Follow the Money part 2

Jeanne, our new manager, seemed to understand what we did and how we'd accomplished it. She was someone I liked on a personal level, too. But she was full of, um, issues. A lot going on in her personal life. It made her flaky and unreliable. Sometimes she didn't even make it to work for days at a time.

Then, just before spring break one year, a huge thing happened in her personal life, and had it not been for the way we were accustomed to running our own programs, getting the things we needed when we needed them and being goddamn good at it, the wheels would have come off the bus.

We made her look good although that wasn't the goal.
We only cared about what was good for the kids and our programs.
Every time the local emailed "Here's What's Happening at Corporate Daycare!!" came out, our district was mentioned for this or that innovative idea... and the credit was always given to Jeanne.

Like this blurb about my program:
"At Excellent Elementary, they have been doing some serious STEM activities."
They'd expand on it a little, then say, "Area Manager, Jeanne Arrogant"

Notice they didn't mention my name, only the manager's name.
As if she had a hand in it.
I furnished the goddamn supplies and the idea was mine, too.

Spring Break was successful that year because we all raided our own sites for materials, Sunshine did the planning and scheduling and worked harder than the rest of us, something she always did. Our manager didn't even put in an appearance that week. She didn't call to see how things were going, either. I don't blame her, the thing that happened in her life really was huge. But she should have asked for leave and we should have had an interim manager or at least a person we could call to purchase needed items.

The fact that we could pull off such a huge undertaking with no support from any sort of management made us all feel good, but no one ever thanked us for stepping up and making it work.

Surprise.

I will say that Jeanne understood a thing that others might not have figured out. She commented, more than once and to more than one person, that the things we specialized in were what set our programs far above the other ones she'd seen. And that taking those specialties away and making homogenized programs would be like taking the magic wand away from a magician.

She understood that our programs were outstanding because of their differences. That we put our kids first and because we were, oh I don't know what damn word to use that hasn't been OVERused... intentional with everything we did, families placed a great deal of confidence in us. Our programs were strong, we had a stellar reputation in the community, and the break programs, despite zero support from corporate types, became destinations. When the competing programs in the area still had plenty of openings for summer at the end of the school year, ours had been filled for a month or more. With a waiting list.

We knew our families and their needs, too. Our program was one of the only ones in the area willing to work with people's schedules. We had a lot of kids whose parents were police officers, firefighters, paramedics and nurses. Instead of charging people for full weeks, we had some flexibility. People really appreciated that.

We had what I call legacy kids. The younger siblings and cousins and neighbors of kids we'd had in the earlier years. What we built with our hard work and willingness to do whatever we needed to do was something we were all proud of.

Sunshine told me once when we were discussing the differences in some of our programs that the deciding factor is being invested in the job.
Not necessarily a monetary investment, either.
A heart investment.
A wish to make a difference.
To provide a place that's not just okay.
To provide an environment and a feeling for the kids who attend that it's a place of learning and fun and a place where they're valued for their intelligence and creativity.

We were deeply involved with our programs.
We had an amazing team. And although we'd had a crappy manager when we got stuck with Caustic, Jeanne at least recognized what set us apart. She seemed to appreciate it, at least when she was around.

There were things about her that weren't incredibly helpful, but she was mostly honest with us and seemed to appreciate what made us unique.

Okay, so you remember Brashley? If you've been here a long time, you do.
You can put Brashley in the search field up there ^^ and roll your eyes if you want. But here's an excerpt from one of my posts about her.

However, you've heard of 'the fly in the ointment' right?
Although really, I sort of prefer to think of the bovine, obnoxious, power tripping Brashley as a turd on the picnic table of life.

Would you be terribly surprised if I told you that I really don't like her?

In fact, I said just this week that she's so abrasive that I'll bet when she wipes, she shreds the toilet paper with her asshair.
Is that uncomplimentary? I suppose it is, really. And I probably shouldn't say shit like that, but the woman just pisses me off.

I have been trying to think of a redeeming quality (supposedly everyone has at least one...) to add some balance to this post, but after really pondering, the best I could come up with is that she organizes a baby shower every time one of the staff members has a baby.

And then proceeds to order us around when we show up to celebrate and give presents. I meant to post about the last baby shower she presided over, but never got around to it, but as usual, she pissed everyone off inside 20 minutes. She can make an hour seem like a week.

Brashley wasn't 100% a horrible person, but when presented a choice of being kind or being an asshole, she chose asshole every time. I guess on occasion she wasn't presented with the choice of being an asshole. She did do some decent things during the time we worked together.

We went roller skating as a field trip during summer the last year Brashley was with us. She made a huge deal of putting on roller skates and skating with the kids.

She bullshitted about 'needing to watch the kids' but it was a private party and was just us. There was no stranger danger. We watched from the sidelines, mostly. Brashley did okay skating. But she was a little wobbly.

Then, when NO one was anywhere near the restrooms, she went in and came out and said she had fallen. I didn't believe her, no one else did, either. So she had to go to the doctor, who prescribed HALF a percocet twice a day. Then she made a really big deal of how she was on MIND ALTERING DRUGS and couldn't possibly work with children.

So they shuttled her off to corporate for a few weeks. She was there doing filing when Jeanne and her cohorts, Assberry and Bitchy learned after writing a letter to the state that they didn't have to pay us for training. OR to pay for the trainings.

Something else that had made us feel a little more respected was being taken away.

Jeanne and Assberry high-fived each other when they got their response email from the state.

They were thrilled that they wouldn't have to pay us for our yearly required trainings.

Assholes.

I called Rob on that one,though. Told him that if I wasn't worth an extra hundred bucks a year with all that I contributed, that maybe I shouldn't be working there.

After that, our trainings were still paid for, but we weren't paid for the hours we spent taking them unless it was a corporate sponsored session.

Jeanne moved to a different area of town and rather than driving back and forth and back and forth in the ridiculous traffic we have here, she transferred to another district and we got stuck with Fluffy, the Killer Bitch from Hell.

I don't want to repeat all the things I've said about her here, but hey,feel free to click on this link or this one or even this one and learn a bit more about her if you're new here. Or put Fluffy into the search field. Just reading back over that stuff has triggered me. I think I may need a safe place and maybe some comfort food.

I will never forgive her for being an asshole. For hiring her shitty friends and for turning away from the kids when those same friends were straight up abusive to the children.