The Madness I Live With

Just an update from Thursday- for everyone I mentioned my run in with the boss lady, you can tune out now.

Last Thursday, after a stressful week where a friend and colleague of mine was sent home for not following an ineffective procedure during a child's attack on a janitor, tensions were high with the boss lady and on Thursday. I was told to go to Prudy's office because I was in the hot seat. I quickly scanned my brain for anything I may have done wrong. Except i do NOTHING wrong here. The only thing I've ever had the slightest talking to about was for doing too much and taking too much responsibility (apparently it encouraged laziness in others. Too bad laziness was here long before I was!) .

Prudy said to have a seat and explained for what felt like an eternity that several people, including herself, fellow teachers, and the principal have noticed things that I've been doing. She said she needed to discuss my position here. She said it was high time someone spoke to me about them. Would I like to know what they were? I told her yes, but honestly, I was really tallying every mistake she's made (that I have documented) and getting ready to give her the "I can take you down so fast" speech. Because this is BCI and that's what you do to stay alive here.

She said you have been doing an exemplary job. Your performance is truly superior and blah blah blah. She said if times weren't so tough, this would be a promotion talk. Then she proceeded to let me pick of the out of the Treasure Box, a small wooden box of mediocre rewards for good performance, like $5 Dunkin Donuts cards, $2 lottery tickets, candy, pens, and certificates to arrive 1/2 hour late to work. I realized that the past 5-10 times I've been the one earning accolades and prizes, so I really picked this thing empty. I chose some premium M&M's with Almonds, if any one is curious.

This morning I went into Prudy's office and thanked her for her praise. I'm done griping about this job, but that doesn't mean it ever gets easier. It's so rare that we get genuine praise, though we believe enough in its effectiveness to give it to the kids 100's of times everyday. I told her maybe that wasn't the best way to begin positive reinforcement, seeing as I felt like I could throw up from stress/fear afterwards. She said it was duly noted. We'll see. But that, I mean ALL of that, it's just madness, right?

Wedding Daze

I'm officially in withdrawal from Erik & Tracy's wedding. I've been looking forward to last week for months. It came. It rocked. And now it's gone. To me, it sort of felt like they were married already. They already shared a home, a bank account, and of course, Red. The actual wedding and reception were everything you'd expect from Erik & Tracy. Modern, fun, and definitely a little lavish. I still have 6-8 bottles of Erik & Tracy Oil (Rosemary Olive Oil) that were tossed in my huge Foach bag (fake Coach).

Today the kids went to a Thanksgiving dinner at the Manor Restaurant. Good ol' Manor. They do so much free stuff for our kids. The children sat down at a beautifully made table and proceeded to whip apart the carefully folded clothe napkins and pushed away the turkey, rice, potatoes, corn, and stuffing they were offered. They pigged out on candy and cookies, and I frankly didn't stop them. I'm working on saving my energy for the fights that matter. So 3 cups of diet soda? Why the hell not! 4 cookies- go nuts! They danced, or more accurately jumped and swayed and stimmed, their booties off for about 1/2 an hour before the behaviors started, as I most definitely expected them too. Placing highly sensitive autistic children in a room with blaring music and 200 other children spells disaster any way you look at it. Now I'm enjoying a lunch break (minus lunch since I took advantage of a free meal from The Manor) and listening to the sounds of kids who are coming down from their sugar rushes just in time for me to be relaxing on the computer.