Huh. Well, that's fair.

We visited the Washington County Fair in Hillsboro today.
What the hell, it was only 90 friggin' degrees.

I don't like heat, but it's not like I can do anything about it.  

I *could* call in and pretend to be sick, the way a couple of summer people did this morning, but that's not how I operate. We have a couple guys who work for school districts working this summer, and they've made no secret of the fact that they do not like field trips. I don't even work with them and I know it.

Miserable twats.

So that left one site short staffed. And because people don't take the whole thing seriously anyway, sometimes others call in just because they don't feel like being at work. So more than one site was short staffed and office people had to cover.

(A side note here... I've been part of the work force for more than 40 years and it's always been 'calling in sick' but I hear many people saying 'call out' now. I don't know why. And I think it's weird.)

Most field trips, the kids aren't supposed to bring any money.
But on this one, they were allowed to bring five bucks.
We were told at the meeting to have them buy ice cream or a snow cone with it rather than a cheap carnival prize.

So our small Sean didn't know he was supposed to bring money.
One of his parents has a language barrier and he was with that parent for the first part of the week. When he saw the other kids handling their money and showing it to each other and then overheard the rest of the kids discussing what they were going to buy at the fair, he was crestfallen.

He came to me with tears just almost spilling over, although he was trying mightily to hold them in and said, "I didn't know I was supposed to bring money!"
Poor little guy. I told him, "Don't worry Sean, I got ya covered. I'll buy you an ice cream cone."

I wish all kid problems were so easily solved.
He was happy immediately.

We got on the bus about 10 after nine and headed to the program we're sharing the bus with. That took until 9:45. Between the trip downtown to the other school, a detour through the middle of downtown and a bit of traffic, it was about an hour to get to Hillsboro.

Since I start work at 6:15, I go to lunch about 11:15 most days. Even when we're on field trips I'm supposed to be taking my breaks on time.
::sigh::

It's really sort of a pain in the ass.
My sidekick isn't a bad person.
Really.
But she's shrill, as I've mentioned before.
And an observer who doesn't know her might think she's not a nice person with kids, which she mostly is, she just isn't very good at hiding her frustration/anger/angst over her personal life.

As I walked away with my lunch bag to find a shady spot to eat, over the noise of the band, the people, the traffic and the kids, I could hear her voice berating Corbin and Christian for walking 'too far ahead'.

Those two are definitely a handful, but sitting them down and talking to them works on most occasions. 

Thing is, if one uses volume as a first choice in dealing with kids, it loses its punch, same as threatening a child with something stupid like, "If you don't stop this, I'm going to tell your dad/mom!"

When you use that as a threat, you're handing off your authority to someone who isn't even there. And you'll never again have any credibility with that child. They're not going to listen to a damn thing you say. Other kids will follow their example. And congratulations, your program is now one of those madhouse programs that no one wants to work at.

Threatening to tell a parent is not the same thing as having a discussion with a parent/child, by the way. I tell parents that I use the 'if this were my child would I want to know' rule and that I want them to know when their child(ren) are displaying a pattern of behavior that's going in the wrong direction.

Sitting down and including the child in the discussion, mulling over possible solutions and suggesting visual/verbal cues to help them remember is a productive endeavor most of the time.

So I didn't say anything to her that time, although I've been trying to calmly suggest that her voice carries. She's obviously not getting it.

When I came back from my break, she was about a half hour from taking hers. We hung out with the kids together. About five minutes before she was going to go to her break, Corbin discovered that he'd lost his five dollar bill.

Despite the fact that we'd encouraged the kids to zip the money into their backpacks and leave it there until they were ready to buy their treat, most of them kept it in their pockets so they could keep taking it out and admiring it.

Marlene was pissed off. "That's just YOUR FAULT!!" she told him forcefully. "I TOLD YOU to put it away!! I guess you won't get a treat now!"

I didn't bother correcting her.
But when she left and Corbin was muttering while looking sadly down at his shoes while the other kids finished their lunches, I told him, "Corbin, stop worrying. It's not a big deal, I will make sure you get ice cream."

I did, too. Paid for both Corbin and Sean to have an ice cream cone. It cost me four dollars. Well worth it.

When Marlene came back from her lunch break and all the boys (we had seven of them today, no girls) had telltale ice cream drips down the fronts of their shirts, she was sort of put out with me.

"He needs to learn how to take care of money!" she said. "What does it teach him when you bail him out?"

"He learned that he and his feelings are more valuable to me than how well he handled taking care of that five dollar bill," I told her. "I'm sure he will remember how it made him feel. I think it was worth two bucks."

Then she had to yell at Christian for 'not waiting' for us. He was about four feet away, heading for the hand washing station that we were all about to use. She blasted him so loudly that there were members of the public staring from a good 15 feet away.

So when we'd gathered our kids and gone into the reptile tent, I told her, "After every single field trip we've been on this summer, someone has called the office and complained about staff yelling at kids."

She was pissed. And her feelings were hurt. So, all bristly (and not quietly) she told me that she, "Feels like I can't do anything right this summer."

"I'm sorry, it's not my intention to make you feel bad. My intention is get you to stop raising your voice at the kids. It's not helpful on any level."

She calmed down a little. And was fine the rest of the afternoon, but I know her feelings were hurt.

There's a lot going on in her life, and she's frustrated. Unfortunately her frustrations are coming out at the kids and while we're out and about.

And although our 'rank' is the same, we both hold the same position within the company, the summer program is my responsibility. And I'm not going to let anyone get away with shouting at kids in frustration or anger.

Also, every single one of those kids will remember someone being mad at them for acting like children. Something I don't want on my watch.

Five more weeks to go.