Tuesday, 7 December 2010

Three stars and a wish....

I'm off work at the moment. In fact I've hardly been at work this term. It's not working out well with the new boss who has taken a massive dislike to me for some reason and seems to be making it her personal mission to wear me down until I leave or at least have a nervous breakdown. I'm now on my 6/7th week of time off I think. It gives me time to regroup for the next time I see her. So far I have done no more than a 3 week period before she is so vile to me I cannot cope and get signed off.

A number of things have been suggested to me about why she is this way with me. I am not singled out for the toilet brush treatment but I do get it worse than the others. I am the only one who is really fighting it and standing up to her in any way - ie seeing governors and making a loud noise about how bad things are. So perhaps it is that I pose her greatest threat.
The other more shallow reason suggested to me is that I am everything she is not. I am not a cow. I have friends and a life outside work. I am popular in the workplace and have good relationships with parents children and staff. Finally I don't look like the back end of a bus and I have more years experience. I am not a fast track arsehole like she is - I went into the job for the love of it and not to tread over everyone to get to the top of the tree.

On my last return to work- I had to sit with her and fill out some pointless stress evaluation- very hard to write - YOU ARE THE PROBLEM - I HAVE BEEN FINE FOR YEARS HERE BEFORE YOU CAME ALONG AND SUCKED THE JOY OUT OF EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING.
So instead I had to be more tactful unfortunately, I gave her one of my analogies. 
I have used a few analogies about my current situation. One is that I now work in the 3rd Reich - the other is that I am Frodo Baggins and my colleagues are the fellowship of the ring- we turn up every day under the ever watchful eye of Sauron the all seeing evil eye and are trying to stay alive in the fiery bowels of Mordor.
 I decided these were not wise to share with her and instead gave her some teacher speak about marking work. Some schools use 3 stars and a wish- pick three positive things about a child's work and then one area for improvement. I pointed out to her that all any of us had had was negativity and wishes but no stars. She has also made a massive impact on our workload. None of us feels able to keep up. I said that she could not expect any of us to be on board with her wishes if our self esteem is on the ground because we'd all give up.

It's a simple thing but places like ours do run on good will. There is none at the moment. It used to be in abundance. I'm left wondering why anyone comes into a new job like this - determined to make enemies of people and fail to have any empathy at all. I don't know many people who don't want to be liked by others. It would really upset me to think I was not liked- she doesn't seem to give a crap. She said something a while ago to one of the teacher's dogs. He came over to her to say hello and she said - at least someone here likes me! How utterly stupid- of course no one likes you- you are a bully!

So until next Monday I am at home pondering the future for me again and enjoying the warmth of my fire and the Christmas lights. I aim to make this my last rant about her as I don't wish to focus more attention on her. Merry Christmas.