I. hate. mechanics.

Last Friday my car wouldn't start. All my amateur mechanic friends worked on it to no avail so it went to the shop on Monday. I got a ride from Daddy-O on Friday and Saturday to my second job. A friend at work dropped me at home. Sunday I used his car to grocery shop. Mac used it for church. I hitched a ride to and from work with a relative of ITSam. Same Tuesday morning and afternoon.

Tuesday night around 5:30pm it was ready for pick up.

Wednesday morning it wouldn't start. Daddy-O let me take his car to work. ITSam got it started and thought he figured the problem. Wednesday night Princess and I were running around and it wouldn't start. I jiggled and wiggled stuff until it started.

Thursday morning it wouldn't start. It went back to the shop.

The owner of the shop called me today at work and told me the "new" problem. He also said, and I quote, "We'll have it done tonight if I have to stay here until 10 o'clock tonight and work on it myself."

At 5:45pm ITSam talked to them and they were still working on it. The guy on the phone said he would park it outside with the keys in it when they were done.

At 7pm it was not parked outside with the keys in it and there was not one single soul at that garage.

Because I was hoping they were on dinner break or went to get a part, I went back there about 10 minutes ago. It is STILL not parked outside.

It's been 8 days. Eight damn days, people!!!!!!! God created Earth in 7 and these asshats can't fix a flippin' ignition switch on a 10 year old Chevy in 8??????

Lying bastards.

I'm done being nice.

Tomorrow is Carmageddon.
Maggie

Deja vu

I started my school year filling in for an English teacher who was on maternity leave.

I was asked yesterday to sub for her today. And tomorrow. And Monday. (I'll explain in a later post about why she's not here at the moment. I have to think about how to word that post so no one around can accidentally stumble on it and find me. That would be bad.)

She had a different sub for the last five days. In that last five days that sub has written more than 40 demerits, has kicked kids out of the classroom, had 2 separate altercations with two different kids, and has cut their daily behavior points excessively. I'm actually being sent in to get things back under control.

Oh. My. God. I'm not a terminator; quite the opposite, actually. They want me because I am NOT a terminator. I'm... rainbows and bunnies--- with a twist of perky.

My administration decided it would be in the best interest of the students and the school to close the library for an indefinite period of time so I could come to the rescue in this class.

I'm flattered. I think.

Seriously, there's the possibility that I could just finish the rest of the year, back in that classroom.

Bust as for today... Today I subbed. The classroom teacher sent NO lesson plans so I winged it (or is it "wang it"?). I won't bore you with the details but suffice it to say I had a good day.

Number of demerits I wrote today= 0
Number of students I kicked out of class=0
Number of points I cut=o
Number of student altercations= 0
The looks on the faces of the fellow teachers who thought I, too, would fail= priceless

Let's hope I can have a repeat performance tomorrow.

Maggie

Song of the moment for me:

If he would just keep his big mouth shut

Mac got detention for more than just saying "shit." He told the teacher he was bored in her class. Now I'm saying sh**.

Mac loves his government class and he really likes the teacher. He's been in her other classes before and usually she teaches in lecture style discussion. She changed this class up completely and Mac had hated every minute of it. he's talked with her about is and she said because the state is changing to merit pay for teachers she's trying new teaching methods. And in Mac's opinion, it's not working.

So yesterday during class she gave them all a worksheet: 14 questions and 2 that she wanted answered in paragraphs.

Mac did all 14 and then answered the other 2 in a few sentences. He then read the directions. He told her he only answered in a few sentences and why should he write a paragraph if it doesn't take that much to give the correct answer. She told him to just do it.

It was toward the end of class and she was gathering the assignment and she told him to turn it in tomorrow. He started to give he the other 14 questions and she told him no. He said he would rather have some points counted off for the incorrect answers for 2 questions and than lose all his points for the other 14. She told him to not worry about it because.... she wasn't going to grade it away.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm. Yeah.

Mac said then why did she assign them busy work, it was a stupid waste of time when they could've been having a productive discussion and this was stupid and he was bored and why wouldn't she teach?

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm. Yeah.

I guess she proceeded to tell him that she tried to make lesson plans for everyone and she was sick of him criticizing her and she cried. And he said "this is bullshit" and walked out of the class. He said he went directly to the guidance office and told on himself. Then the guidance counselor took him to the assistant principal. He got 4 after school detentions, where he will spend 30 minutes helping clean the school.

He went and found the teacher and apologized to her, on his own, without prompting from anyone. According to him, she forgave him and SHE apologized because she has student like Mac who are at the top who want to learn, kids who are special ed. who can't do the simplest things eh has, the kids who don't care no matter what she does, and then the middle group. She said no administrators can answer who they are supposed to get high scores and good results with such a mixed class and she said she was sorry she was failing kids like him.

I'm going to start counting down the days until he leaves for college.

Maggie

In Like A Lion

Today was not a good day.

1. Mac got 4 days of after school detention for shooting off his mouth and using the word shit
2. I did NOT get the job
3. My car broke down last week and I got the $390 bill today
4. I will not be appoint Princess's guardian in June. Long story. It's nothing she nor I did; It's politics and "the system."

Maggie

March in my library

I wrote my first library newsletter and I'm going to pass one out to each kid tomorrow. It's full of cool things I have planned for the month of March. I want the library to be a center of 'artistic learning' and not just all about books. I want my students to WANT to come to the library.

This month I've hidden paper shamrocks in books and if students find one, they can check it out, read it, take a Reading Counts test and if they pass it, then they get a full sized candy bar. I'm holding this contest until St. Paddy's Day.

Next week I'm hosting a fat Tuesday party. I got a local bakery to give me some donuts and I'm going to serve them all call 'em King Cakes. I've created a 4 minute Power Point presentation about Mardi Gras and how it's related to Christianity. I also have decorations and door prizes.

Every Friday we have a drawing. Kids who get awarded a good behavior award come in the library and their name goes in a drawing so they can win prizes. The "drawing container" is in pretty bad shape. I'm sponsoring a decoration contest. Students can submit a design and the winner will bring the design to life, and get a lunch out!

The last thing I have planned for March is an Art & Lecture activity. I'm having a guest speaker come in, show some greeting cards she's mad, talk about it and then the invitees get to make a card or two. this is happening on the Ides of March.

I was going to have a St. Patrick's Party but the only way I could think of tying it to the library was through Irish poetry. Usually written by drunks. So I thought I would pass on that!

I'm so excited about it all!

My only stupid moment was as the copier spit out copy #116 of my March newsletter and I thought I should've celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday. On March 2. Ooops!

Maggie

Ma Bell would turn over in her grave

Answering the phone on weekends at Alcatraz is interesting. I never know what sort of calls I'm going to get. Oh, most of the stuff is standard like wanting to speak to an employee or someone calling to talk to a kid. That's normal. I also have to take care of intra campus calls, which are usually no big deal. (If a kid is running, we have lots of phone traffic I have to manage, between intra campus calls and I have to facilitate the police officers who are called in).

Otherwise, I get the 'usual' stuff. But sometimes, it does get weird.

People call and ask me for directions to get here. For our address. For our fax number. My favorite was when a woman called and asked me for our phone number. After a few seconds of silence I just gave it to her; she thanked me, hung up, and called back about 10 seconds later.

Since we do foster parent stuff, I get calls from foster parents who have kids with them. These are one of our very top priorities. These are often scary. One foster mom called to say her foster son was threatening to kill himself and they were in her car. Another time a kid wanted to come back here rather than stay in his placement.

I get new parents who call and have to tell me who they are and the name of their kid. And why the child is here. And that they aren't bad parents. All they really have to do is call and ask for "house [insert number]" and I connect the call. I don't even need the name of the kid; the house parents get paid to sort that crap out. But I feel badly when a new parent feels they need to explain it all to me, and I'm just the measly phone operator. And I really don't want to know why... trust me, you don't usually want to know the why. Ever. At all.

One parent wanted to know if she could bring a birthday gift and leave it with me to give to her daughter.

One dad asked me if swearing was allowed by the boys in his son's house because they cuss in the background all the time when he's on the phone with his boy.

I had one woman call and ask if a certain student had a home pass because she was calling the cops on him if he did because he molested her daughter.

One parent asked if I could watch her 3 year old for four hours while she visited her older son. She didn't have a babysitter and her son who is at Alcatraz has a "no contact" order with the three year old.

I've had people call and ask if my town has a mall or a specific restaurant so when they pick up their child they can take them there to eat.

I've been asked if pets are allowed so "Joey" could play with his dog that he misses.

Former students have called collect from jail.

Last night I had a call that "takes the cake." A mom called me, en route, and wanted to drop her kid off here because she was, and I quote: "done with her." Let me tell, ya I sent that to our on duty boss ASAP!

Maggie

The wheels on the bus go round and round, and the driver of the bus goes "grrrrr grrrrr"!

Princess and I rode the bus the other evening since Mac had the car. She had never ridden any sort of public transportation before and we ended up with a very mean bus driver. It was not our best riding experience. Actually most of the time when I use public transportation, I have crummy experiences. I don't know if it's the luck of the draw, or what. Sometimes I have no other alternative than to ride with them; I hate that rock and hard place feeling.

I know other people who take it all the time and never had any issues and that's great for them. I also know this is better than nothing when you need a ride. I just hate the fact I get some grumpy drivers who always blame me for their issues. Or are mad at their dispatcher and then are in crappy humor with me the entire ride. I usually try and schedule my rides 24 hours (or more) in advance. And I never call and say "can you come get me in 10 minutes?" If I need a same day ride, I call in the early morning for a late afternoon or evening ride. If I do call for a same day ride, I am always prepared for snafus. Ugh!

Our transportation isn't like a regular bus. There isn't a regular route it runs and you walk to a stop and get on. No, instead, you schedule a pick up and they come get you as close to the appointed time you ask for. The policy says, I think, the bus has a 20 minute grace period either way of your assigned time. Yes, they could be 20 minutes early or 20 minutes late. As a rider, you are allotted 5 minutes to get your butt out the door and into the bus from the moment they arrive, even if they are 20 minutes early. Because of this stupid 20 minutes policy, I rarely use them when I am on a time crunch. I make sure I can be flexible.

The other night Princess and I were at the downtown coffee shop waiting for our 6:05pm pick up. We were sitting where we could see the street and we also were laughing at how many open parking spaces there were for the bus to pull in. I had to pee and thought I could wait but nature called. Now, this may be more than you want to or need to know, but it must be said. I can pee REALLY quickly. I've worked in education for the past 11 years and am used to only having a 3 minute passing period to get to a bathroom, do my business, wash my hands, and get back to my room before a bell. So I'm a quick pee-er. I ran to the bathroom and did my thing. From the moment I left my seat until I got back was less than 3 minutes, tops. And the bus came during the time. Princess waited for me and we boarded. That bus driver had waited, according to us anyway, for maybe 2 minutes. We were allowed five.

And the bus driver was some little, old, gray haired, ANGRY lady. She said she has been waiting forever for us. Princess and I looked at each other. The driver went on to say she even called dispatch to see where we were. I asked her where she had been waiting and she said "right here" which was smack in the front of the plate glass window where we had been sitting. So she was completely lying. She slammed the bus doors and told us to sit down and she drove away while I was still walking to my seat, muttering at me. I was pissed.

I actually called the person who schedules the rides the next day to see what the problem was and to explain our side of it. She blamed the other scheduler and said our driver was supposed to be off work at 6pm. Well, whoopee shit. Like that was MY fault?

Daddy-O used to drive for this company and he used to be a dispatcher as well, for years and years. He quit when he retired. I know the other side of this gig so whenever I schedule a ride, I certainly try and always be timely, flexible and friendly. I know what the drivers go through. I wish the drivers would offer that same service in return.

Other bad experiences: I waited my allotted 20 minutes late and then called to see where my ride was. No one could figure out why I wasn't picked up so after some phone calls to some drivers, they figured out my name never was put on any drivers' lists. New computer software was blamed and it was 40 minutes after my scheduled time that anyone finally got me. And when the driver finally did get me, she complained she was supposed to be off work 30 minutes ago and there were other drivers doing nothing so she didn't know why she was stuck getting me.

Another time I needed pick up at school. We have an office building on one side of the street and the school is on the other. When I called for that ride, I stressed that I was IN the school. So at my pick up time I see the bus just drive right on by the school and pull in the office building entrance and head to the parking lot, which is behind the building. I call to the office and ask if they could send the bus to the school. They do. The driver immediately starts chewing my butt, telling me I need to let the dispatcher know where I'll be. I calmly BUT firmly told that driver, "Look I told them the school. I stressed that I was a teacher and would be at the school. Furthermore, my dad worked for this place and I know the procedure so back off. I suggest you call and see if [dispatcher name] wrote it down or not." Then she proceeded to complain about her job all the way home.

It's better than nothing when I need a ride, I realize that. It beats being stranded. And right now, I have free ride passes which are valid until March 31 so I don't have to pay for any of these rides- they're all free. I guess, in this case, I'm getting what I pay for. But these drivers need to learn some customer service finesse.

And Princess thinks public transportation is now mean and scary. She's kinda right about that...

Maggie