You think YOUR job is tough? Try going to high school!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Many things that bug me about my school that, I assume, most jobs don’t have.

  1. You have to tell someone when you go to the restroom.

  2. You have eight different bosses, all with different schedules.

  3. You cannot quit and go to another school.

  4. You don’t get any money out of it.

  5. You have absolutely NO power in the heiarchy of the school. Yes, you may be thinking that the Student Council or class officers do things. You would be wrong. Our superintendant has canceled a dozen straight meeting with my school’s Stu Co.

I’m sure that when I get a real job, I will be complaining about that, too. But what’s more American than whining?

2

Unfortunately, Soup, after high school you have the world of employment to look forward to. Imagine most the worst elements of high school without most of the good ones. For example, think of one of your classes like algebra or social studies. Now imagine it lasting for eight hours. Five days a week. For twenty five years.

As for your disliking your teacher; wait until you meet your boss. You’re about to meet a person who honestly doesn’t care anything about you. And you’re going to find that while school doesn’t pay you any money, a job means you have to work for your money or you don’t have it.

Of course, not every job is terrible. Some are actually interesting and rewarding. But the catch is that those jobs are hard to find and keep. And the smarter you are, the more likely you are to succeed.

So I’m not trying to tell you that school doesn’t suck. But a word to the wise; use this chance for all it’s worth. If you don’t take all the education you can get, you’ll find your entire life sucks.

3

To answer you how about some of the things wrong with a job.

  1. You have to tell someone when you will arrive and when you will leave. You are also asked to work thru lunch at their convenience.

  2. You must answer to many bosses, your direct supervisor, then his boss, then his boss, etc.

  3. You can quit, but you have to go look for another job which is hard work in and of itself.

  4. Your paycheck goes to paying the bills and you might have a few dollars left over to go out if you weren’t so tired.

  5. There is a hierarchy of bosses, all of whom you must answer to and keep happy. Also the boss doesn’t give you the answers at the end of the test. And the boss at a job can fire you.

  6. You get 2 weeks of vacation a year to start and then if you are lucky by the time you retire you are up to 4 weeks.

  7. This goes on for about 45 years at which point you retire and then die.

But Today’s soup, you should just sit back and enjoy this time. If you appreciate it now it is much more fun. Don’t stress about the politics, go have some fun and remember to do you homework.

4

Hey, Soup already said he knew that working would suck too. He has some legitimate gripes, like we all do.

High school sucks in ways that work never dreamed of. Work sucks like high school wishes it could. Personally, the only way I would be a teenager again is if I knew then what I know now.

You know, speaking of… Soup?

Go have sex. A lot of it. :slight_smile:

5

I hate to tell you, soup, but get the right job, and you’ll still have to deal with the first problem on your list. My two call center jobs, we had these little lights on our phone that we’d have to turn off to keep calls from coming in that were basically only used when we had to go to the bathroom. So, we put ourselves in AUX (as it was called), our bosses knew “Oops, in the bathroom again” and if you went too often, you got written up for it. There were many, many times, between the attitude of my bosses and the rules and regulations, that I thought my call center jobs WERE high school all over again. So beware of the workforce, young one. It will lure you with a false sense of security and then strike once more. :smiley:

6

Try working in a school:

  1. You run around in fear when a child goes missing because they slipped out of the class and didn’t tell you that they were “just” going to the restroom.

  2. You plan in all the different areas of the school in hopes of providing a great education but yet a really fun and stimulating program for the students to enjoy so that they don’t feel like they are in prison.

  3. Some days you wish you could just quit and go to another school when you have a rough one with agitated parents and then you realize that parents are parents and that the next day that group of kids will be there to depend on you once again, so you pull out of it and go in where you realize that hey, this is a great job.

  4. You are paid to be there, but it’s not the pay of a judge, astronaut, doctor, but you realize you chose this field because of your love of learning and children.

  5. You have absolutely no power sometimes in decisions regarding the students and parents. The big boss makes those for you and tells you how to deal with things because school boards have become so political.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my job working in a school, just playing a bit of devil’s advocate for you. And, now im off to the shower before going in to see those smiling faces and get those hugs that really make my day.

7

Okay, I have to get in on this:

Work is better than school for the following reasons:

  1. If your paycheck reflects a poor work performance, it’s up to you to change that. You don’t have to hear about it and hear about it and hear about it and hear about it from your parents until they break your spirit entirely.

  2. With some exceptions, when you go home at night, you leave the job: you don’t have to take it home with you.

  3. With rare exceptions, your sibling(s) didn’t have the same job a year or more earlier, so your boss can’t compare you to hir/them, favorably or otherwise.

  4. If you can afford it, and your job is in a neighborhood that permits it, you can leave the premises at lunchtime to eat somewhere else, or window-shop, or just stroll around. I’ve had several jobs in Glendale, CA, and that town is paradise at noon.

  5. Yes, you have to conform to a dress code, but at least you can choose your own clothes within that dress code: no one’s going to force you to wear a Lanz pinafore. (Thanks, mom. Yes, I know you went to school during the depression. That won’t stop other girls from pulling my skirt up because I’m not wearing Jordaches.)

  6. Yes, you have to check in and out when you go the restroom, but chances are slim that you’ll get shaken down for your lunch money while you’re in there.

  7. If the company has a team, like softball, everyone gets to play, and it’s strictly for fun. And you can snack and sip while waiting your turn at bat.

  8. Do high schools let you keep a coffee mug at your desk? And a little stuffed porcupine? And do you get your own computer, to which you can affix a photo of your sweetie?

  9. Most high schools aren’t air conditioned.

That said, Soup, forge on. I hated every minute of it, but you have to do it anyway, so you can get a Real job with a good paycheck. Just keep telling yourself, “It’s not forever…It’s not forever…”.

8

Canadian Sue, you forgot the worst part of actually working at a school: There are children EVERYWHERE! AHHHHHHH, the horror.

But as for Soup_du_jour’s points, his comment don’t reflect my experience in high school:

1) You have to tell someone when you go to the restroom.

Nope, never had to do this. No teacher wanted to take the time to monitor it. Of course, they reserved the right to keep you from going at any particular moment, but those made sense (tests, important points, homework notification, etc.)
*2) You have eight different bosses, all with different schedules. *

I never did homework, so all that mattered was that the teacher be in the classroom at the appropriate time. There schedules for the rest of the day had no relevance to me.

*3) You cannot quit and go to another school. *

Sure you can. You just don’t want to go through the hassle or expense. This is generally the justification for not quitting a job you don’t like.

*4) You don’t get any money out of it. *

I did. I got scholarships for college because of what I did in high school. I also received college credit for several of my high school classes. A cash savings of many hundreds of dollars.

*5) You have absolutely NO power in the heiarchy of the school. Yes, you may be thinking that the Student Council or class officers do things. You would be wrong. Our superintendant has canceled a dozen straight meeting with my school’s Stu Co. *

This is more or less true, but you do have complete power over yourself within that hierarchy, it is simply a matter of convenience how much you exercise that right.

But don’t worry, high school is not the happiest time of your life (adults who say it is have very shallow lives) but it is one of the simplest times of your life.

9

  1. and sometimes you can’t go. my math teacher, English Teacher, and Biology teacher will not let a human being leave the class to go to the restroom to excrete their bodily fluids. (at work, I don’t have to ask, I just leave)

  2. I have 6 bosses (and then 1 principal, and 4 Vice Principals) at school. at work I have 2 bosses. my boss, which is the New Media Director, and his boss (Publisher) I only have to Answer to My Boss, and my boss has to answer to his boss.)

  3. at our school, we can go to an Alternative Education Center. but that place is for dropouts and druggies. (if you can’t find another job either you are too picky, or won’t get off of your ass to look)

4)we get no money, though the school district gets around $5,000 a year per student. (at work I get 7.50 an hr.)

5)and the heierarchy of the school is what can be blamed for teen suicides, shootings, and mental illnesses/abnormalities. it usually goes as follows.
A. at the top, there are the rich kids, the jocks, and females that hang all over the jocks. you can identify an “A” kid by his clothing. Ralph Lauren Polo, and Abercrombie and Fitch come to mind, as brands. don’t forget American Eagle. normally only friends with other “A”'s
B. there are the medium-high kids. me, and some of my good friends fit into this group. we don’t get money from our parents, it’s hard earned, and we sometimes have a lot of it. we don’t flaunt it though. can be recognized by regular, every-day clothes. Try to be friends with others.
C. Stoners/Hicks. These two are in the same category because they are both… minorities of the School. Hicks usually live on a farm, and stoners smoke a lot of bud. do not confuse stoners with Goths.
D. Goths. near the bottom of the heirarchy because they are just viewed as too “weird” and “dark”. Characterized by dark clothing, chains, multiple piercings, and somtimes very strange hair.
E. at the bottom are the outcasts. these kids may be slow, somewhat handicapped, and/or really “annoying”. they also shy away from any kindness that anyone shows them, because they think they are just taunting them, and joking. these kids most likely were abused as children, came from handicapped parents, or were born to mothers that drank/smoked during pregnancy.

(at my place of business, there is no heierarchy. Everyone is treated equal. if 1 person in the dept gets a raise, everyone does. Employee Heierarchy in workplaces is discrimination, and is illegal. Executive Heierarchy in the workplace (bosses, and boss’ bosses) is perfectly fine, and is usually connected in sub-categories. usually, you do not have to report to your boss’ boss, your boss does. you have to report to your boss.

10

  1. I had no problems in High School and was adored by Teachers and Administrators alike.

  2. My parents quitted me and sent me to another school because I made honor roll without bringing home books my freshman year.

  3. Hi Opal!

  4. Quit whining, these are good times, you just don’t see it right now.

But what do I know?

11

“People who get nostalgic about childhood were obviously never children.”
-from Calvin and Hobbes

For me K-Mart was definetly better than high school.

First of all, we were technically supposed to tell our department manager before we went to the bathroom, but most people ignored this rule. Also, I often got the wonderful experience of telling customers that they were wrong (they read the wrong ad, picked up the wrong product, etc…). Teachers, on the other hand, are always right. High school, on the other hand, did not involve carrying 40-pound bags of dog food. Well, I’m just glad that I’m in college now.

12

To address a few of these as a college student who has had a job:

“1) You have to tell someone when you go to the restroom.”

Where I worked, this was the case as well. In addition to that, some college profs prefer it and there are high school teachers friends have told me about who didn’t require you to tell them when you needed to go potty.

“2) You have eight different bosses, all with different schedules.”

Um . . . and? Depending on how many classes you have in college you have the profs for those, sometimes the deans of those departments, etc. And as has been said in this thread already, unless you’re one of the higher-ups, you have any number of bosses.

“3) You cannot quit and go to another school.”

No, but you can transfer. And in some states you can quit school before high school ends, so that’s an option.

High school ideally only lasts 4 years. Stereotypically an American is working from age 22 until age 65. That’s over 40 years.

“4) You don’t get any money out of it.”

Yes and no. A friend of mine right now was a sysadmin in high school, which I believe got him remedial pay. Also there are those students who get paid to tutor. And then there’s the money you can make from what you get in high school: knowledge.

“5) You have absolutely NO power in the heiarchy of the school.”

  1. This doesn’t much change in college.

  2. This doesn’t much change when you start working.

  3. That’s not entirely true, and when things must change sometimes you can go over the school’s head and make someone bigger and stronger make them change.

“Yes, you may be thinking that the Student Council or class officers do things. You would be wrong.”

I can’t speak for anyone else here, but at my high school that wasn’t the case.

That doesn’t mean I don’t think high school sucks:)

13

You seem to think of High School as a job… it’s not a job, it’s training. And training (even corporate training) generally sucks. But you need it in order to progress to the place you wish to be in life.

In most places, you can legally leave school at the age of 16, but I’m guessing you wouldn’t like the “career” path that many of those kids end up on. [ not to say it is not possible for them to succeed just that it tend to be MUCH more difficult]

Your teachers are there to attempt to make sure you receive a reasonable education. Because large groups of teenagers are rarely all organized, respectful, cooperative or even vaguely interested, high school teachers often have to impose rules they would rather not, just to have a chance to do their job. (as a side note: You may notice that your teachers can’t go to the bathroom whenever they want either.).

Being a teenager is about testing a pushing boundries, it’s part of growing up. High Schools and their staffs have the unenviable job of atempting to impose order and knowledge on hundred of teenagers everyday. Fortunately, administrators and educators do care, otherwise high Scool could be A LOT more like boot camp.