I Quit! I Score!

Well, true to my word I quit. I also left them high and dry. I realized last night that if I worked in that place I would sit around thinking that everybody sucked. Including me. So I since I have no desire to suck, I won't be participating in their clicking games.

But let's take a step back. Thursday morning I had to take a taxi cab a short distance. Not something I like to do. Cabs in New York have recently had a strike in protest of putting GPS systems and credit card machines in all cabs. This cabbie had one already, so I asked him if he went on strike anyway. You can talk to cabbies in New York. If you don't mind new and different smells. He said that the cab company he works for recalled the cab. I thought that was dumb to keep a guy from making a day's wages because his boss doesn't like New York policies. The cabbie wasn't a fan of the card machines. They take 5 percent of each sale. He was even enthusiastic enough to show me some receipts and the amounts the card company took from them. I don't know what those screens are in these cabs. I'm afraid to touch them and incur some $2 surcharge. So I don't. But I tipped the guy a few bucks on a $5 ride.

Later that night I went back to work at the academic center. We ended our shift with a meeting in which we were informed of the referral process. At the end of September the center is having a pizza party and every child is invited, IF, if they bring a friend. One that doesn't already pay to go here. We were told to approach children and ask them if they had any friends that they could bring to the pizza party. It's like fishing for children with pizza. We were also asked to follow up with the parent and get the phone number of their child's friend's parent.

Then we did some role playing. I participated by being a parent. I was approached by one of the role playing tutors and basically affected the kind of confusion than any moderately aware person would who was being asked for the phone number of the parent of their child's playmate. My character was called "the jerk" parent. Which is fine. Being a jerk seems like just another demonstration that you're a person. It's not the first time people have regarded me as such. This was really the last straw. I'm being paid next to nothing at this place. I think the tutoring process, hovering over students and telling them to click buttons is simply teaching skills and co-dependence when kids need knowledge and independent thought, and now I've gone from tutoring to a sales position without commission. I think the person who reigns in the most cash would get a prize. I hope it dawns on them that they've traded their soul for tinsel. After the meeting I had a couple of beers for perspective.

So on Friday, I wrote a brief letter of resignation, and said I would cover my weekend shifts. But I reneged on that in an admittedly unprofessional manner. Aside from general laziness and a lack of tolerance for the place, I feel that the last thing those kids need is a disgusted thirty-year old hovering over them while they do something he feels they should stop immediately. I feel bad for leaving the girl on duty by herself but I also think I did right by the innocent victims in this little charade. Ironically, I got an emailed reprimand from the manager telling me that my actions harmed the students. It would've been much worse had I showed. Like those kids want to be there on Saturday morning anyway. I did apologize to the person I left stranded. There's not much more I can do, other than trust my instincts sooner. If you ever are in a situation where you're aware that you're screaming inside while it's going on, that's a good time to let it be known and then get the fuck out of dodge. Sigh.

Last night, Gen said she would come over for dinner. I had gone to Trader Joe's for some Charles Shaw earlier. I wasn't sure if she was going to show seeing as how I mistakenly thought that she would call me sometime. I was starving after having cleaned the apartment and so I ordered dumplings and Gen didn't answer her phone. Just as I was going to get the dumplings, Gen called. She was coming around the corner with the bread and cheese. We didn't have enough ingredients for the sandwiches and so we went around the corner and bought some tomatoes and avocados and a half a roasted chicken. $6 for all of it. Then we watched 300, which is a fun movie. It's like a violence porno. Not a violent porno, but a porno where it is violence that is the graphically presented fantasy. Like the free men of Sparta, I too am free.

2 Day Breakdown

Starting Balance: -$107.75

IN: $20

OUT
Thursday:
Cab: $7
Beer: $2

Friday:
Dumplings: $3.75
Wine: $3.25
Avocados: $2.50
Chicken: $3.50
Beer: $2

Balance: -$111.75