[quote=“shifty”]If you had read the post clearly before passing judgment you would have seen I already have 10 unpaid hours of work per week. We are not talking about 11mins here we are talking about hours
This is the forth time this week I have been asked to correct PUBLIC SCHOOL work for a child whose parents can’t even be bothered to even say hello to me after teaching their child for 2 years.
Last month I wrote a speech for this kid and helped him practice it for 3 weeks on my time. No thank you from him or the parents. I took one of my classes skating on my day off and paid for it, again no thank you from the kids or the parents; actually what I got was a pissed off mother from another class demanding to know why I did not take her child skating etc…
At what point does a favor become being taken advantage of?
I have a better idea, how about we go to public school and see if the teachers will correct the homework I give the kids on their days off.
[/quote]
They’re not unpaid office hours if you’re required to keep them. There’s a cost, and if you haven’t figured that into your total salary, then you’re being cavalier about the value of your time. On the other hand, if you have figured out what those hours are costing you, and you choose to stick with the job, it’s because you recognize you ARE getting paid for those hours, even if indirectly. If I got a plum job teaching kids for $1200/hr, 8 hours a day, five days a week, but the boss wanted me to work for free for 10 additional hours a week, of course I would figure that into the total. In my mind, I’d be making $960/hour not $1200.
How long does it take you to correct one kid’s work? You’re worried about setting a precedent, I know, but you can always put your foot down later, once you’ve amply demonstrated your goodwill.
As for the speech you wrote for one kid without thanks, that’s too bad. There are a lot of tactless people out there, to be sure. But asking a kid’s English teacher to go over the homework (as a favour, mind you, not as an expected service), is not something out of line or unreasonable. You say this is the “forth” time they’ve asked. You’ve turned them down each and every time? As a school owner, I’d expect a teacher working for me to say yes to reasonable requests, if they are able. If they just can’t be bothered because nobody is paying them for those particular 11 minutes, I’d tell them to go to a school where they can punch in and punch out and get paid exactly for the hours on their time card. Not much of a future in those schools, though.
Act like a disposable employee, you’ll become a disposable employee.
PS The few public school teachers I know do an awful lot of extra-curricular work with the students, including looking at work from their buxibans and anqinbans.