I need to learn to snarl. I’ve tried polite requests, I’ve tried leaving my piles of work in plain sight, and I’ve tried plain old “no.” Nothing works. Every single teacher, administrator, counselor and librarian is absolutely convinced I am the only person who can look up student’s schedules and phone numbers, as well as locate other teachers, make copies, and unlock the bathroom.
And it’s really not fair. Our office manager is the most competent person who ever lived. She knows where every teacher is, every period of the day, and when they aren’t there, can usually find them in three attempts. She and the other two ladies in the office are just as capable as I of looking up schedules and phone numbers. No one is making copies on demand anymore, and that was never my job, even when we did. And the custodians only lock the bathroom when there’s a problem–ie, two inches of water on the floor. So they don’t really want me to unlock it!
I just can’t figure out how to back everyone off. How do you tell someone to take their request to the front office, when it will only take a minute, and the ladies in the front office are busy too?
The problem is, that one minute, times maybe fifty people who need a minute, plus the parents signing their kids in and out, make for a hell of a lot of interruptions. And every time I look up a kid for someone else, I’m taking my computer off the file I need to be working on.
This feels like one long whine to me, even though I know it’s legitimate. I can’t get anything done, at a time when the district is piling more and more on my plate. In my last job evaluation, I was told to ask for help when I needed it, instead of letting myself get overwhelmed. Now I ask my office manager for help as a joke, because we both know there’s no help to be had!
It will get better. Naturally the first few weeks of school are very hard on the registrar. But I’m worried that things I let slip now, will keep slipping all year long. Argh!