No Kid Person
My job has been a drag lately: numerous deadlines, vendors with attitudes, and ugly looks from a kid who is a chief troublestarter at the place. That kid came up looking to take pictures with people for whatever reason today. I was trying not to pay attention to them. Boss took a picture, then the kid's handler asked them if they wanted to take pictures with anyone else. "There's no one else to take pictures with up here on this floor," the kid said. It looked as if the kid's handler was going to suggest me, but I walked past the both of them as I had to take some mail downstairs. I don't like being around most of the kids there, but I particularly don't want that problem child near me, ever.
I spoke with a person in one of our other offices, and she asked me how things were going. "Not well," I sighed. "I'm not a kid person." I touched on some run-ins I'd had with some of the kids without going into a whole lot of detail. "Boss gets annoyed when I complain about them," I continued. "I guess these kids weren't taught respect at home, and they may not be taught it here, either, but they have to learn that before they leave here." "I didn't know you weren't crazy about the little ones," the person I was talking to said in surprise. "Not really," I admitted. "That's why I never had any of my own." "You were a kid once," came the reply.
Normally, I would have said, "Yeah, but I grew out of it," but I let it go. I might have had to hear another "but children are wonderful" speech. Later in the day, I received an email from my niece's adoptive mom announcing that my niece suddenly decided that she is not going to college. Normally, I stay out of their battles, but I can't stand by and let my niece choose a dead end existence. I feel an obligation to my late sister's memory. It's hard. I don't always relate to kids well, and I have to really think about what I need to tell my niece and how to say it without causing further fireworks. This is another one of those times I'm glad I'm not a parent. However, as an aunt, sometimes I get pushed into being another adult authority figure to a kid.
3 comments:
Okay, here are the questions I would have for her if she were my niece:
What information did you use to make your decision? Or, how did you come to the conclusion that you don't want to go to college?
If you don't want to go to college, what is your plan?
I would want to know if there is something else she is really interested in, or if she just doesn't know what she wants to study, undergrads rarely do.
I would also want to know if she needs help paying for college . Perhaps money is the obstacle and she thinks she can't afford it. She may not know about scholarships and grants.
Of course, you always have the option not to take this role, the "adult authority figure" as you put it, but you sound like you care or you wouldn't be airing it here.
BTW, is your resume in order? It sounds like some things need to change on the work front. I wonder if there is anything you could do in connecting or promoting women in boxing?
Thanks for posting.
My niece knows about grants and scholarships. She's been fighting her mother over filling out the necessary paperwork, etc. for months. I think her decision is based mostly on her being angry because she can't get her way. She's is spoiled, something I can't relate to because I wasn't raised that way. I also think some of her reaction is being scared about going to college, and she may not want to leave her boyfriend behind (I ain't that crazy about the boy, but that's another story). Bottom line is, her mother is tired of niece's attitude and backtalk.
I have long been tired of the nine-to-five life. I don't want another job at this point, I need to have my own business. I'm taking steps now to make that happen soon.
Yeah, mentally I am there too on the job front. Nothing can burn you out on the workplace more than a dead-end no-fun job.
I have resorted to temp work while we are here on temporary status, though legal residents (fully-taxed) in Canada. I'd rather focus on the PW project full-time and get a kick-_ _ _ job when we get back to the States...
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