Stumbling through the Class of Abysmal Doom- Part 3 of my hand-basket of interview hell

For a bit of background, click on Part One. For a bit of light reading, click on Part Two.


We arrived at the last classroom of the day. The coats looked up at me and wondered aloud where they could be put out of reach of the "lowest students in the building". Purse just shrugged as if she had no real opinion on the matter. I determined none of my companions to be of any real help and that I'd have to be the one to take initiative. Coat 1 and Coat 2 were jostling for primacy, Purse was just too busy holding everything else. Earlier, at lunch, I was introduced to this class's teacher assistant. She seemed nice enough then and my initial impression of her continued.

She had a bit of trouble deciding where Coats and Purse should go, but eventually narrowed it down to the locking cabinet, to which she actually had a key. I mentally chalked thousands of points up on her side of the scoreboard. Thus far, on that day, she was they only one who understood the dilemma of personal belongings in a school.

I helped her set out the day's activity for this class. It was Geography, but not. The class's name was "Travel and Tourism". The students, five boys, were to finish their cut-and-paste activity from the day before and then start on the next cut-and-paste. I still don't see how it was related to learning about "Travel & Tourism" as there was no critical thinking portion.

But on the other hand, after spending two hours with these children, I can sort of see why. These boys, roughly 15-16 years old (because if they were 17, they'd not be in school) were what we in the business like to call ED with a BIP. The TA told me that two of the boys had finished yesterday's assignment, so they'd work on the current one. Also, they'd have to be kept away from one particular boy, or they'd gang up on him.

Here, rather than verbally describe the set up, here's a floor plan with short descriptions of the malcontents.

As the fifth period progressed, I found myself counting down the minutes until the sixth period class and the next set of students. But as it got closer and closer to the end of the hour, none of the boys were doing the antsypantsy dance students do when a class is about to be over. They weren't clearing away the supplies or getting their stuff together. The bell rang AND THEY DIDN'T LEAVE!

#6 was quite an astute individual. He picked up right away that I was thinking that I was going to get rid of them when the hour was up. I liked him, but he would not shut up. He was constantly talking talking talking talking. His patronus would be a squirrel. Or Grr from Invader Zim.

So, for the two hours, I'd move between tables, working with whoever the TA wasn't with. She stayed pretty much with #3 the whole time. Except when she'd leave. Which was quite often and without so much as a heads-up to me. I'd be sitting next to #4 or #1 and all of a sudden realize that the monkeys were swinging from the branches and no one else was around to herd them back towards their typewriters.

The IT guy was no help and it didn't occur to me to censor myself in front of him. Yeah, at one point during the second hour of that class, #4, 5, and 6 were just such a wall of sound that I'd had enough.

"Shut up! Do you know you've been talking non-stop since you walked in the damn door?"

YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Well, if I don't get the job, it'll be because of that. But if I don't get the job, I'll never have to walk in to the Class of Abysmal Doom either. Lose-Win situation.

 Oh, I gotta tell you about #1. #1 would sit for a while, then get up and mess about with #4, 5, and 6 (the cool kids of the lot. yuck) I'd redirect him and make sure he had everything he needed to accomplish the next step. Eventually, it devolved to:

1.  me standing right next to him, handing him the scissors
2. taking back the scissors
3. handing him the glue stick
4. taking back the glue stick
5. picking two items he'd cut for him to choose
1. at which point, he'd say it was too hard to choose
6. encourage him to decide for himself since he was a big boy and could tie his shoelaces and wipe his own ass.

When they told me these were really "low" students, I had some idea of what to expect and I wasn't surprised honestly. I did expect the TA to have a bit more authority than what she showed, but I guess that's how she was raised.

There's a lot more to this class, but a bunch of it is negative and I really don't feel like rehashing and dissecting each and every action.

The day ended and I retrieved Coats and Purse from their naptime. I waited around for Mr C because I thought that maybe after school was when we'd sit and have an actual interview.

Him: "Well, how did it go."

Me: No problem. It was a great day.

Him: Right, well... I'll submit your hours online and thanks for coming today.

Me: Thanks for the opportunity.

I walked out. I got on the bus and 1.5 hours later put Coats and Purse on the table, grabbed some cash and called Roo to meet me at the local where I decompressed with Peter the Bartender.

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I called the agency afterwards and my handler was even surprised about how the day went. Meh. The next candidate did their "audition" on this last Friday. If they don't put that person through their paces the way they did me, I shall be very put out.