For some reason I really feel like telling the story of how I got fired before I started a job.
When we were in Yangon and Charles was teaching, I was approached and asked if I was interested in being a TA for a Y5 student that had suspected Autism. He was having difficulty regulating his feelings and was acting out by hitting and yelling at other students at any perceived slight.
They wanted someone to be a 1:1 TA. The added bonus of my being a native English speaker to help tutor him with his English. I agreed and a salary was negotiated, the parent paying partial. I was supposed to start on Monday. I was so excited! I spent the weekend preparing meals ahead of time, shopping, and organizing all the laundry and ironing because I was going to be busy all day. Monday rolled around, showered, make-up, and really excited for this opportunity,
I reported to my contact, Allison. I honestly don’t remember her title, I think it was Primary Deputy Head. She’s happy to see me and she takes me to the classroom to meet with the class teacher and go over expectations and a plan of attack.
We walked into a shit storm. Mother of said boy is yelling at the teacher! “You are picking on my son! You are singling him out! It’s the other kids fault because ……!” Basically that her angel does nothing wrong and all the other kids are bad.
Allison brings the parent and me to her office and the yelling continues. Despite having cctv of the boy assaulting other kids, she refuses to believe there is a problem. Now, I’m just sitting there listening to the two of them go back and forth. I really should have excused myself, but no one asked me to leave and morbid curiosity kept me there. I didn’t really say anything, because it wasn’t my fight. The parent threatened to take the kid out of the school, Allison said fine, go ahead. Anyway, it was decided that my services were no longer needed, and I was let go then and there. It was 8am.
I caught a taxi and cried the 1 hour ride back to our apartment.
And that’s the story of getting fired before starting a job.
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