One of Those Days

Today someone told me that I did a bad job because his child's marks didn't improve as much as his sister's had when she was in the same program. There were things I should have done better at the start and the lack of communication with the parents was my fault. Despite what the dad thinks, though, the child's marks are not my fault: I cannot do his school work for him and I cannot force him to apply skills. Still, he spent half an hour telling me how disappointed he was and leaving me feeling like quitting because I was so lousy at my job.

Today someone else was angry at me because I wouldn't honor a coupon she didn't give me when she was supposed to. At the end of the conversation she used a particular insult that I haven't heard since high school and, while I was stunned that she had actually used it, followed it up with another, more common (but still inappropriate to use in mixed company) word. I said something like, "Well, this is done," and hung up on her. It was not a good experience (although the upset was offset by the shock and the thought, "Did she really just say that? Are we back in junior high?").

And my boss was upset (although mostly not with me) about the first incident (he talks really fast when he's upset and doesn't wait for me to finish a sentence and his voice gets higher) and that's never fun. And then I spoke with my sort-of boss who stays calm, asks questions to get clarification, and couches his reprimand for anything that is my fault in general terms so that it is easier to take (e.g., "We need to make sure that we..." instead of "you should have..."), but it's still not fun to know that he's incredibly busy and I just made him busier fixing something that I maybe could have handled better at the start.

But.... I think I was more upset with myself than my bosses were.
Besides, at the end of the conversation with my sort-of boss, when we had started talking about other clients and their issues, he said something about managing expectations, and I sighed and said, "Yeah, I know; I already had that lecture once today" (although not really; my boss had just alluded to it and told me to remember it). My sort-of boss assured me that he had forgotten about the context of the beginning of the conversation when he said that and finished with, "That's done," and he meant it: no matter how much I mess up, when it's done, it's done, and no one will mention it again or ever use it against me. That is one of the best things about my bosses and it's why I never hesitate to tell them when there's a problem.

Plus...last night another parent was in. His daughter had just finished her first 80 hours and they had not indicated that they were going to purchase more (although they had willingly come in to talk when I emailed them). He told me that not only was his wife going to bring in a cheque for the next 80 hours later this week, but when the child was caught up in this area, they wanted to start her in another subject as well.

And...tomorrow will be a good day, and so will Friday. Tomorrow is Bible study day, which means supper with friends and getting to be part of the family and being with the kids and then, of course, Bible study. Thursdays are my happy days. Then Friday is a day off and other friends are coming for supper with their small children (their daughter is 2 and their son is just a baby) so that will also be fun.

So, it's been a day, but one bad day in the week is not too bad really.