What’s my job? What’s your job? What’s the difference who does what?

This might be a kettle of fish.  Or whatever phrase you like to use for a controversial issue …

Today, my friend sanded and painted the closet doors in her classroom because they were scratched and stapled up and she wanted a nice looking surface to attach some cork strips to hang student work.  (She doesn’t have enough bulletin boards in her classroom.)  A while ago she unplugged the drain in her classroom sink.

I am getting ready to paint the trays under the whiteboards in a computer lab I am setting up.  I will sand them first.  I took down a whiteboard from my office and plan to move it to the computer lab and attach it to cover a painted-over chalkboard.  I will patch up the holes in my office from the board I am moving and all the other holes left by the previous “tenants” and repaint (hopefully).

Now, we have a terrific plant manager, who has had his daytime staff reduced from 6 to 2 over the last several months.  (Back in February, when the cuts first started, we got a memo that our rooms would no longer be swept and that if we wanted them to be swept, we could request a broom and a dustpan.)  I go to him when it’s something I can’t do myself.  I spend a lot of time at work and I like my environment to be pleasant … and I’m willing to throw money at it, probably more than I should.  But it’s my money, so I can do what I want, right?  🙂  I can’t fix a leaky roof or a broken floor tile – so I fill out work orders for that stuff.

My brother is a plumber in another school district and the president of their union.  He yelled at me after I told him what I’d been doing with my summer.  I can’t remember the whole conversation – but basically he said that I’m letting the district know that it’s okay to lay off all the B&G workers, because teachers can do their jobs.  He made me feel bad.  I genuinely like most of our B&G staff.  I don’t want to be responsible for them losing their jobs.  😦

Then I got mad.  There have never been enough workers to repair our 100+ year-old school.  And even when there were more than there are now, they had silly rules like a plaster painter can’t paint wood; and a locksmith sent to repair one lock can’t repair the one right next to it because it wasn’t on the work order.  (Ok – I understand that last one, even if it does suck.)  And no matter what month it started to get hot – they won’t come to change the air-conditioning/heating systems from blowing hot air to blowing cold air until May.  I could go on.

I’m not stupid.  I get what he is saying.  But I hate the idea of filling out a work order for something I can do myself and then waiting forever for someone to do it for me.

Is this what they mean by being between “a rock and a hard place”?  Well, I don’t LIKE it.

P.S.  Don’t tell my brother what I’m up to.  And I’m sure glad he doesn’t work in my district, because then I’d really be up a creek!