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

[splittinhairs]

The same old phrases spouted out again and again when explaining why certain professions should have a pay rise. Can’t people think of their own way of describing how they feel? In my opinion what they’re trying to say just completely loses all impact.

But NHS staff ARE leaving in droves! There are 130,000 vacancies in the NHS.
Thousands of vacancies in teaching.
huge workloads and rubbish pay. What’s your job OP?

I do on average, 15 hours a week over my 32 hour contract. Every week. I get assaulted, spat at, I see dead bodies, hanging bodies, I tell people their kid died and I pull body parts out of car wrecks. And a million other things. I'm not allowed to strike and I'm essentially worse off than I was 10 years ago. And I get 5 weeks holiday a year. If I'm allowed to take it. Which I won't be at Christmas or more than 80 hours in July and August, which on my shift pattern equates to less than a fortnight most of the time. I stay up all night and regularly have to stay out on the freezing cold with no drink, toilet or food for hours on end. Not trying to be dramatic but I do find it fristrating that NHS and teachers are so vocal about it and muster a certain amount of public sympathy and us Police are in such a similar position but seemingly less important and absolutely slated in the media because of a few high profile stories of coppers who have fucked up.

@Can2022getanyworse I would say that what you’ve described isn’t that different to a stressful private sector career where you’re expected to meet deadlines and work whatever unpaid overtime is necessary even until 1,2 am in the morning or more until the job is done and then start again first thing in the morning.

You might get paid more but by the time you’ve paid for nursery fees ALL year not just term time and also activity clubs over the summer holidays I don’t think you’ll see much difference in net take home pay for many people.

The private sector is also cut throat, everybody is trying to do more with less staff now and most large companies have regular restructures where you could suddenly find yourself out of a job at any time.

Ive never known a single teacher who has worked every day / week of their holiday entitlement. Anybody with children has to look after them during their annual leave or make other arrangements.

Private sector workers with children also have to book holidays during school holidays so it’s equally expensive.

I have a lot of sympathy for NHS workers. Less for teachers I’m afraid.

I have been wondering something……

If the strikes have the desired effect, and public sector workers receive a decent pay rise, what will happen in the private sector?

Will they start striking too?

Or will they start “leaving in droves” to go to the new, higher salaries in the public sector?

If so, will this then gradually push up salaries in the private sector as well???

🤷‍♀️

How about I'm a year 6 teacher. In September we had 4 Y6 teachers. Next week I will be the only one of the original 4 left.

You still get some cunt saying

"But it's a vocation - yin should want to stay and help".

However I'll thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you do.

To me this cartoon sums up one of the main problems of being a teacher these days, when I reflect on my own education 40 years ago and now.

Also I believe ofsted demands and expectations create so much extra work and pressure for all school staff. They could save millions of pounds getting rid of that nightmare and use it to build specialist provision, employ extra staff and even buy pencils!

I always have a chuckle at the signs I see in some public service environments like councils…we do not tolerate abusive behaviour etc. when some schools are full of this behaviour from some parents, pupils and senior management.

I’m lucky as I work in a relaxed school environment and an not treated like some sort of naughty child by the management.

I think sorting out these things would be more beneficial to the teaching profession than money as then people could have a proper work/ life balance.

I was at the hospital today, had to visit a clinic. I had to return some paperwork to the desk but the receptionist was out getting her lunch. There was a sign up saying she would be back soon. Basically, they have no staff to cover her lunch (can’t afford a temp) so she had to leave the desk, get her lunch and then eat it at the desk whilst dealing with patients.

This is fucking unbelievable!

Meanwhile the trust is wasting money by printing off my ECG and then giving it to me to take back to the clinic. Why this couldn’t have been emailed over I haven’t an idea. I was also given an A4 glossy booklet which explains what I can expect from my upcoming operation. The booklet could be smaller, use less expensive paper or even emailed to me to reduce costs. As it is, every patient having an op gets one of this crazily expensive booklets and yet the hospital can’t afford to give the receptionist a lunch break.

This is mismanagement from the top and it is no wonder the NHS staff have had enough.

I'm just so grateful to the NHS staff that did my scan this evening. I be waited for appointment for ages. Appointment for 6.45 tonight. They were running late but carried on until all patients scheduled had received their scams. I went in at 7.10 and came out at 7.40pm. Nurse told me she was supposed to leave at 6. I think this might happen far too often too. One more patient went in as I left.

Everybody l know is working a very stressful job on a low wage and feeling under appreciated, it's far from unique. Most businesses are operating on bar bones.
I pity the minimum wage workers, alot of them single parents who can't afford to strike. Their hands are well and truly tied, plus they don't get nowhere near the support and sympathy.
How must they feel having all this rammed down their throats?

Can I ask why you think that is please?

Both of my children's schools have very low staff turnover (one primary, one secondary) and hardly ever is there a supply teacher at either.

I'm just wondering why some schools seem to be so different. Is it poor parenting of pupils? Lack of support from management?

Bare bones.

I'd be very glad to see the back of 'read the room'. It's empty, sanctimonious twaddle.

I just wanted to add this graph. Most people will be feeling overworked and underpaid, but to the OP and all the negative posters, what are your priorities? Mine is getting decent healthcare when I need it and ensuring the teachers teaching my kids are at the best they can be.

Assorted reasons - management and behaviour is a factor. There are lots of jobs going and schools are desperate so are headhunting/promising the world to attract staff. Some are leaving teaching all together due to the multitude of reasons discussed to death lately. My daughters school have lost 5 members of staff in 2 terms and she attends a 'nice' leafy village school. I know at least one of the members of staff is leaving because she is fed up with how aggressive and frankly abusive the parents are (Not violent - on the phone, emails etc) They take no responsibility or accept their child could be anything but perfect and blame the teachers for any issue.

Sorry I tried to reply but not sure it worked. The above is for you!

@ExhaustedPigeon it is sad to hear that.

Now I feel massively lucky for my kids that their schools are not losing staff. In fact, in the last 10 years they've been at the primary, I think only 6 teachers have left in total! And 2 of them retired at 60, 1 went part time at the school up the road after having kids herself and 1 returned to her home country. Not sure why the other 2 left.

So if over-worked and under-paid staff in our chronically under-funded public sector just...widened their vocabulary, then suddenly everyone would wake up and support them and the government would address the issues that they've known about for donkeys years?

How about, ‘I was punched in the face trying to protect one teenager from another, and ended up with my chin split open.’
or possibly, I was walking up the stairwell to my classroom, when a pupil spat on me from above.’
I mustn’t complain though, it’s a vocation.

@Confusedmamadotcom
Yep feel your pain, toilets are downstairs, no time to run down there which is at least a five min fast paced walk. When you have back to back lessons and break duties and behaviour to follow up on, it's easier to just hold on... painful though I must say, especially when you get caught up with other extra stuff.

I once worked in a school an hour's commute each way away, I left at 6am and I got home at 6pm, and I'm not telling porkies when I say that I didn't ever use the toilets, I didn't even know where they were! That's literally 12 hours without using the toilet once, which led to (as you can imagine) terrible headaches as didn't dare drink anything all day as I knew I couldn't use the toilet until I got home, let alone other side effects ☹️

As for today, I eventually got home at 5.30, just in time to race to get my own child, get dinner, put child to bed, and have been working ever since to prepare for tomorrow, as I didn't have time to do my work that I needed to do for today, in order to do my work, whilst I was at work.

As well, alarm now set for 5, so I can get a bit more done before child wakes up and I need to leave the house again at 7.30am, which is the time I (pre child) would be at work, as usual she is the first one in and the last one out.... and she is 5. Sick of the hamster wheel. For less that £2k a month:

Sorry this happened to you.

What happened to those children? What punishment did they get?

The child in the fight got a days suspension and the other child I wasn’t able to identify.

That's much better because it shows the actual problem!

To be honest, I’m not even upset about these things. I’m just angry that people are ignorant to how tough our jobs can be sometimes. I actually love my job most of the time, but it doesn’t make it any less tough.

A day's suspension?! Is that it?

Outrageous.