Thursday, February 03, 2011

"Have You Ever Tried To Control A Class?"

Pretty much every time I work at Yafiz, I run into an old friend or someone I've known from the many, various things I've done over the years.  Some are rather shocked to discover that I'm working in a clothing store.  It's no secret that salespeople make much less money than teachers whose salaries are calculated according to education degrees, experience etc.  I also rather quickly made it up in the  world of EFL teachers in Israel, giving popular workshops at ETAI national and international conventions.

One former neighbor looked at me in total shock:
"Isn't it hard?"
All I could reply was the truth:
"Have you ever tried to control a class?"
That's right.  Like many teachers, including the store manager, I find it worthwhile to put away the lesson planner and use marking pens to mark prices rather than tests.  I may not get paid for summer vacation or that long Passover Holiday, but I no longer have to prepare lessons, mark papers/tests/compositions, go to parent and pedagogy meetings, etc.  My schedule is flexible, so I can attend weddings and my granddaughter's chalilit, recorder recital.

Yes, I do work hard.  I have no set breaks, because you can't walk out on a customer in the middle of serving him/her.  Yafiz experiences waves of business and quiet like most stores.  Serving customers is our #1 priority, after that we are constantly arranging and rearranging and adding to the stock of clothes.  No two days are the same.  Actually, I like that.

And because of my schedule's flexibility and the fact that I'm only working part-time, I can still tutor students of all ages in English.  And I can still do diet coaching and photography, too. 

It's Thursday, so on with my day....

3 comments:

Mrs. S. said...

It's so nice to hear that you're happy with your new job and that it BA"H fits your needs!

Ed Greenberg said...

Indeed, I'm glad to hear that you're happy with what you're doing, but your post raises an interesting question:

My parents were both high-school teachers, here in the US. They worked in public school systems on Long Island.

It took many years for their salaries to progress to the range that would be considerer equal to other professionals with masters degrees. For a beginning teacher, I think the clothing store would be a better financial bet, especially if commissions on expensive goods were involved.

Can you tell us a bit more about teacher salaries in Israel? How do they compare with other educated professionals, such as engineers and the like? How do they compare with other public employees like police and fire personnel.

It would be interesting to discover that Israel values it's teachers to that extent.

Batya said...

Mrs. S. thank, B"H
Ed, there's no way I can make as much money in the store as I did teaching. I'd have to work a ridiculous amount of hours, but the store job isn't as stressful, even at its hardest. Yes, I made the decision to sacrifice money to preserve my health. I did try another teaching job at a very prestigious high school, and that involved additional stresses without the job satisfaction (fun) I sometimes had when teaching the boys. I guess I'm a 1960's hippie at heart.