Cracking the Whip

::sighs::  I’m almost scared to go to work tomorrow.  I called out sick…and it turns out so did Alexia.  Not that I’m surprised.  ::sighs::  AND today was the first day of the spring semester, which means Jess wouldn’t be on campus until 4:30 pm.  So that means poor Madeline, my brand-new, SUPER-quiet aide was the only one there at the start of the day who knew my campus.  ::chuckles::  Luckily, we got some good subs to help out, so I’m HOPING it isn’t too fucked up when I get back on campus tomorrow.  And of course, Alexia didn’t even bother to let me know.  I didn’t know until Esmeralda (my supervisor) emailed me letting me know what all subs I was getting for my campus. 

Fucking infuriates me.  I text Alexia and reminded her that she is supposed to let me know as well that she wasn’t going to be in today.  and it’s such crap because I text all of them (my aides) at 8:45 this morning to let them know I wouldn’t be in.  ::shakes her head::  Yeah, she’ll be getting ripped about that tomorrow (if she even fucking shows up).  Hell, I even thought of buying Starbucks gift cards for the staff that WAS there to thank them for holding down the fort…which means Alexia wouldn’t get one.  Is that just being too snarky?  But I know it was rough on Maddie, and for Jess when she got on campus.  I’m sure she was running clean up on so much stuff.  And my new aide started today, I think – Emily T.  She’s subbed out on my campus quite a bit, but I know it’s completely different subbing and being thrown directly into the mix.  

But this does highlight the fact that I need to start delegating various things that I typically handle all by myself.   I’m thinking of rotating the staff once a week on who does student check ins.  I know that was a shit storm and a half today, as I always do that.  It’s one of the tasks I enjoy, but I can’t always be on campus, as today showed.  And typically Jess would be the second in command, but on Tuesdays, she can’t be there until 4:30 for this semester.  So, starting in February, I’ll start cycling them each through the process until they are fairly solid on knowing what to do.  They don’t have to be 100% comfortable or even 100% at ease with the whole process, but they need to at least know the steps and be comfortable with the steps.

Delegating is something I have always struggled with, but I’m not doing anyone any favors by NOT delegating.  Given that Emily and Jess are college students, so hopefully that means they’ll be sticking around longer than any of the high schoolers.  So, if nothing else, I really have to start delegating stuff to them.  I’ve got to start letting go of the reins a bit more. 

But first…gotta whip Alexia into better shape.