Bad Boss

I've been lucky in my professional life.  I really only had one immediate supervisor who was a fool.  It was one of my first jobs as a teacher and he was the head of our building.  He was stupid and he had power.  That, dear readers, that is a deadly combination.  It was in another state, in another time, in another life....but stupid transcends time and place.

I can accept powerful people if they're smart.  Now, for you purists, I'm not only talking book smart.  I'm talking street smart.  If you can improve my teaching by being a better educator than I am, well, I'll listen to you.  If you want me to be your puppet just to see me dance, I can promise BAD Erin will emerge.  And bad Erin is, well, bad Erin.

My Bad Boss-- He was stupid with a Capital ST!  He sent out letters with misspellings.  He called faculty meetings with nothing to discuss, present, or announce.  He was a part-time PE teacher and the teachers caught him playing tag with the children in the gym in the dark.  He was a dullard.  He was a power hungry jackass.  He was 27 years old and one of the youngest in the building-- I was the  youngest.

He told one of my sweet 6th grade girls to shake off an arm injury after a particularly rowdy softball game.  Her arm was broken-- I could tell it by looking at it.  That was when I had enough.  I called the girls' mother to find out if she wanted me to call an ambulance or if she wanted to come and get her.  Folks, I drew the line in the sand.  War had been declared....young teacher against stupid.

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It went from bad to worse.  I have a wonderful knack of catching people. (Note to self:  It is such a good skill, I should put it on my resume.)  AND I have an even better knack of acting wide-eyed and innocent when I do catch someone.  (You Central kids thought I was naive-- I was just fishing for what you would or wouldn't tell me as an assistant principal-- I especially enjoyed asking some young people, "What would you use a water pipe for?"  I know you thought I really believed you when you said some people smoke tobacco in them. I nodded wisely and told you thank you.)

Sidebar:  Whenever someone was suspected of smoking dope, I ate Cool Ranch Doritos in front of them.  For an old, white woman, I was fly.  If the student started drooling.....you probably know the rest of that story....

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So, when the building head couldn't be found the day the 6th grade boy brought the bag of marijuana to school (with enough weed to supply the entire school and the science teacher said the street value could buy a small farm), the teachers followed the chain of command.  We looked for him.  We asked his secretary.  There was too much marijuana to mess with this one.  We needed to report this pronto.  So, we called his boss.  The boss looked for him. The sheriff came.  The sheriff looked for the dolt (building head).  Everyone was looking for him.  No bad boss around.

Alas, at the end of the day, just like a child who has cut school, the dolt returned for dismissal.  He said he had been to the library.  He never came back to our building.  

So, to the dolts out there, consider this is a warning.  I am looking for you.  I will find you-- wide-eyed and innocent.  AND I will cut you off at the knees.


(Well, this is a sunshiny little post.)