Friday the 13th

Most people consider Friday the 13th to be an unlucky or bad day.
I may be inclined to agree with "most people" about this now.
July 13, 2012 fell on Friday and on that day as I was planning to go
on my lunch break at work, I was told the director wanted to see me.

I was told that they were letting me go. Their reason?
"We don't feel like you're the "right fit" for our center."
No specifics of why they felt this way were given.
I was told that my efforts and promptness were appreciated.
And that even though we weren't a right fit,
that didn't mean that I wouldn't be a good fit at other centers.

Then I was asked if I had all my belongings with me.
I told them I still had things in the classroom.
I was basically escorted to the room,
while I gathered my remaining belongings.
No chance to say any goodbyes to anyone.
It was nap time, so I couldn't have said goodbye to the children anyway.
It made me feel like I was a criminal or something.

The week before this happened I had an evaluation with the director.
She said that overall my performance was satisfactory
and that they had seen improvement since I first started.
I shared some concerns and things that I was working on
and trying to improve upon, as well as share some stories about the children.
All in all, I thought the evaluation went well...but apparently not.

Now things weren't all sunshine and lollipops.
There were some issues.

For starters, when I interviewed for the job, I was told that the lead teacher
currently in the classroom, seemed to be "in a rut."
The director then went on pointing out several things
the teacher did that apparently she disliked.
The way she talked so openly about this teacher's 'shortcomings',
to someone who is applying for their position,
should've been a red flag to me right there!

The first week I started I trained in the infant classroom.
The reasoning was so that the 2 children that would be moving up shortly
would get to know me and so the parents would be familiar with me as well.
[All it really ended up doing was making me wish I was staying in this room instead.]

The following week, I started in "my" classroom.
And guess who they had train me?
Yep, the "in a rut" teacher!
Why would you have someone who you clearly don't like what they're doing,
train me and get me used to the daily routine of the classroom?
It was very awkward to say the least, especially because I don't believe
that all the teachers in the classroom knew about the changes that were coming.

When the summer term started a few weeks later,
"in a rut" was moved to a different room and another teacher,
who was hired the same time as myself, started in the room.
And this teacher barely acknowledged me, mainly talking only to the other teacher.
I figured it was either because they had more in common with each other,
or because she was rude, or a little of both.

Anyway, I could go on and on about things that I was a bit frustrated with,
[Like teachers consistently working on something with their back towards
the children or not stopping what they're doing when things would get a bit crazy.]
but I just tried to do the best I could and to focus on the needs of the children.

At the end of June, the director informed me that the "nice" teacher
had given her two weeks notice, but that she just had her leave right away.
[And we were in the middle of working on a big project together, too!]
Enter in a new teacher.

Around this same time, I realized that there were a couple teachers
I hadn't seen around for a while and found out that they were
no longer working there. Whether by their choice or not, I don't know.
I mean, I know it's not really my business if someone was let go
because they were always late or sleeping on the job or something,
but why wouldn't you inform the rest of the staff when someone
was no longer working there? Why the need to be so secretive?
Which was my second red flag.

Anyway, I had been praying that things would improve and
that hearts would be softened. I just didn't expect that being let go
would end up being the answer to my prayers.

While I was surprised by this news and saddened that I wouldn't
get the chance to see these children that I had grown attached to anymore.
[It was bad enough that I was struggling with the fact that they were ALL
moving up to new classes and a whole new group would be coming in August.]
I felt a feeling of peace come to my heart.

So yes, I was sad that this was how it came to an end,
but in the end, I felt like there was something better in store for me.

A couple weeks later, I had an interview with a center.
The whole time I was thinking, this is it....this is why!

It was a brand new center that had just opened the week before.

The same day I had the interview at my previous job,
I also had an interview scheduled for this company's center
in a different location. I remember thinking that day
that I was hoping I'd get the job with them instead,
because the person I talked with sounded really nice
and also because I'd be working with infants.
However, Google gave me the wrong directions
and I ended up in an area miles away from where
the center was actually located, so I didn't make the interview.

Once I finally got the right directions,
I discovered that it was not convenient for me
to get to after all, which was a bummer.

So when I saw that their new location had opened
and that they were conveniently located and currently hiring,
it just felt like everything was falling into place.

And when I went there for my interview and saw that
the center was literally a 90 second walk away from
In-N-Out, I mean, how more perfect could this get?

The owner of the center was busy when I first arrived,
so I talked with the Assistant Director for a while.
She was really nice and we had a good chat.
During this chat when I mentioned that I was hoping
to work with infants, she informed me that they were
looking for an infant teacher.
I'm thinking, "All right! Things are finally going my way!"

I talked with the owner for a while and thought that things
went well, especially after she presented me with a "test."
She had me look at 3 Infant Daily Sheet Forms and asked me
what I thought was wrong with them.

I pointed out the things I noticed and explained what I would
do differently on some of them. I even pointed one thing out
that she didn't even notice! She then asked if I would come in
on Monday for what she called a "working interview".
[Basically, I would just be a teacher for a day to make sure
that I'm satisfied with how things are there and vice versa.]
She also asked me to bring all my paperwork; transcripts,
fingerprinting, First Aid/CPR, etc.

The only downside seemed to be that the pay they were offering
was a bit lower than my previous jobs, but she said that was
because they were a new center and that the pay would increase,
but that most importantly they treat their employees well.

Obviously I'm excited.
Nice, new beautiful center...working with infants...In-N-Out.
So why was I feeling the way I was feeling?

Monday comes and I arrived at the center early,
so I took a walk around the center,
amazed by all the lush, green grass and big new playground areas,
and wishing that there were more centers like this around.

I thought I would be spending the whole day in the Infants room,
but was told that I would be visiting other rooms, as well.

I was in the infant room for about an hour.
The teacher informed how certain things were done.
You'd be amazed at how many different ways there are to change a diaper.
Every center I've been to, the diapering procedure differs in some small way.
I changed one diaper, wrote on a couple daily sheets,
but was mainly on the floor talking and playing with the babies.

Just as I was really enjoying myself and picturing myself here,
I was moved to another classroom.

The children in this room were 18-24 months.
The whole time I was in there the "real" teacher
hardly had any interaction with the children!

She changed a couple diapers and then got snack ready.
It was a child's first day and so cups needed to be labeled for her.
For about 5-10 minutes, the teacher had her back to the children,
as she labeled and got the cups ready!
[I experienced a bit of deja vu on that one!]

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get the children to finish cleaning up
and have them sit at the snack table, when I don't even know
all of their names yet!

Needless to say, I wasn't impressed by this room
and was relieved when it was time to visit another room!

The next room consisted of a handful of two year olds.
They were cleaning up so they could go play outside.
I don't think I was even outside for more than 10 minutes,
when the owner had me come inside.

She informed me that unbeknownst to her, the director
at her other location had scheduled some working interviews,
so she needed me to leave now, because she didn't have the time
to be able to observe and talk with everyone now,
but that she would call me the following day.

So I left and made the 90 second walk to In-N-Out for an order of fries.

That whole day I kept thinking, that while everything seemed so perfect
and just right, my heart was telling me this wasn't the right thing.

Here I am, unemployed, in need of money and I'm going to turn down
a seemingly perfect job? I didn't know if I had the strength to do that.
I prayed for the faith and strength to be able to "just say no!"

Today turned into tomorrow....no phone call!
The following day, still no phone call!

So apparently things weren't as perfect as they seemed, either that
or I would've lacked the strength to say no, if she called me back.

So I keep on looking, keep on hoping, keep on praying,
that "my right fit" comes along soon.