I’ve been working as a long-term sub-which, in and of itself is a really funny story, but I can’t really talk about it. What is really funny is that I ran into someone from the cultish high school I worked at that week, and then got laid off from, and spent a weekend crying over. Yeah. That job. I swear, people at that school have drunk some sort proverbial koolaid, or they’ve all taken the same classes from scientology or something. I was upstairs at the large urban high school I worked at last year, talking to an old collegue of mine, when this guy walks by and says.
“Oh my God, Hi, didn’t you used to work at NamelessHorribleCult High School for about Fifteen minutes?”
Keep in mind, this dude was not a student, but an alleged adult in his forties. I was stunned by his sensitivity to what was clearly the worst professional experience of my life, so I said.
“Yeah, that was me.” yeah, that’s me, the person who lost their fulltime job in a recession, the person who still doesn’t have healthcare, or enough money for sushi.
“How did you like it there?” Honestly, would you ask this question?
“It was fantastic.” By this point, I might have been conspiciously sarcastic.
“I’m so glad you liked it, it’s great isn’t it?” I mean, here’s the crazy thing about this guy, and why I think they are all members of a secret cult, everyone knows what happened to me and how I no longer worked there, as I was introduced to them ALL as the new social science teacher. Bearing this in mind, and perhaps the tone of my vocie, wouldn’t you have picked up on the sarcasm? But, no, they are all so into that school and think that’s it’s so fantastic, that even though I was essentially fired, I would somehow have happy memories about having the opportunity to work there, even though it was unfairly and cruelly taken away. So I said:
“It was truly unforgettable.”
“Yeah, I don’t work there anynmore, I’m VP at another school. Hey, so are you working here now?”
“No, I’m just subbing.”
“Oh, sorry, that’s too bad. About what happened…”
“Yeah, I’m mostly over it.”
I suppose the smart thing to do professionally would have been to be more chippper and upbeat about my unemployment and job insecurity, particularly to someone who’s a vp, but I don’t care.
What a Douchebag.
