In today’s story, we will meet Mr Critical, an English teacher who feels frustrated most of his time at work because he would like to spend all his working hours in the classroom, not in his office at his desk, as he has to do when he is not teaching.
Why is this so? We asked him.
- "Believe me; I do more in the classroom than at my desk in the office" –he answered-. "You know, in the office many absurd things happen. Firstly, there is this wannabe coordinator who, apart from having a poor English level keeps making the same mistakes regarding the paper work. The only thing she has learnt is how to copy things from the Internet and adjust them to what is needed (as most people do) but, in doing this, she considers herself very intelligent and efficient, as if knowing how to do this were good enough to be a coordinator. This person doesn’t know that before printing any letter one has to read and review for mistakes, so I think our office has the majority of unnecessary recyclable paper irresponsibly wasted. This person, whose behaviour at the office is sometimes rather like a forewoman than like a professional English Institute coordinator, has been taught how to use Microsoft Excel (by me mostly) but she wouldn’t use this tool efficiently. Most of the time, she will try to do it by herself, but with poor results. For that reason, all the things she thinks she organises are the result of a lack of knowledge on how to do it efficiently and effectively. Therefore, the outcomes of this are generally mediocrity, unnecessary extra working hours and a ridiculous fussy behaviour.
Secondly, there are these two female English teachers who want to be (or, at least it seems that they want to be) the wannabe coordinator’s assistants, as they never complain about being treated as assistants instead of as professional teachers. One of them would even be eager to deliberately serve the wannabe coordinator in everything, perhaps, because she is so ignorant that she will never think the forewoman might be wrong at times.
But the worst one of all is the guy responsible for having the office like that. He is our boss. The one who is in love with the forewoman and lets her do whatever she pleases. Today he can admit you are right in telling the wannabe coordinator’s errors, but tomorrow he will confess his love for her. He is so ignorant that he thinks that hers are minor flaws in her work, and doesn't realise all the madness she does. How hypocrite can he be! He just wants the forewoman to solve his work life; and she does it, but very poorly. Apart from this, the rest of the authorities –who “have to” rely on our boss’ professionalism in having her as the coordinator- are most of the time delighted by her female touches and charm (which she of course knows perfectly how to use) so that, ha ha ha, here we have another case to which the lyrics of the famous Willie Colón’s song “No tiene talento pero es muy buena mosa” refer to.
Tell me now; would you like to stay in such an office? Actually, I don’t pretend to be perfect but at least I never dare to say I know something well when I know just half of it; and, even though I’m the least experienced English teacher there and have not taken the TKT course -Teaching Knowledge Test- (as the wannabe coordinator, in her ignorance, thinks this TKT course she has once taken should be considered as a 4th level degree –like a master’s-) most students would like to study with Mr Critical, and it’s not precisely because of their marks, for many of them have lost their level with him (and even so they'd like to repeat it with him) but it is because they prefer someone who is more concerned with quality.
Sometimes, I get this off my chest with my foreigner colleague. Although he fails to have a standard (or neutral) pronunciation, but at least he perfectly understands me when I say that mediocre people (basically the forewoman, or "the absurd one", as I also call her) willing to be bossy and pretending to be great professionals (when what they really are is astute, daring and fake professionals) make me want to run away from that absurd office. After all, in the classroom I concentrate better and can make the planning using all the best sources from the Internet, and obviously, I can better prepare (and without listening to the absurd one) for my next class."
Wow! It seems that you’ve let off some steam by confiding us all this. How do you feel now?
- -"Well, actually, I would just like the wannabe coordinator to be humbler -´cause she’s very proud and daring- and her attitude to change into a more professional one. She needs to understand that intelligent leadership is highly required for working as a team in a modern organisation. She needs to forget about using the words “I, me, my” and instead to use “we, us, our” because it’s not about her farm, but it’s about everyone’s work and the institution of each and every one of the members of the team."
Letting off some steam: Writing is a good way of doing it :)
