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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Teachers /Nurses partying in staff room

274 replies

Bonabee · 12/04/2022 15:32

Michael Fabricant has just said on BBC that teachers and nurses were drinking and partying after their stressful shifts during lockdown.
This was in defence of Johnson, Sunak etc.
I know he is a clown but this is so insulting.
AIBU?

OP posts:
robocracker · 12/04/2022 17:31

I haven't been In the school staffroom for nearly 2 years. No one uses it anymore, seems to have become the new normal. We have a kettle on our office and I bring a packed lunch so no reason to be there. We also operated during covid that if you didn't need to be their after work you should go home. I don't know anyone in my school or others who stayed when they shouldn't be. All of us didn't want to get covid! We all got it anyway of course from the kids who were out all weekend with their parents......🤷🏻‍♀️

Ohwellnevermindthen · 12/04/2022 17:33

@Jaxhog

You don't think running the country during a pandemic is a bit stressful??
Yes probably, but stress or no stress, the crux of it is they set the rules then completely ignored them, so that says a lot about what they think of the public and how much they were actually concerned about getting COVID themselves. Personally a couple of drinks over a work meeting between a few people you work closely with wouldn't have bothered me, it is the large gatherings in the early stages of the pandemic when people were dying alone of COVID that pissed me off. It's the difference between what they thought was appropriate for us and what was appropriate for them. I missed a funeral and that person died alone due to those rules, so it is upsetting.

Where is the evidence for what Michael Fabricant is saying? It does seem rather 'fabricated'. His surname is very appropriate.

DanglingMod · 12/04/2022 17:33

Yes, Robocracker. That was a particular kick in teeth. Not being allowed to go anywhere near or speak to other adults in the workplace, to share and relieve stresses etc whilst listening to (some) children discuss their lockdown breaking sleepovers and parties.

Mirrorball2022 · 12/04/2022 17:33

We were allowed minimal staff in any of our break rooms at any one time. Socially distanced. That’s of course when people actually got a break. After 13 hour days you tend to go straight home to shower and sleep!

Abraxan · 12/04/2022 17:34

@CraftyGin

We didn't party in the staff room, but we did have a Christmas end-of-term gathering in the school hall - glass of wine and some Pringles.

We even wore Christmas jumpers. Shock

What weird school locks their staffroom? Where did you get your mail?

We don't get internal paperwork these days and haven't for a long time, even pre covid. Mail for individual teachers goes into their class drawer (primary so most staff are allocated a class) or available to collect in the office.

To be fists ours was locked off initially as it was mid building work and obviously was delayed finishing. It remained locked and off bounds after though, and even when re opened access was limited.

Infact, it's only next week, after these holidays, some 2 years after the first lockdown started, that all restrictions in our school is being dropped and we will be allowed all staff in the staffroom at the same time.

Abraxan · 12/04/2022 17:37

@CraftyGin

I am bewildered by all these schools which removed chairs from the staff room. Where did they store them? We wouldn't have been able to do that.

Why didn't they just staff to limit themselves to 4/6/8 at any one time? That's what we did. We had a maximum of 4 in the staff common room and 2 in the staff work room. It was basically LSAs, and teachers bubbled in classrooms. I handpicked my 'friends' to be in my lab.

Why are professionals so lame?

Partially due to delayed building works and also after that the layout of our school and where our pretty small staffroom is located it wasn't really useable with restrictions in place. Very narrow steep staircase, without passing points as staffroom is up in the roof space.

Ours chairs has been removed from the staffroom for the building works and we're stored in the cellar.

Createabitofuntruenews · 12/04/2022 17:39

Fabric*nt is my MP,loathsome man.I am hoping with all the new residents in Lichfield that he gets voted out or replaced with a different candidate.I regularly email him,he blocked me on Twitter,he is not a fan of being criticised.

Abraxan · 12/04/2022 17:40

@Jaxhog

You don't think running the country during a pandemic is a bit stressful??
And?

There were lots of people who were stressed during the pandemic. Didn't mean they partied there way through it at work.

Maybe he could have done a spot of Joe Wicks or go for a daily walk like the rest of us did. 🤷‍♀️

AliceS1994 · 12/04/2022 17:47

I am a nurse and worked in multiple different roles and hospitals during the pandemic (due to redeployment) including ICU and not once has anyone done this! We weren't allowed access to the staff room or any meeting rooms to prevent outbreaks which was hugely inconvenient to say the least as if you were lucky enough to get a break on a long hard shift you couldn't even make a tea or nap on the nights. I was out the door the minute I could when my shift was over, didn't want to spend a moment there any longer after a 12.5+ hour day and back again tomorrow!

GoodSoup · 12/04/2022 17:54

I’m a nurse. All the offices and staff rooms had to be socially distanced so most of the tables and computers were removed. We weren’t allowed to have any retirement or leaving do’s because we weren’t allowed to bring in food and all Christmas parties were cancelled. Even our handovers have to be socially distanced so it went to Teams.

Maybe I just wasn’t invited to all these parties! 🙄

Petalpup · 12/04/2022 17:55

We had a staff Christmas meal (which we paid for ourselves) in our lunch break during which we sat in our usual staffroom bubble of 4 people at opposite ends of 2 tables. We couldn’t even pull crackers.
SLT treated us to a bottle of schloer. It was pitiful and to make it worse during the meal I got a text to say my aunt was in hospital with covid.
So no. No drinking or partying at any point in school. Tosser.

Subbaxeo · 12/04/2022 17:56

We certainly were not drinking and partying. We would have been sacked, I had to eat my lunch in the car as the staff room only allowed 2 people.

IHateCoronavirus · 12/04/2022 18:01

We did everything with our bubble, seeing other teachers and TAs was a rare sight indeed, sometimes we’d wave at each other from far on separate areas of the playground.
Even our toilet breaks were scheduled.

hunder · 12/04/2022 18:05

We have only just had chairs put back in our staff room!
It just shows what little respect the tories have for us all!

SickAndTiredAgain · 12/04/2022 18:10

Even if they were, it isn’t the same.

IMO it’s not even specifically about the law itself (although the misery the rules caused other people when they couldn’t see dying relatives does make it worse). Even if a politician brings in a law that everyone thinks is ridiculous (let’s say, lowering the motorway speed limit to 30mph) and goes on tv to say how vitally important it is, and is then caught doing 40mph, it’s just not acceptable. And it wouldn’t matter if everyone in the country was also doing 40, they didn’t make the law and stress on everyone the importance of it. It’s far worse for the politician to break their own rule.

Eaumyword · 12/04/2022 18:11

Hmm. I'm a school sec. I was in manning the phones, copying home ed packs and running myself ragged for just above min wage. Unpaid lunch break always taken at my desk as so much to do.
The teachers worked from home prepping and delivering zoom lessons and the TA's had to come in and support the teaching of the key worker children - whose numbers grew over the weeks until half the classes were in anyway.
It wasn't fun - I found it stressful and frightening pre vaccinations.
Any suggestion of parties is utterly insulting.

Dippydinosaurus · 12/04/2022 18:14

Our staff room was closed. We had minimal staff in anyway during the first lockdown as it was a very small number of keyworker children. How many teachers and nurses have been prosecuted for 'parties'. None. How many MPs. Also none as this seems to have slipped under the radar intentionally

CloudPop · 12/04/2022 18:17

Wow all those staff room parties must have been so much fun. Nurses and teachers really had a whale of a time during the pandemic didn't they.

CakeRabbit · 12/04/2022 18:19

We still don’t use our staffroom and I can’t imagine there’s a school in the country where alcohol in the staffroom would be okay.

LethargeMarg · 12/04/2022 18:21

We weren't even allowed Christmas decorations or to meet for a picnic to say goodbye to a colleague. There was no secret Santa xmas 2020 and all communal areas were closed. Our staff eating area was moved to a depressing kitchen with four chairs spaced two metres apart (so no one goes there anymore most eat lunch in their cars)
We are still not supposed to make each other hot drinks or eat in offices (nhs)

PupInAPram · 12/04/2022 18:23

All of the chairs in our staffroom were turned to face in one direction. Every other chair had a big red cross on it to stop people sitting side by side. A maximum of 23 were allowed in at one time for a teaching staff of 120, with TAs in addition to that. Windows were open wide all through the winter as they were everywhere else in the school, so it was freezing. It was miserable to be honest. Makes me furious thinking of Downing Street staff partying.

Destinyisall88 · 12/04/2022 18:26

Teacher here. I've never heard of anything so ridiculous - do they live in an alternate universe?! Our staffroom was out of bounds for 18 months during covid. Some teachers I don't think I saw even once in that time despite working at the same school because we were stuck in our own classrooms. We didn't have an end of year gathering in summer 2020 or 2021. Everyone just left and went home on the last day of term, it was so bizarre. Colleagues leaving to go on maternity or retired after working there for 20+ years had no leaving celebration - just a virtual card signed online by everyone. It makes me sad and angry when I think of that.

Atmywitsend29 · 12/04/2022 18:26

Lol. We didn't have staff rooms during covid. We had changing rooms segregated by unit and had to stagger our leave times.
Life of the party us nurses!

Scarby9 · 12/04/2022 18:28

Actually, we did have an end of year celebration for our PGCE tranees in summer 2021 (the ones that were due to finish in summer 2020, we only saw on Zoom after the schools shut).

They all sat individually at their 2m distanced tables, and instead of bringing a packed lunch, they each ordered something from the school canteen, which was delivered in an individual styrofoam pack (jacket potato, sandwich, wrap or salad).
While they ate, we made speeches from the front and gave virtual awards (certificates were emailed). No alcohol, obviously, as banned on school premises, but I had bought bottles of Nosecco.

It felt dangerous, and lasted 30 minutes - the length of time we were allowed to unmask.

MrsR87 · 12/04/2022 18:29

This is so insulting to nurses and teachers! A perfect example of someone in parliament trying to undermine these professions yet again! How ridiculous to say something that would further turn the general public against these two professions at a time when both are suffering from recruitment and retainment crises! I just hope people don’t fall for it. For the many who are currently thinking of leaving these professions, this is just going to add further fuel to that fire.

Of course I can’t speak for every teacher but when I was in school (secondary) teaching key worker pupils, we didn’t even have access to a staff room - no kettle, no fridge etc. Most of the school was locked and you simply went to the classroom you were scheduled to teach in and went home again. I was heavily pregnant at the time and let me tell you some nice cold water would have been preferable to the warm bottle that was in my bag!

You were lucky if you bumped into a colleague in the corridors as we were told to leave the site immediately at the end of our sessions.

It makes me so angry that people in these positions just say statements like this without a consideration of the reality!