My Sanity is a Jenga Stack

Sounds like the librarian needs a bit of larkspur tea I jest, of course. Seriously, don't do that. We (and by we I mean the teacher wife) are hanging on through the walk-out where the media and the state government have painted the teachers like extortionists, and bitchy women that want more than they deserve or already been given (what they've been given is 10 years of budget cuts and increasing classroom sizes, not to mention wages frozen at 2008 levels). So once this whole fiasco finally ends they go straight into testing, after kids have been out of school for who knows how long. At least she never knows when that will happen since it's a day by day decision. So yup, teaching is where the stress lives.

The good news is that Jenga pieces can be picked up and re-stacked, so no matter how many times the tower topples, it's important to pick up the pieces and keep on playing.

There's a stack? o,0

*Raises hand.*

Got into a nasty fight with a coworker the other day.

On the surface, the situation was straightforward. He told the boss that he would help me with something. Then, when it came time to actually do the thing, he refused to participate and wandered off.

Underneath, though, his message to me was, "I don't consider women my equals, so while I will happily lick the boss' boots, expectations from mere women can be cavalierly dismissed. Better yet, in this case, the woman is the one responsible for getting the job done, so if I don't do my part, she'll takes the blame."

Whee.

I lost my temper and cursed at him (I know, I shouldn't have cursed, but the situation was legitimately infuriating).

Coworker went whining to Boss demanding I be fired for saying bad words (I called him a little bitch; I stand by that assessment).

A couple days later, Big Boss (the owner) catches wind of the situation and has the wonderful idea of calling us into his office to try to "mediate." He seems to think he can smooth things over and make Coworker and I become friends. It's a nice thought, I suppose.

I keep a tight rein on my anger and calmly explain the situation point by point, upon which coworker fabricates a revised history wherein he said the work would get done "one of these days, but not THAT day." (Complete BS, as the other coworker present during the conversation could have attested if Big Boss had bothered to ask - she actually loaned me her keys so I could get into the workspace at the appointed time).

At one point in the mediation, coworker lets slip this little gem, "In the country I'm from, women who curse would get a slap."

Big Boss, who has mysogynistic tendencies of his own, responds (thankfully, and to my relieved surprise), "Well, we aren't in your country."

I'm glad Coworker has so blatently exposed the real reason for his behavior, but beyond that, the end result is that I'm still the one in trouble for using bad words, while the behavior that spurred said cursing has basically been excused and hand-waved away.

For a bit of context, I've worked here four years, get along well with everyone (at least until now), do my job exceptionally well, (Just last week I found and corrected an error that earned the company a $67,000 refund) and this is the first time I've lost my temper on the job.

Coworker has worked here 20 years. He's so awful to work with that I know several people (male and female) who have quit because of how he treated them, and I've heard tales of more from before my time. He's rude, lazy, lies with impunity, and has no shame when he's caught in those lies. However, for some reason he's jacked in and clearly not going anywhere. He's the broken stair.

The company itself is tiny. There's no HR department to complain to, and the misogyny, while it permeats the entire tenor of the workplace, isn't obnoxious enough to bother reporting to the state (i.e. expecting female employees to fetch coffee, pick up lunch, or perform other menial tasks, regardless of their actual position in the company).

I can't take it any more. I started sending out resumes last night, and I'm prepared to relocate if I get a good offer.

Canada sounds lovely...

Tazlima said:

Canada sounds lovely...

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