BirdbyBird wrote:Ava....how is the bus route and your "helper" doing......are things working out any better?
funny you should ask...
I snapped at her this morning, sort of.. the story goes like this...
since they took my very good wonderful aide from me and gave me a different
one, its been H E double toothpicks and I've kept my cool and tried to teach her
what to do, what I expected and how to deal with the children. (keep in mind
she's been here 7 years and should have known all this ) My first run of the
morning has a wheelchair so I have to take a wheelchair bus. The one they
assigned to me keeps leaking at the lift cylinder and then I have to get
a different one which means I have to get the setup all prepared for the
wheelchair and I have one student in a harness and I have to transfer that
too. Doing all that part is pretty much her job but I do it because she plays
the "I'm feeble and delicate" routine. For the past few weeks I've had to
transfer this stuff back and forth so many times I can count anymore.
Well this morning I went to get my bus and it was GONE! I called on the
radio from my little short bus and was told that another driver was told
to use it cause hers broke down. So they tell me to take this old one that
was buried back in the corner, dirty, dusty, low fuel and as big as a regular
bus (diesel motorhome big) and it only had 7 seats designed for single butts.
(meaning, one student per seat not two) and two of those seats had
car seats. Had to remove the car seats, go find another harness and get
the set up ready for the wheel chair. I had radio'd dispatch requesting
they send her out to help me and told them where I was parked. She
wandered around the parking lot claiming she couldn't find me, (I park
here every morning when I pick her up!) I was just getting off the bus
with the last car seat to go inside the office and she comes up and
asks me if she can help. I HAD IT ALL DONE! so I snapped. I just said
"go sit down, I can move faster than you can"
but thats not all,
when I started to back out, she stands in the back of the bus and says
"you want me to look for you" and I snapped again!!
I said "look
for what?"," I've got everything!" She said "nevermind, I'll just shut up
and sit down" Not another word was said and as I drove down the road
I realized she was asking to help me back up and my mind started to
boil, although I didn't say a thing, I was thinking, numerous stuff......
I've only done this for 22 years, yea, I think I need help from a blind woman.
I felt bad later on cause I really am not in the habit of snapping at people
and it really wasn't her I was so moody about, it was the fact I had to
switch buses and all my crap again and I was running 20 minutes late
by then. (I've always prided myself in being on time) But she really should
get with the program and do her part. Last week we had one really defiant
student removed off our bus and put on another one cause she couldn't manage
him and he started threatening to punch her. He's a third grader and she
said she was afraid of him. Good grief. She would fight with him verbally
all the time, and had threatened to smack him, which is where he got the
idea to say he was gonna punch her. I did have to take all that to the
supervisor cause it happened more than once and she almost lost her
job but for some reason the computer " works" for my video camera had
disappeared and there was no proof. Its been a nightmare with that woman.
I need someone that can shake, rattle and roll right along with me and take
charge of those kids and make decisions for herself to get the switching
stuff done, etc etc. PHEW, glad I got that all out, now I feel better and
can actually laugh at myself.
well it certainly feels good to sit in my own livingroom and be on my own computer.
