I committed irregularities to save a colleague’s job. She’s contingent, not on the tenure track, and this is the first stable job she’s had in forever. I really wanted her to have this job because it carries excellent benefits, there’s possibility of promotion, and it’s full-time, unlike the patchwork of crappy part-time gigs she had previously.
I’m saying this openly because all the irregularities I committed were done with the full knowledge and approval of the Dean and the Provost. So that you understand the nature of the irregularities, one of them was the course I taught this summer outside of my discipline. I didn’t do it like it’s supposed to be done according to the official course description. Mind you, I didn’t get paid anything, got no course releases, got nothing at all for teaching it. From my sick bed while wriggling with pain I taught it solely to keep the program alive and save the colleague’s job. These were the irregularities. I did things that I don’t have to for free.
The problem is that this colleague didn’t believe I’m doing all this for free. She thought I was robbing her in some way. I talked to her many times. I explained that I’m not getting compensated in any form. But she clearly didn’t believe me and complained to the union.
Now I’m in trouble but that’s OK. I know I broke the rules and I’m willing to live with the consequences of my actions. That’s not the issue. The reason why I’m really upset is that there’s no possibility of keeping the program alive and keeping this colleague hired if I can’t continue bending these rules. She destroyed her own chance of employment and a stable career until retirement. If she trusted me, she’d be fine. This is weighing heavily on me. That people can just self-sabotage like this. I pray for serenity but it doesn’t come.
Clarissa's Blog 
“She destroyed her own chance of employment and a stable career”
Another benefit for you is that when she loses her job she’ll work out a story in which you did it out of spite for being ‘called out’ to the union.
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I’m sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, there is often a reason why some people end up working a patchwork of temporary gigs. What your colleague has done is the very definition of “cut your nose to spite your face.”
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There is a reason why the saying “No good deed goes unpunished” exists. The older I get, the more relevant it becomes. It is most unfortunate but true nevertheless.
Also, I have a hunch that the colleague that you so selflessly helped and who has now turned “ungrateful basterd” is not an American, or a native born American.
In most cultures unconfessed ulterior motives are the only explanation for gratuitous acts of generosity: random acts of kindness are unfathomable to people from those cultures.
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No, she’s American. But I’m a Christian, I do the Christian thing. That’s the difference. I’m not going to retaliate and I’ll be sad when the program closes. I’m angry right now, so I’m avoiding her until I can conquer my anger.
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Ugh. How frustrating!
Pray for her. That sort of dysfunction probably isn’t limited to her employment, and probably reaches way back in her life
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Wow, not only does this blog improve my mind, more importantly it also teaches me how to be a better Christian. Thank you.
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On the one hand, pray for everybody. Especially the ones who frustrate you. God knows.
On the other hand, for heaven’s sake don’t look to me for spiritual advice. I’m shite at being a Christian.
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I don’t think so, dear methyl, but yes, being a Christian is difficult.
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Why did you want her to have this job? Why was it important for you that she have benefits? What was her complaint to the union?
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Because I felt bad for her. I’m very tender-hearted, as hard as it might be to believe.
She did come by to talk today and revealed that she believes she is forced to work too hard. So that was the root of the unhappiness. I’m not angry anymore but I don’t think there’s anything else I can do.
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Her lack of understanding of the difficulty of a teaching job probably explains her lack of stable employment. How was it too hard?
I am a teacher and my main struggle, and bane of my existence, is classroom management. That wouldn’t be a problem with adult college students right?
Right? 😦
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I know my union ferociously opposes faculty working for no pay – or anyone working for no pay at a job a faculty person in a union should be doing (for pay). This position has made my teaching life uncomfortable at least once, but I understand and accept it.
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“but I understand and accept it”
I don’t. There are times that a teacher wants to do a course and there’s no money for it or in Clarissa’s case if the course doesn’t happen (despite no money being budgeted for it) then a program collapses and students are screwed.
Blanket opposition to the idea is a bit…. short sighted and blinkered and doesn’t help students (which is supposed to be teachers’ mission).
At present I’m co-teaching a course with an emeritus faculty who’s allowed to teach but can’t be paid. It wasn’t my idea the other person specifically asked that I do it and the course goes into my hours completely.
I’ve also taught courses in the past (of my own free choice) without compensation.
Union is supposed to help workers and not put them in a straightjacket.
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This means that our French program is gone. I kind of accepted it at this point but it still rankles.
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