I'm a Bargain

I got hired back to my teaching position today. It wasn't easy. My colleague, Mel, and I went in with guns blazing. Our jobs were on the list of jobs to choose from after being laid off. We were #20 and #21 to pick (by order of seniority). That meant 19 other laid off teachers were gonna get a stab at our jobs before us. So, we wore our school t-shirts and made signs, asking people not to take our jobs - tugging at the heart strings.

In the dim, dingy confines of the district office, we stood for all passers by to see. It was our only chance...and it worked. Well, not without complications. One teacher was set on taking one of our positions. She had a crazy cockamamie story about why she believed our school was her best option. Tongue firmly in cheek we offered to bake her cookies. Nope, she's diabetic. "How 'bout a shoulder rub?" I think that creeped her out. "Spa day?" Her eyes lit up. Oh, she liked the idea of a spa day and the stone around her heart began to erode at the thought of a hot sauna and cucumber mask.

When it was her turn to pick, she didn't take our jobs, but she did make sure to tell us, "you owe me one". On the back of Mel's Recall Notice she listed two e-mail addresses so we could be sure to find her. What sucks is that (as in the four agreements) I want to be impeccable with my word, as much as it may cost me here. One friend suggested that we send her a tub of dirt with instructions on how to make warm mud in the microwave. Then she could slip into her own claustrophobic mud bath coma.

It feels odd to say that I got lucky today because the job I got really FEELS like my job. I mean, I didn't even pack up my classroom! I'm going back to the same school and the same room. It doesn't feel so lucky to have your job ripped out from under you, only to have to beg for it back and then be expected to feel grateful. But nonetheless, today was a little bit about luck, a little bit of ingenuity, and a little bit of fate all mixed together.

When my good buddy Karol heard I got re-hired she said, "the taxpayer is getting a value". And she's right. You see, I have a pretty healthy sense of my market value. I'm not arrogant about it, I just know that I've got some mad skillz. This school district is damn lucky that I didn't snatch up another job in the time they were draggin' their feet about re-hiring teachers to fill the empty teaching positions. School let out June 12. Hellooooo!?! Whatcha been doing?

Some people said, "Well, ya know, lots of people were on vacation at the district office."

I say, "How nice for them!" It must be swell to pack up the wife and 2.4 kids for a visit to the Grand Canyon. Meanwhile I'm sweatin' out how I'm gonna pay the rent.

After today, there are still many teachers (and other professionals) that are out of work. It's a very tough time for so many. If you know someone that is unemployed right now, take 'em out for a drink, or lunch, or dinner. It feels nice.

Yes, today I got a job. No confetti fell from the sky, no champagne corks popped, but one little district got a helluva deal.