Parent Nite for Seniors...

I just got home a little while ago, and I am BEAMING. I dread Senior Parent Nite, but I LOVE it. I get energized to talk to a good-size crowd about stuff I know and want to share. It's the perfect combination of performance-comedy-and information: my ideal environment! I love performance. I love helping others. This felt great. It also reminds me how most of my parents are great, and reminds me not to dwell too much on, or get too frustrated about, the ones who have a more difficult time with civilized discourse.

This was a good time for this reminder because I was frustrated with a situation with a different parent. The father had gone to my supervisor, saying they felt I lied to them about not receiving their earlier communication, and wondering why I took so long to get their child's schedule changed when another counselor did it in no time at all. It's a complex situation, and I won't bore you with the details, but what it comes down to, is all the work the student and I did took a long time (getting signatures to get approval to switch courses), and the other counselor was able to change the schedule immediately because the student brought her the form with all the appropriate signatures. The "getting" of the signatures takes time. The "making" of the change afterwards is quick. The other counselor made the change because I was in a meeting. Also, the "lying" part had to do with the fact that the father never emailed me - the mother had. The mother has a different last name than the father and child, and at that point, I had so many emails flying around that the name hadn't clicked with me. I told him the truth when I spoke with him: I had not gotten an email from him; but I did get emails from the mom and had been in communication with her.

OK, so this wasn't such a short explanation, but what it comes down to, is the frustration I feel with people going behind my back to lodge a complaint with someone else without being confident or forthright enough to bring it to my attention so we can clear the air. I think it's a cowardly and disrespectful process: complain to a superior about their subordinate so they "handle" the problem (and all the awkward/frustrating feelings that go along with it) so the person themself does not have to deal with these feelings: they just get the "solution" in a nicely wrapped, sterile package at the end.

But, to end the post on a high note, it was a great day - had a lot of great students come in, lots of laughs with my department at our meeting, and great reminders all day about how much I love this job, and how much I love my co-workers and my "clients". I think back to this time four or five years ago, and I was miserable in a corporate job, on the fast track to becoming a Chief Information Officer. Really gives pause to what real "success" is all about - is it the title of the job, or the size of your smile and heart at the end of the day?