Sick of the cliches - on our knees, leaving in droves, unprecedented, we’re all so tired etc

Chikapu · 02/02/2023 16:58

Why not volunteer to write some new phrases for them?

Sparklynewname · 02/02/2023 17:02

How about, “I was 5 and a half hours late home one night last week because the theatre lists were overbooked and we are a 7:15- 5:15 service so I couldn’t leave as I am bound by my code of conduct and could face criminal charges as well as being struck off from my profession if I just left work”?

Mypoorbody · 02/02/2023 17:04

Sparklynewname · 02/02/2023 17:02

How about, “I was 5 and a half hours late home one night last week because the theatre lists were overbooked and we are a 7:15- 5:15 service so I couldn’t leave as I am bound by my code of conduct and could face criminal charges as well as being struck off from my profession if I just left work”?

Thank you for being there.

vodkaredbullgirl · 02/02/2023 17:06

Staying behind after a night shift, as a resident is on the floor waiting for an ambulance.

Following through, as day shift is short staffed

MissWings · 02/02/2023 17:06

I do agree and I work in education. The “on our knees” has been trotted out for so long that actually now that that is actually the case no one is taking it seriously 🤦‍♀️. There’s a lot of good will out there and a lot of good people but it really is wearing thin now.

DiscoStusMoonboots · 02/02/2023 17:06

Turns of phrase you consider to be lazy are the very least of our collective worries, OP.

Read the room.

Can2022getanyworse · 02/02/2023 17:14

How about 'I got to school at 7.30am, kids arrive from 8.15am, worked right through with no lunch due to staff shortages (not absences), had to get a passing colleague to cover my class whilst I nipped to the loo at 1.30pm, kids left at 3.45pm due to revision sessions, stayed for supervision until 4.45pm, then had to stay as Designated Safeguarding Officer was needed for an incident that happened OUTSIDE school, finally got to the childminder at 6.15pm, fed kids, did bedtime and did an extra hour after they were in bed. The next day much the same until 8.30pm due to parent's evening. I expect to work at least one day per weekend and school 'holidays' are spent looking after my own dc (as I can't afford holiday childcare) whilst marking and planning next week/term/year. I'm absolutely FUCKED'

They won't print that on the front page...

MissWings · 02/02/2023 17:20

@Can2022getanyworse

Can you make plans to escape? Appreciate it’s difficult though with holiday childcare. Terrible for your health overall.

Can2022getanyworse · 02/02/2023 19:12

MissWings · 02/02/2023 17:20

@Can2022getanyworse

Can you make plans to escape? Appreciate it’s difficult though with holiday childcare. Terrible for your health overall.

I already did.

I came to teaching late and discovered it was my absolute passion. Stayed far longer than was healthy or good for my own family. Devastated to have left and would return in a heartbeat - but not to the same system. I understand why folk are leaving in droves, and why trainee teacher numbers are not only low but the trainees are dropping out in droves as the reality of teaching - across all levels - is nothing like the '9-3 with 13 weeks holiday a year' that so many people imagine it is.

LakieLady · 02/02/2023 19:18

You're right OP, it's disgraceful that public service workers are so overstetched and stressed that they haven't got time to sit down with a thesaurus and hunt down some more unusual language to describe their burnt out and exhausted state.

If they had time to chill out and didn't have to worry about how to pay the bills, their comments would be so much more original. 🙄

user1471453601 · 02/02/2023 19:19

@splittinhairs I bet the nurses, teachers ect are a LOT more sick of being underpaid , under resourced and taken for granted than you appear to be at the phrases you object to .

it's not the description of their plight that's the problem, it's their plight that's the problem

Oysterbabe · 02/02/2023 19:21

Leaving in droves has been irritating me this week, must have read it a thousand times.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 02/02/2023 19:22

Sparklynewname · 02/02/2023 17:02

How about, “I was 5 and a half hours late home one night last week because the theatre lists were overbooked and we are a 7:15- 5:15 service so I couldn’t leave as I am bound by my code of conduct and could face criminal charges as well as being struck off from my profession if I just left work”?

Thank you, thank you for being there as a pp has also said

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 02/02/2023 19:23

“We’re all so tired” really resonates though

There is apparently some talk of the extra bank holiday in May being used as a national volunteering day. I just thought, that’s never going to fly. People are so tired. We all just need the day off. Or most people do.

converseandjeans · 02/02/2023 19:27

Lots are saying nothing but are just quietly leaving. At least the vocal ones are still doing the job.

Mostly it's about underfunding making the job unsafe (NHS) & impossible to complete in time given effectively (postal service) no resources (teaching). And so on.

Legrandetraitor · 02/02/2023 19:27

Can2022getanyworse · 02/02/2023 17:14

How about 'I got to school at 7.30am, kids arrive from 8.15am, worked right through with no lunch due to staff shortages (not absences), had to get a passing colleague to cover my class whilst I nipped to the loo at 1.30pm, kids left at 3.45pm due to revision sessions, stayed for supervision until 4.45pm, then had to stay as Designated Safeguarding Officer was needed for an incident that happened OUTSIDE school, finally got to the childminder at 6.15pm, fed kids, did bedtime and did an extra hour after they were in bed. The next day much the same until 8.30pm due to parent's evening. I expect to work at least one day per weekend and school 'holidays' are spent looking after my own dc (as I can't afford holiday childcare) whilst marking and planning next week/term/year. I'm absolutely FUCKED'

They won't print that on the front page...

Is having to look after your own children during the holidays a complaint?! Surely most parents would love to be able to do that?! Every working parent I know is gutted they have to use holiday clubs etc. don’t really get this.

I think teachers are overworked and treated poorly by many parents but I also don’t think it’s reasonable to lump them in with doctors and nurses who are dealing with life and death on 0 sleep.

SheepMaySafelyGaze · 02/02/2023 19:29

YANBU

and I'm cringing at the "thank you for being there comments"

I know plenty of teachers, they love their jobs and crack on like the rest of us. They would never dream of claiming to be on their knees.

The overall state of the NHS is indeed alarming but not every department is broken and not all HCPs are on their knees.

I wonder if any non public sectors work hard and are stressed ...

Cherryana · 02/02/2023 19:29

How about ‘ I was told to F off because I told a child saying c-nt was unacceptable language and in everyday life that’s verbal abuse but it’s just every day life in school.

Or ‘it’s horrible experiencing ‘fight or flight’ several times a day, because kids want to disrupt and disrupt, when you have planned and prepared and they want to spew their pain over you’.

Or what about ‘because of tutor group, teaching two hours, break duty, teaching another two hours - it was five hours before I could change my tampon’.

idonotmind · 02/02/2023 19:32

I honestly take my hat off to you all. I don't know how you do it.

But that doesn't help you.

What you need are better conditions, and more money

wonderstuff · 02/02/2023 19:35

Meh, thing is it isn’t great, we are understaffed because people are leaving and people aren’t training in large enough numbers and public services which run on a huge amount of goodwill are running out of it.
Just watching a social worker on the news - “we’re running out of adjectives now” does that work better for you op?

moonbows · 02/02/2023 19:38

How about this. None of our kids are going to get anything like a decent university education. Forget the low pay rises of staff - universities haven’t had a funding increase (most core funding comes via tuition fees) since 2012. So staff pay rises (mingy but have happened) have all eaten away at the budgets for other things. Only way books can be balanced is by demanding more of staff (unreasonable teaching loads), and accepting truly terrible service for students.

Students graduate w truly punishing debt, AND having had a poor education from debilitated academics.

Huge debts
Poor education
Miserable academic staff.

It really is a world that serves almost no one.

GaslitlikeaVictorianparlour · 02/02/2023 19:40

Nurse here, I'm using the cliches because if I told you how I feel in my own words it would just be an incoherent sweary rant and then I'd burst out crying because I just want to look after my patients.

Padamae · 02/02/2023 19:43

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This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

ChangingSpoons · 02/02/2023 19:44

Can’t people think of their own way of describing how they feel?

Well, no. Obviously not. Because words and phrases need to be understood by the listener and the speaker - otherwise you’re not communicating anything. Being clear is more important than being unique.

paintitallover · 02/02/2023 19:45

Looks like OP has plenty of time to make petty digs, though.