Had a great day today. I went to the amusement park to chaperone with Mal. Sooooooo much fun!!! We chit chatted and gossiped about so much!!! She told me her daughter is going back and forth from proclaiming she is bi or a lesbian, and she actually hooked her daughter up with her current girlfriend. First hint... I'm like wow... um... so she'd be alright if I were gay. We were mini golfing and she told me I should go see Sex and the City with her and her best friend who is gay. Wow. That was another hint... hahaha... Then she asked me if I'm seeing anyone and I was so tempted to come out to her mainly because I'm pretty sure she can keep a secret- I like her a lot- I just don't know her well enough- so I resisted telling her anything. I did tell her about this, now infamous date. That is kind of my test. I used a gender neutral name, and it was the guy's actual name, so this is my test to see... but seriously... I was hesitant especially with just the drama that could happen if I came out to anyone at work. She's pretty trustworthy I'm sure, and has the biggest heart. She has 3-4 foster kids simply because they were former students going through rough times, and feels she has to be there for them. Lots of rides and photos on the rides. OMG. Had soooooo much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After I had to rush back to near where we work to go to the retirement at work. 9 teachers are retiring. There will only be 1 teacher on staff over 40 next year at the school. Half of the veteran teachers- my mom included- were transferred last year. The last group left this year. The teachers were so upset and fed up with everything they just decided to leave. It was crazy, everyone said they have never seen a larger retirement. Everyone who retired was so loved. There were many tears, and I had to stop myself. All of the 9 teachers have known me since I was 3-4 years old. It was so sad since the population of the school is going to change since these teachers were basically the backbone of the school. It was really a great time, and I am so glad I made it. It was really sad, yet happy, bittersweet. It sort of tied up lose ends for me.
There was a Powerpoint presentation that had every teacher's photo on it, and they were waving goodbye to the staff retiring. It was cute- it started off with the principal and him waving hello, saying he was happy to be there since he is a new principal. Then the office staff was shown waving goodbye, and it had a cute title "you come to us when you have a problem." The next slide was "Mr. Jones will miss the cafeteria staff that kept him fed with their delicious cuisine." Mr. Jones jokes that he eats 2 meals a day at the school, and so the cafeteria workers were waving goodbye. Then there was a slide, "you will even miss the substitutes that cover your classes," and the 4 main subs were pictured with the exception of me. The 4 main subs are myself, Mr. Jones' wife, another teacher's wife, and a man who covers for all the PE teachers when they are out, and myself. I wasn't included in the photo however because it so happened that these 3 subs were covering for PE one day last week when they were all in a meeting, so they didn't get me. I think the lady who put the presentation together realized that, and knew I was at the party. So then there were pictures of all the staff members waving goodbye. At the end the lady who put the presentation together got up and said that one of the subs who wasn't included was Mike. She said something along the lines of "Mike is a treasure, he is always willing to take on anything that is thrown at him, and he is always on campus just as long as some of the teachers." I got a round of applause, and cheers. It was soooooo touching. I just felt so loved. One of the teachers that was retiring came up to me afterward that I subbed for when he had heart surgery earlier this year, and he told me what a great job I did. It was cool to get praise from this man who always just keeps to himself and does his own thing. I was not expecting this at the retirement. I had no clue us subs were going to be honored, but the 2 wives married to the teachers, and I were there since we at the school are a family.
1 comment:
I think all to often organizations don't put the proper value on experience and older workers. My company downsized and created a work environment that caused a bunch of people to retire that were elgible along with lucrative buyouts to those near retirement. Not only did the company loose a lot of experienced workers, but they paid them a bonus to go. The true costs of the company's actions exceed the short term savings.
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