2003-01-30 - 1:41 p.m.
Sigh�Class was terrible today.
Absolutely terrible.
I ended class 15 minutes early just so I could get away from these folks. I have never ended a class early to escape. But I swear to god�I had almost run out of patience. Yes�ME out of patience!
WTF do these old ladies need with PowerPoint? I mean for Fuck Sake�they can�t even grasp basic programs like Word�or Internet Explorer. And they want to learn PowerPoint!
For Fuck Sake�I start off every class by asking �what is (x program)?� Why do you want to learn how to use it? You want to know what answers I got today? Blank stares and a lot of I don�t knows! Then WHY ARE YOU HERE? Cause you are bored? Lonely? What�come on toss me a bone! I know that sure as shit you�re not here to really learn something, cause if you were, you would try harder.
This is an advanced class. I state that in the class description. Sigh�I just want to lock myself in a dark room for awhile and the world to go away.
I cannot coddle you in a class where you are expected to have some level of computer competence. If I show you the location of a button twice I expect you to remember where it is. But FUCK NO! For example, every single time I asked the class to click on the new slide button 90% of the class asked me where that was again! GOD DAMN IT!!!! THIS IS NOT ROCKET FUCKIN SCIENCE!!!!!!!!!!
We did this some 15 times today�.You ever look at a PowerPoint slide template? It says in big bold letters �Click here to add Title�, and my students looks at me and have the fuckin audacity to ask me what they should do? They say �Where do I put the title?�How do I make the letters appear?�Does it need to be capitalized?��
What do I do? Dumb things down so much that I insult not only myself�but my students? If that is the case, why the fuck do I bother�I should teach them how to play solitaire instead. Lord knows they would get much more out of it.
And I am supposed to teach them how to create slide transitions, animations, insert video/sound clips, and numerous other things? I�m not God�
And then here is the kicker. Here is the thing that pushed me over the edge. None of them understand the basic concepts of speech or presentation design. How can I teach you to use a program to create a presentation when you have fuck all of an idea of how a presentation is put together! I am not here to teach you public speaking, or grammar, or how to think�
I can�t do this�
I can�t teach helpless, stupid, unmotivated, lazy people�and that seems to be all I get these days.
BTW I want to thank everyone for yalls words of encouragement regarding my possible (temporary?) re-location to San Francisco. I am not sure yet what I am going to decide yet, but I do know that I am going to talk to my Pop a bit more seriously about the idea now. There are a lot of questions to ask and things to work out before I �Go West��
Today I learned that there are folks in this world who are just down right nasty. Take for example my co-worker. Yesterday she tried to play things smooth and land me in hot water by putting a spin on an argument we had yesterday. I got pissed at her for being lazy and not trying to deal with computer issues on her own before consulting (or in her case fetching) me. I have work to do�and if I get up every 10 seconds to fix some simple fucked up thing, I would never get anything done. And I told her this�after TURNING ON the 3rd fucking computer that day.
She comes to me and says so and so is having problems on computer #1 and I don�t know what is wrong, go fix it. I go to the computer�no one is there�and the problem is that it has been turned off. Well ever since the Branch Manager has been absent (going on 1.5 months now), this co-worker of mine has been getting worse and worse about this. So yesterday�I told her very simply that she needs to try and trouble shoot some of these problems her self. To which she immediately jumps in my shit. Oh dear�doesn�t she know that you should not poke Bears with sticks�
She gets all in to �it�s your Job� (wrong my job is to provide classes to the patrons�not to trouble shoot the labs�or better yet turn the computers on when they get shut down) �I was busy at the desk� (wrong you were playing bejeweled, or talking on the phone to your eeewwww �man�) �Oh I see then, you don�t help anyone unless it is in you class then� (Wrong again�I help people who need assistance with REAL problems. In fact I bend over backwards to help out the patron who have questions or problems. The staff knows it, the manager knows it, the patrons know it, and the FUCKING DIRECTOR of Libraries knows it. For Christ Sake...they have a box just to contain all the wonderfully complimentary letter that the patrons send her in regards to me.). And I of course tell her all this.
So the Employee gets all indignant with me, and bitchy, and the attitude just escalates. So I very politely tell her to shut up and go do her job and leave me be, because she no longer has permission to talk to me unless it is directly work related. Needless to say�she got pissed at me. Unfortunately for her, she is used to getting her way by intimidating her co-workers and being down right nasty. I am not impressed.
So�here is where she up and kicks the sleeping bear�Did I mention that I am done with this slack fuckin trouble-making bitch? She has done nothing but annoy the life out of me and all the other employees, she takes advantage of the Managers absence and tries to run things in his absence, and�sigh�get this (she is the children specialist) she has reduced the number of children�s programs, story times, and activities to once every other week or so. In fact I have heard her say on many occasions how much she dislikes children. Oh yeah�back to the bear kicking part. She decided to start spreading the rumor that I am not doing my work, and that I REFUSE to help anyone with computer problems, that I am unaccommodating, and unwilling to meet the needs of the patrons�oh and that I am rude to them. She told this to the fellahs in automation who came by yesterday (folks who directly work for my boss back at the main branch. Yeah I know it is really kinda fucked up�I have 3 bosses�sigh�long story), who then promptly came to me asked �What is this about you not assisting the patrons with their computer problems�and claiming that this is not your job?� Needless to say, Co-worker is as sweet as honey to these fellahs and spins that oh poor me�I am just a down trodden old black woman who is being taken advantage of and disrespected by the system. Oh co-worker�do you realize that you have crossed the line? Not only are you trying to pass the buck, not only are you lying about me, not only are you lazy and incompetent, but now you are taking steps to put my job in jeopardy. Your ass is mine. End of story�and I will guarantee that I am�hands down�the meanest son of a bitch that you have ever encountered. I have learned from some of the best. You have finally fucked with the wrong person.
For a year and a half now, I have tried to do my best to treat you with some semblance of professional courtesy and respect. I have stayed quiet, I have avoided your power struggles, I have not taken sides�but you have crossed the line. You have kicked the bear�and now he is awake�wide awake
The moral of this story boys and girls�Don�t kick bears, don�t poke them with sticks, don�t annoy them�just leave them be�cause if you don�t, they tend to maul ya.
So boys and girls�what have you learned today?
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