Work Blahs

I work in a preschool.  It’s okay… I chose this profession right outta college. There wasn’t much else I could do with my four year degree in English.  I love kids – always have.  Four and Five year olds are my specialty, but I have a really hard time staying away from happy babies as well.   The preschool job went from 40 hours per week to 30 hours per week when I got hired on at church as the Children’s Minister.  I’d have loved to quit the daycare all together, but it pays some bills.  The church only pays me part-time.

Anyway, church work is getting busier and a bit harder as we progress.  The church is growing and the children’s ministry will stop growing if we don’t begin to focus on it more. So, I’ve definitely declared the church as my top priority over the daycare work.  Thing is, like I said, the daycare pays some bills.

When I got pregnant (thus, constantly exhausted as well), I decided to bring my hours down to 25.  I gave up my own classroom to be a “floater” – someone who bounces around the building offering potty breaks and errand running.  This way, I won’t have to do lesson planning or discipline (much) and all that other jazz.

Giving up my classroom was a hard decision.  Graduation is just around the corner, and my 8 students are going off to Kindergarten in the fall.  But, my mommy skills were lacking and my church work was suffering… so I really saw it as no other choice.

Well, I was stoked to learn that my new schedule would be 10am to 3pm.  What a deal… sleep in and then come home before regular business hours end.   I counted down the days to my new schedule.  My  new schedule started on Monday and I haven’t worked a single 10-3 shift yet.

My boss assures me that after next week, it will be strictly 10-3pm… but that this week is funky due to some other staffing issues.  Do I believe her?  Half.  I want to believe her really badly … but experience has shown that if I don’t stay on top of her case about it all the time, I’ll be taken advantage of and considered “Flexible” in scheduling.  Don’t worry – I’m all over it. She understands with all certainty that I will NOT be in to work before 10am starting Monday.   I am very demanding, and she has learned that about me. Thing is, she’s a pretty cool boss, and has given in to my every demand thus far.

Here’s the tricky part … I accepted a position from her back in January that was a pretty nice deal.  I would start my new position in August, when school starts – and I’d be teaching from 8 to 3 as a salaried teacher. I’d have all teacher holidays off and I’d still get benefits.  I couldn’t pass this up.  Anybody else would jump on the deal, too.

But then, I got knocked up.  And I told her …without telling her… that the deal’s off.  When baby #2 comes around, I wanna stay home (that’s the agreement that hubs and I made a long time ago)…   I even mentioned to my boss the cost of childcare, and that having two in care while I work for my (generous, but not generous enough) little salary would hardly pay the bills, and she laughed it off.

I thought I was understood.  I thought it was clear as day that I would not be working there for free – as my whole paycheck would go to childcare for my two kids.  Apparently, she didn’t understand.  Even today, she’s still going around introducing me as the new classroom teacher starting this fall.  She’s crazy.

I love her to pieces. But, I love my church more and my family moreest.  So – there’s the drama at work that I’m working to sort out one comment at a time each day.