wiped out

i'm completely thrashed.  i thought that changing jobs would alleviate the sheer exhaustion that comes with teaching.  not so.  counseling, while it doesn't have the drudgery of lesson planning or dealing with smartasses in class, does have more than its fair share of long hours.  i don't think i've left school before 5:30 all week.  a solid 10-hr work day when lunch is a stop to the potty and a snack in between students.  bleah.  

on top of this, i may be starting to get there are just assholes everywhere in the world.  we've been doing schedule changes all week for students.  there are the unfortunate ones, namely those who are C-D students but think they should be in honors English and advanced math, but then there are the ones that are prickly and demanding -- the AP students.  "i don't want a first period, or a seventh period, i don't want my AP math and sciences on the same day, i want 4th period english with my best friend AND an effing purple pony."  could i please serve that up with a side of a-hole entitlement?

as well, there are the PARENTS.  man.  i don't think i'd anticipated that doing frosh/soph changes would be worse.  not because of the kids, because they are smaller, but because they bring their diamond-tennis-bracelet-wearing country club mommies who are COMPLETELY frightening.  they are like a second head attached to me while i work on the computer.  indian parents were the most forthright about their needs.  the chinese ones?  like the ones that try to sneak out of paying their $10 dental copays, they tried to bamboozle me with the "just one more spot in the class for my son?  it's juuuuuust one more stuuuuuudent"  but really, it was the whitemoms that were most amazing.  one cut the line, stormed into my office with a "HEY.  ARE YOU A COUNSELOR?  WHAT IS GOING ON?  THIS LINE IS COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS.  I AM NOT GOING TO SIT HERE AND WASTE THE REST OF MY DAY WAITING FOR YOU TO SEE ME.  WHY ARE YOU TAKING SO LONG?"  then there was the one who asked me to check the SAME SCHEDULE at least 12 times, because she wouldn't believe there was nothing i could do.  and then there was the one who was like, "i am not going to roll over and play dead.  my son will NOT have that teacher.  i want to talk to someone else."  and i kindly ushered them toward the principal's office with a mental birdie in my head.

it was kind of ugly.  probably the saddest thing i saw yesterday was an chinese mom totally disgusted with her daughter because she got a B in a class at a jc.  she pretty much wanted her kid to retake the class at school because it would drop her gpa and prevent her from getting into irvine, which according to the mom, was all she was going to get, since berkeley was already out of the question.  **sn: colleges will take the jc grade first.  don't make your kid retake the class.  it does nothing for you.  it's over.  suck it up.** her daughter was practically in tears at the end when i was trying to convince her that her life would go on, and that she would get into a very respectable school.  i checked her transcript later and man, that kid has been busting her ass in honors classes, but is essentially a B student.  and here's her mom, trying to squeeze A's out of her, when she's already performing at capacity.  it was totally sick.  moms out there -- let your kid be.  if you let them go to csu dominguez hills right now because that's what they want and where they'd be successful, you'll be saving yourself hella therapy bills in 10 years.

so all in all, an interesting experience.  i kind of like talking the parents off the crazy ledge and convincing students that life will go on.  it's helpful that i am an alum -- it gives me some credibility.  i just hope the hours won't continue to be this long.