Colleague won’t supervise classes

[ConsuelaHammock]

I work in a primary school . One of the teachers won’t come in to supervise key workers’ children. Most of the staff are in one day a week atm with smt being in 2 days .
The teacher in question thinks they had covid last Easter. There is no record of a positive test This colleague has mentioned that their gp has recommended they “work from home if possible”.
as they felt a little tired over the Christmas break . Aibu to think that they are taking the piss?
Colleague has form for taking off with the slightest sniffle .

Fuck me.

One full stop and an exclamation mark.

Take a breath and use the time to think.

It's utter bollocks. And if you actually react with reason, not emotion - you, too, can see the bollocks.

Really hope you don't teach literacy .

I'm reading Reaganland by Rick Perlstein at the moment. It's about the rise of the Right in America.

Page 38 has a long description of the manufacturing of emotion-based, fake grassroots interest groups - astroturfing.

The aim isn't to push any particular agenda - it's to fracture democratic consensus itself - so that a small, organised group of hard-Right ideologues can push through to power.

They're too small a group to seize power through democratic means - they have to create chaos and fracture. They have to destabilise and piggy-back more legitimate organisations.

The tactic is always to feed on emotion - primarily quite disparate, inchoate feelings of resentment.

The book studies a pre-internet period (1976-1980).

Social media has been a gift to these people and this strategy.

But we have to be cannier in our response.

The technique has been successful for 40 years. It's been super-charged by social media.

But it's time to stop.

You need to think more slowly.

If something makes a strong pull on your emotions, you need to see that as a warning sign.

Don't be a turnip.

Refuse to let someone treat you as a turnip.

As their stupid, obedient, little turnip.

Get your head out of the mud you're being pushed into and look at the bigger picture.

What are you being nudged to ignore?

The disgraceful lack of support for workers and businesses?

The lack of serious, public-health based strategy?

The turning of the pandemic into an opportunity to make lots of money for cronies?

Believe me, the issues here are far larger than whether a colleague is managing to get a better deal than you (in your imagination).

The latter is thinking like a turnip.

Really, don't be a turnip.

Get your head out of the mud.

It's none of your business. Get on with your own job. Honestly people like you in work are why it's difficult to work!

So you all think it’s ok not to go to work when you don’t actually have a sick line ? If you’re sick you’re sick , if you’re not then you do the same job as everyone else in the same position. The public sector really does carry a lot of dead weight

and

not stupide enough to talk about this with my boss

hmmm. Are you 15? 20? just started your first job? It may surprise you to know that everyone is entitled (private and public sector) to approach their boss and ask for reasonable adjustments to their work/working time. Thy could have a change to their contract. It is none of your beeswax.

Or are you John Redwood or someone? The private sector is full of shirkers and idiots and they sometimes rise to higher management positions, although most fail too many appraisals or don't meet KPIs and get chucked out on their backsides.

Do yourself a favour and butt right out. Or talk to your head. Or try to get a sick note. (nice that you'd let your jealousy waste a GPs time though).

@ConsuelaHammock

So anyone can decide not to come in to work if they don’t want to ?

Yes, they can decide that.

If you wish to do the same, then do it.

But you would be happier if you stopped worrying about what other people are doing - especially as you don't know all the facts - and focused on your own life.

@chaosrabbitland did you miss the bit where OP says most of the staff at school only go in for one day anyways?

There will clearly be no getting through to OP - they are now clinging to the fact that one or two people in a thread of over two hundred posts support them in order to keep going with their delusion....

@thecatfromjapan

Fuck me.

One full stop and an exclamation mark.

Take a breath and use the time to think.

It's utter bollocks. And if you actually react with reason, not emotion - you, too, can see the bollocks.

im dyslexic , but if you feel good to take the mickey out of that , then feel free , no i dont think its utter bollocks , if we all went to our boss and said wed merely been advised to not work outside more than one day a week this country would grind to a standstill more than it already is , no body wants to catch covid , but it makes me angry that you have ppl using it as a good excuse to not want to come in and do their fucking jobs and feel its ok to let all the others take the risk whilst they are all nice and comfy at home safe and sound , we have one at my place doing it now , no shielding letter mind , just getting signed off sick , doesnt want to catch covid yet ok to go out and about when it suits , so yes iv had a think and sorry to say all im seeing is absolute piss taking and yes i do think thats bollocks lol

Of course it makes you angry to think there is an army of people, deliberately wrecking the country.

Stalin used the same chimaera when he launched the 'Doctor's Plot'.

It's oldie but goldie.

And it's still bollocks.

(Not sure that dyslexia makes people more prone to believing utter crap. Think you might be on a hiding to nothing with that one.)

@mineofuselessinformation

There will clearly be no getting through to OP - they are now clinging to the fact that one or two people in a thread of over two hundred posts support them in order to keep going with their delusion....

well maybe you need to take a look at the votes then luv , yanbu seems to be over riding the yabu so maybe shes not so delusional after all .

@thecatfromjapan

Of course it makes you angry to think there is an army of people, deliberately wrecking the country.

Stalin used the same chimaera when he launched the 'Doctor's Plot'.

It's oldie but goldie.

And it's still bollocks.

(Not sure that dyslexia makes people more prone to believing utter crap. Think you might be on a hiding to nothing with that one.)

really not sure how seeing how people are taking the piss is believing utter crap to be frank

I am sure you don’t have all of the facts. I am also a teacher and my three year old was removed from the shielding list in the autumn. He remains very likely to be hospitalised if he contracts Covid. I am not currently supervising children because of this, as my Headteacher approached me and discussed this with me when the lockdown was announced. I am very fortunate.

I don’t go around publicising my child’s health problems and disability in work so only a few people would be aware of my situation.

There are twice as many votes as posts. Many people just read the OP and vote. The follow up posts have been more revealing.

if we all went to our boss and said wed merely been advised to not work outside more than one day a week this country would grind to a standstill more than it already is

Let's imagine that OP works in a relatively efficient school with a head teacher who knows what they're doing.

Teacher A goes in and says: Hi, HT, I'm petrified of Covid, no underlying issues, nothing at home to worry about and no sick note or anything I just don't want to work.

HT will reassure them they are doing everything they can to make the workplace safe, as Teacher A what's worrying them and maybe add to precautions etc etc. But teacher A has to work because otherwise the rota isn't covered.

Teacher B goes to Headteacher with request to spend absolute minimum or no time in the school. Explains that spouse has just received diagnosis of Stage 4 cancer and they haven't told any family yet and are building up to tell their kids (say, 9 and 12) and parents. Would appreciate HT's support in this.

HT Grants this more than reasonable requests and does not blab confidential medical information to anyone

@chaosrabbitland you ok hun?
I was talking about the posts, not the votes if you bothered to read.

Anyway ...

Since we're all here ...

A really fascinating insight from Reaganland was the revelation that those pushing for a Hard Right putsch were willing to use strategies and interest groups/issues from across thd political spectrum because it was all seen as tool-making equipment for the greater cause.

So they used strategies adopted and refined by progressives, and even supposedly-progressive issues - all in order to fracture the democratic consensus.

The interests they amplified/used didn't matter particularly. They would be abandoned in the long run.

The only point was to create enough of a fracture to get an essentially unpopular political credo - for which there was no real consensus - into a powerful position, by way of fracturing more popular/dominant political groupings.

I've found it incredibly helpful for interpreting recent political events in the U.K. - and I don't think it's stopped.

I really understand that people feel hammered by the pandemic. But I can't help but feel we'll do better if we can find some degree of unity, make common cause in a demand that policy be enacted that genuinely protects and builds - rather than turning on each other out of some perceived 'advantage' one group has.

That advantage is almost certainly going to be illusory.

And while we're all fighting amongst ourselves, the lack of public-benefitting policy and asset-stripping goes on.

[quote mineofuselessinformation]@chaosrabbitland you ok hun?
I was talking about the posts, not the votes if you bothered to read.[/quote]
the posts dont mean much though , you have said the op is delusional , well clearly a lot of ppl agree with her even if they havent posted

A lot of contrarians on here again.
AIBU is one nasty place, more and more often.

Yeah, its sounds like she's taking the piss all right and you say she has form for it.
Raise it with the HT or HOD.
I would be annoyed too.

There is a person like this in every school. And by "person like this", I mean you , OP.

Like almost everyone else has said, it is none of your business.

@Taikoo

A lot of contrarians on here again. AIBU is one nasty place, more and more often.

Yeah, its sounds like she's taking the piss all right and you say she has form for it.
Raise it with the HT or HOD.
I would be annoyed too.

👏🏼Totally agree I was shocked at how disgusting some people can be towards others when I read this thread. It appears everyone knows the OP's colleague better then the op does. I like to think the people on here telling her to wind her neck in aren't the same people complaining because they are key workers and can't get a place at their school because there is not enough staff to manage anymore children !

' I like to think the people on here telling her to wind her neck in aren't the same people complaining because they are key workers and can't get a place at their school because there is not enough staff to manage anymore children !'

This is almost certainly a desire that will be granted.

I suspect the people on here saying this situation is utter nonsense don't overlap with 'keyworker s' who 'complain about not enough places because not enough staff'.

Why? Because the former group have a toe in the waters of reality.

So much stirring. So much weird nonsense.

Almost as though we're all being astroturfed again!

Why don’t you raise it with their/your LM?

There may be stuff you don’t know, they may be taking the piss, and the LM has decided that if everyone else will cover for them they won’t fight it.

Yanbu OP.

Other colleagues shouldnt have to cover people who are not CEV/shielding but dont want to go to work where they need to to do their job.