Volunteers Deserve Respect Too

At the beginning of the school year, I decided I would volunteer 4-6 hours a week to Leilani's school. For the most part, it has been a wonderful experience. The teacher's genuinely appreciate the time and help thier volunteers give them.

Unfortunately there are some individuals who, whenever they see us, treat us with disdain. Some of them treat us as though we are uneducated individuals. Makes me wonder if in their mind they think "Oh yeah, she's a stay at home mom with no education and instead of working is wasting her day at home and nosying her way in the school in the pretense of helping a teacher. Hmph!"

One particular woman does this each and every time I see her in the teacher's lounge. I see her every Wednesday....I happen to be in the room at the time she has her break. Every time I see her I politely say good morning and she gives me a fake Mona Lisa smile with that look "I am not going to waste my breath on you." At first I wondered of she was like this with everyone. Not so. Whenever a teacher comes in the room she cheerfully says "Good Morning." A clear indication that she does talk. And I noticed that she gives the fake smile and mute look to any other woman who comes in as a volunteer and greets her.

Since the return from winter break, I have been inundated with massive amounts of copies for the classes I assist. The teachers are gearing up in preparation for the state testing. Practice is vital to the children's academic success. This morning was no different. The teacher I assist today gave me her regular copies to work on plus a 100 page practice book to copy for her 23 children.

I am extremely considerate. I know there is only one copy machine disposable to the teachers. So if I see a teacher walk in, I let her jump in and get her copies done. I am fair. This morning was very busy. I managed to get all the teachers regular work copied in between a couple of interuptions. My last task was the 100 page practice book. I loaded up the machine with paper, and programmed the 100 pages into the copier. No one was in the room, thankfully. Then I sent the 100 pages to print. About 10 booklets into it, "the woman" walks in. I said my usual good morning, and this time I didn't even get the Mona Lisa smile. She marched to the copier and looked at the task and then whipped her head to me and said "I need to make one copy of this paper. It is important." No good morning, no how long till your done.

I told her she could program it to make her copy. She now rolled her eyes, and looked at me and said "Umm, I need this copy like now, how do I stop this, this whatever." Of course now my blood is starting to boil, but I am keeping my cool. "The machine is already programmed to make the copies, it should be done soon." I replied.

She let out an exasperated sigh, as though to imply I am dense and said "I need this like right now. How much are you making?" I picked up the packet, looked at the machine, and told her "It is making about 9 more packets of this."

She looked at the machine and said incredulously "You are making 23 copies of 100 pages?! I need to make 1 copy of this."

I counted to 5 in my head and patiently told her "Mrs. G, requires 23 copies of this in order to prepare her class for the state exams. I come in here in place of her to make her copies. So yes, I am making 23 copies of this 100 page booklet for Mrs. G. There is a copier in the main office too, I am sure they wouldn't mind you using it for one copy."

She then gives me a look that if looks could kill, I wouldn't be writing this blog right now. "This is very important for the main office."

"OK", I said. "The machine only has 3 more booklets to make. But if you're in a hurry maybe the other machine will make the quick copy for you."

"Well, thats a risograph. You are not supposed to make 1 copy in there. It is suppose to be multiples of 25 or more. You do know that, right? That machine stores all the information and has to be emptied out so if you make one copy of something you are clogging it."

"Good to know. I actually only use it when I have to print on construction paper. But I see you are in a hurry and don't want to wait for my copies to complete printing, which should be done in 2 minutes."

She turned on her heels without a goodbye and left the room. I couldn't believe it. Does she really think I am there making copies for my personal use? Did her one page item carry more precedence than the classes prep packages? Since she had to give the paper to the main office anyway, did it really pain her to use the office copier for one copy?

I find even under the pressure, I carried myself repectfully and used the manners I was taught years ago. It's a shame that not everyone believes others deserve just as much too.