay, this year alone. While it won't affect me personally, Master's pay is being eliminated. The school board for which I work is suing the county for underfunding both the operating and capital budgets, while the county sits on millions beyond the required Rainy Day money.
I can almost deal with that. Seriously.
Charlotte's a banking town, and the 2008 mess hit particularly hard around here. People who still had jobs held their collective breath as Wachovia was swept away, Wells Fargo swept in, and B of A held on. The real estate market here still hasn't recovered. It's been a rough few years. Believe me; I get it.
Here's what I can't deal with - the attitude. Why the smear? Why the attack?
I could live with, "Y'all, we know this sucks. We know we're doing you wrong. If you just hang in there, it will get better, eventually. Promise. Until then, thank you for putting up with it"
Instead what we get is - and I'm not putting words in someone's mouth - this was said - "If they don't like it, they can leave."
Got that right, buddy. Market economies work both ways, and I live near the border. Driving 15 minutes in the other direction will net me $12,000 more annually. I'll be taking my metaphorical ball and going home. Next year.
What?
I know. I know. I know.
I applied late to said county, and haven't got it in me to pursue a job which would leave kids in a community I love in a lurch. Can't do it. Which, of course, is how we are kept in line. If we pitch a fit and stand up for ourselves in a way that will force the media and the public to deal with us, and so, put real pressure on the state, kids will suffer. So we don't.
Instead, I'll focus on all of the things, and there are many, I love about my job, my colleagues, and my children. I will teach my tail off, and the public will not get what it pays for; it'll get a helluva lot more. And, though I'll hate myself for it, I'll forgive, yet again, the fact that I'm not just undervalued, I'm reviled, and my abuser doesn't mind crowing out to the world that I continue to sit there and take it, because, surely, I deserve it.
So, NC and I will stay together, just one more year, for the sake of the kids.
Year 21. Yet another year of not getting the step - forget a raise, just the step - that was promised me when I signed my contract. I'm losing $3,000 in pay, this year alone. While it won't affect me personally, Master's pay is being eliminated. The school board for which I work is suing the county for underfunding both the operating and capital budgets, while the county sits on millions beyond the required Rainy Day money.
I can almost deal with that. Seriously.
Charlotte's a banking town, and the 2008 mess hit particularly hard around here. People who still had jobs held their collective breath as Wachovia was swept away, Wells Fargo swept in, and B of A held on. The real estate market here still hasn't recovered. It's been a rough few years. Believe me; I get it.
Here's what I can't deal with - the attitude. Why the smear? Why the attack?
I could live with, "Y'all, we know this sucks. We know we're doing you wrong. If you just hang in there, it will get better, eventually. Promise. Until then, thank you for putting up with it"
Instead what we get is - and I'm not putting words in someone's mouth - this was said - "If they don't like it, they can leave."
Got that right, buddy. Market economies work both ways, and I live near the border. Driving 15 minutes in the other direction will net me $12,000 more annually. I'll be taking my metaphorical ball and going home. Next year.
What?
I know. I know. I know.
I applied late to said county, and haven't got it in me to pursue a job which would leave kids in a community I love in a lurch. Can't do it. Which, of course, is how we are kept in line. If we pitch a fit and stand up for ourselves in a way that will force the media and the public to deal with us, and so, put real pressure on the state, kids will suffer. So we don't.
Instead, I'll focus on all of the things, and there are many, I love about my job, my colleagues, and my children. I will teach my tail off, and the public will not get what it pays for; it'll get a helluva lot more. And, though I'll hate myself for it, I'll forgive, yet again, the fact that I'm not just undervalued, I'm reviled, and my abuser doesn't mind crowing out to the world that I continue to sit there and take it, because, surely, I deserve it.
So, NC and I will stay together, just one more year, for the sake of the kids.
I am right with you, Elizabeth.
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