Career bashing

In the span of a few hours I got to see both of my current sources of employment bashed on social media.  The first started when I dared click on the link to the new Time cover that has been shared on Facebook (including by me).  There are literally thousands of comments so obviously I did not read them all.  But some of the ones I did read started my day off in the dumps.  You could say, "just ignore them - they are just some crazy folks."  Here's the truth, it isn't just one or two comments and this isn't the first time I've heard it.  But the truth is we teachers here these same comments ALL the time. 

Here are the covers:

You're probably guessing some of the comments.  But the truth is there is very little accuracy or an argument for every "reason" given.  However, I've learned that arguing on the internet is even less successful than bashing your head against a wall until it bleeds.

1.  Teachers get paid summers off.
No we do not.  We get PAID to work for 9 months and choose to spread that salary over 12 months.

2.  Teachers know that they don't get paid much.  If they wanted a higher paying job then they should have gone to school for something else.    See this comment:  Excuse me. Did teaching pay well and then all of a sudden it didn't? Teachers have had a monopoly on "woe is me". You knew going into it that it paid a certain wage and that is a choice you made. I hear no other average paying or average earning worker complain. To me, get over it. Get over yourself and your protected job. I may or may not make a fortune, but I have the same freedom of choice of profession as teachers. Want more money, then do something different. If you love what you do, great. Now just shut up about your earnings.

3.  It's a "part time" job.
I can't think of any teacher I know that works "part time".  Most, if not all, put in time above and beyond a 40 hour a week, 9 months a year paycheck.

I could go on, but the comments about teaching really kicked my day off to a dismal beginning.  The only bright side were the few sticking up for teachers  and the few teachers that bothered to try to explain to the ignorant masses how wrong they were.  Just the fact that so many people were able to read the article and write comments should have made them more appreciative of the sacrifice that teachers put in every single day.  As one teacher commented, "Some of us knew we wouldn't be paid well and didn't go into the profession looking to be rich.  What we would like is respect."

But if that wasn't bad enough, when I settled at my desk for my lunch break I stumbled across a news story about restaurant workers in St Paul wanting to be paid $15 an hour.   While I agree $15 is a bit steep and I understand how that affects the restaurants and small business owners trying to make wages, I do understand the frustration of a server as well.  I've been serving for around 28 years with a few year hiatus when my kids were tiny.  I've been stiffed (aka no tip) many times in that period.  There is a lot that people don't understand about being a server and don't seem to want to understand.  If I didn't know that before.  I get it now.  Consider some of these comments on the post from Fox 9 about workers wanting to see a pay increase:

How many tables can a waiter/waitress turn in an hour in a decent restaurant, 4-5? So they want $15 per hour, PLUS maybe $5 per table per hour. Hmmmmm, my math tells me that's approx $35-$40 per hour. So they want almost as much as a tradesman or other SKILLED / TRAINED worker?????? I'm sorry you bring food & drink to a table, wipe the table off, smile, make small take, & take our order. Zero, nada, zip, no skill or training at all involved. Go ahead take ur $15 per hour. IF I happen to go out to eat, there will be no tip left on my table, I don't give a crap how good your service was!!!!!!

Funny thing is it sounds like your saying they should be paid this wage for the crap they put up with. Bahaha! Again, not a skilled labor job, period. You can have ur $15 per hour, but I'll be keeping the tip in my pocket. Better yet here's a tip, go learn a trade, get an actual skill, an education, and then it will be easy to get a living wage job! Problem solved

dont be a server then. Its not a career, its a late teen-early 20something job for gas and beer money.

When one has a better job, why would they wait on tables?

Don't most people know when they apply for a server position that the hourly pay is very low? They know what they are going in to. If it's not enough money then they should look into another job/profession. There are lots of jobs to be had. $15/hour minimum wage is ridiculous for any position as a mandated minimum wage.

I could almost see the point in a couple of instances, if it weren't for the blatant disrespect and disregard for the service they are given at a restaurant.  It is these very, "you're here to serve me and serve my every whim" kind of people that make being a server a shitty job.  Of course the entire commentary digressed into every annoying habit that servers have.  One woman went on a complete rant about how she hates to be asked, "Do you need change?" when a server takes her bill up to run it.  When did we become such a hateful society?  When did we lose all respect for the common man?  When did we stop realizing that, just because someone is getting paid to bring me my food, they aren't a real live person deserving of respect?

Well.  Here's what I am going to do.  I'm going to stop thinking about the folks who don't get it and don't want to get it.  I'm going to remember the students who tell me as adults that I was the "second best teacher they ever had". (Hey - that's still pretty special.)  I'm going to remember the parents that told me "because of you, my son learned to love to read".  I'm going to remember the customers that tell my boss I made their day or that they were in love with my smile (or laughed at my crappy jokes).  And I'm going to keep doing the two jobs that I love and be damned with the critics.