Update
It's Tuesday, 8pm. I've been tutoring a couple of new classes this semester, though they're both classes I've taken before. Being a tutor is so much more pleasurable when I haven't got my own work hanging around my neck. I've been enjoying my classes a lot, and I'm really grateful the department has been willing to employ me.
This week's school break, so I've got some time on my hands. There are a lot of personal projects pulling me in all directions. I've dabbled in some of them a little here and there the past few weeks, where time and energy permitted. And they've been energizing. Literally. I find myself gaining energy as I tend to my own figurative plots of land, cocooned in my little, private world. What I do need to do though, is to focus on only one thing at a time, the better to produce results.
I mentioned previously that I'd made a weighty life decision. The situation 2 months ago was as such. Two paths lay before me: the path of part-time jobs, or the path of a full-time job. This is the decision most of us have to make at some point in our lives, and it wasn't a particularly remarkable dilemma I had then. What made things more interesting was that there were two decent job opportunities available to me: to continue tutoring at the university, or to teach a philosophy-related subject in a private institution. Of all the part-time jobs I would be able and willing to do, the former came as one of the best option; and of all the full-time jobs I am able and willing to do, the latter was one of the best option. Going the path of full-time employment would deprive me of the other path naturally; and it struck me too that if I would decide to continue tutoring at the university I would be passing on a relatively rare full-time job opportunity (such vacancies don't come by often). I realized then that if I were to take up the university job, I would be effectively consigning myself to the path of casual jobs. That's because, in all likelihood, good full-time jobs I am able and willing to do would be few and far in between; and as time passes, I'd probably become more and more obsolete in the eyes of any prospective full-time employer. (To make no mention of the fact that there'd be more and more graduates competing for the same jobs as time passes). Hence my dilemma.
It'd seemed that the best thing for me to do was to take up the full-time job. That's simply because it's always easier to downgrade from a full-time path to casual jobs, than it is to upgrade from a path of casual jobs to a full-time path. And so it was almost decided - until I found out more details about the nature of the very good full-time job opportunity in front of me. Simply put, I had good reason to think the curriculum would be something I'd like. Less simply put, I had reason to think the job was essentially similar to a normal MOE teaching job, of which I can possibly apply anytime I'd want. Since there was a very good alternative on the table, albeit one on an alternative path, I gave this opportunity up.
So here I am now.
Before school started 7 weeks ago, I'd spoken to the department manager. She'd told me the department would pay me on a per-hour basis, a change from the deal I had previous semesters where I was paid on a monthly basis. My heart sunk then. I'd done my calculations prior to the meeting, and I'd discovered a per-hour pay rate would earn me less than what I'd earned the previous semester - even though I was slated to take on the same amount of workload.
So I said, "Huh but like that wouldn't I be paid lesser than last sem". And she'd said: "No lah where got".
"Got, I show you." And I took out a blank piece of paper and showed her my calculation.
"No lah, you calculate wrongly already." And she showed me her calculation. It turned out that I had misunderstood the number of classes I would be taking - I would be taking a lot more classes than I thought I would be taking, and it did turn out that paying me on a per-hour basis would be a much better deal for me.
"See, don't worry, Lily [name changed to protect privacy] and I the other day went to calculate everything for you, and we realized a per-hour rate is the better deal, that's why we're offering you that," she said.
These are the people behind the scenes in our lives who make our lives so much the better. I'm indebted to her now, in a small but significant way. (She's also been a great help to me all these years. She's the main go-to person for student funds, modules, thesis and payment issues, as well as any other student-related administrative business, and student employment, so I must have pestered her more than a few times).
I spoke to her yesterday again. I'd signaled to her my interest in continuing to work for the department the following semester. She'd grinned; this wasn't the first time I'd spoken to her about such matters. She told me maybe, she'll have to look at the rosters for the next semester in closer detail. We're indebted to all sorts of people in our lives, whether they deliver the results we seek or not. It doesn't matter to me that in many ways, she was merely doing her job. It only matters to me that, whatever her job was, she once figured in my life story in a pleasant sort of way.
This week's school break, so I've got some time on my hands. There are a lot of personal projects pulling me in all directions. I've dabbled in some of them a little here and there the past few weeks, where time and energy permitted. And they've been energizing. Literally. I find myself gaining energy as I tend to my own figurative plots of land, cocooned in my little, private world. What I do need to do though, is to focus on only one thing at a time, the better to produce results.
I mentioned previously that I'd made a weighty life decision. The situation 2 months ago was as such. Two paths lay before me: the path of part-time jobs, or the path of a full-time job. This is the decision most of us have to make at some point in our lives, and it wasn't a particularly remarkable dilemma I had then. What made things more interesting was that there were two decent job opportunities available to me: to continue tutoring at the university, or to teach a philosophy-related subject in a private institution. Of all the part-time jobs I would be able and willing to do, the former came as one of the best option; and of all the full-time jobs I am able and willing to do, the latter was one of the best option. Going the path of full-time employment would deprive me of the other path naturally; and it struck me too that if I would decide to continue tutoring at the university I would be passing on a relatively rare full-time job opportunity (such vacancies don't come by often). I realized then that if I were to take up the university job, I would be effectively consigning myself to the path of casual jobs. That's because, in all likelihood, good full-time jobs I am able and willing to do would be few and far in between; and as time passes, I'd probably become more and more obsolete in the eyes of any prospective full-time employer. (To make no mention of the fact that there'd be more and more graduates competing for the same jobs as time passes). Hence my dilemma.
It'd seemed that the best thing for me to do was to take up the full-time job. That's simply because it's always easier to downgrade from a full-time path to casual jobs, than it is to upgrade from a path of casual jobs to a full-time path. And so it was almost decided - until I found out more details about the nature of the very good full-time job opportunity in front of me. Simply put, I had good reason to think the curriculum would be something I'd like. Less simply put, I had reason to think the job was essentially similar to a normal MOE teaching job, of which I can possibly apply anytime I'd want. Since there was a very good alternative on the table, albeit one on an alternative path, I gave this opportunity up.
So here I am now.
Before school started 7 weeks ago, I'd spoken to the department manager. She'd told me the department would pay me on a per-hour basis, a change from the deal I had previous semesters where I was paid on a monthly basis. My heart sunk then. I'd done my calculations prior to the meeting, and I'd discovered a per-hour pay rate would earn me less than what I'd earned the previous semester - even though I was slated to take on the same amount of workload.
So I said, "Huh but like that wouldn't I be paid lesser than last sem". And she'd said: "No lah where got".
"Got, I show you." And I took out a blank piece of paper and showed her my calculation.
"No lah, you calculate wrongly already." And she showed me her calculation. It turned out that I had misunderstood the number of classes I would be taking - I would be taking a lot more classes than I thought I would be taking, and it did turn out that paying me on a per-hour basis would be a much better deal for me.
"See, don't worry, Lily [name changed to protect privacy] and I the other day went to calculate everything for you, and we realized a per-hour rate is the better deal, that's why we're offering you that," she said.
These are the people behind the scenes in our lives who make our lives so much the better. I'm indebted to her now, in a small but significant way. (She's also been a great help to me all these years. She's the main go-to person for student funds, modules, thesis and payment issues, as well as any other student-related administrative business, and student employment, so I must have pestered her more than a few times).
I spoke to her yesterday again. I'd signaled to her my interest in continuing to work for the department the following semester. She'd grinned; this wasn't the first time I'd spoken to her about such matters. She told me maybe, she'll have to look at the rosters for the next semester in closer detail. We're indebted to all sorts of people in our lives, whether they deliver the results we seek or not. It doesn't matter to me that in many ways, she was merely doing her job. It only matters to me that, whatever her job was, she once figured in my life story in a pleasant sort of way.
5 Comments:
If this were a facebook post I would like it.
-owl
If you were an owl I'd be a whale.
I also think about people like this, but almost always in retrospect. It takes me a while - years sometimes - to realise what someone had meant to me then and how much better I should have treated them.
Best,
BoB
I also think about people like this, but almost always in retrospect. It takes me a while - years sometimes - to realise what someone had meant to me then and how much better I should have treated them.
Best,
BoB
I also think about people like this, but almost always in retrospect. It takes me a while - years sometimes - to realise what someone had meant to me then and how much better I should have treated them.
Best,
BoB
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