Retail Hell Underground

Hero Teacher's Video of the Moore Tornado - During and After

This video is frightening and heart-wrenching. It is not for everyone. If you are even slightly disturbed by disaster footage DO NOT WATCH THIS.

Heroic Moore Teachers: Trenda Purcell and Jancie Brim Save Childrens Lives During Tornado

Many of the teachers were heroes during the Moore tornado. Trenda Purcell and her teacher's aide created a music came to help calm the children calm their nerves as the storm approached. You can feel the woman's passion, strength, and bravery.

Jancie Brim directed her kids into a closet and bathrooms, most definitely saving all of their lives. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Moore, Okalahoma.

Memories Of A Crappy Teacher Who Called Me By The Wrong Name

One of my greatest peeves is people getting my name wrong. Now make no mistake, almost EVERYONE who meets me for the first time mispronounces it. This I can handle: I usually just politely correct them, and everything is hunky dory. But when you keep mispronouncing it, either because you're an asshole or just plain lazy, I start handling it a lot less politely.

In Junior High (aka Middle School, aka grades 6 through 8) I had a science teacher who kept poking at this peeve with a stick... and I swear it was deliberate.

In the class, there was me, and then there was a boy named Eli. Our names can understandably get jumbled, (ee-lie, and eye-lee-ah) so the smart thing to do is to go by last name, or put us in different parts of the classroom and remind yourself that Eli is a boy's name. So what does my teacher do? He seats us next to each other (desks were grouped in pairs) smack dab in the middle of the class. 

For half a semester, he called Eli by his last name, and called me Eli instead. Numerous corrections were made. They rolled away like water off a duck's back. Finally, I got sick of correcting him and decided to make my stance clear.

Teacher: 'Okay [Eli's last name], you're up."

Eli went up to the board and showed that he knew what he was talking about for the lesson.

Several other students were called. Then...

Teacher: Eli.

I ignored him, silently reviewing my notes.

Teacher: Eli, you're up.

Me: Eli already went Mr Teacher.

Teacher: I'm talking to you.

Me: No, you're talking to Eli. My name is Ilia, and has been for all of my life.

Teacher: Well it's your turn.

Me: Then call me by my name.

Teacher: *Silence. Looks at roll sheet.* Miss [My last name].

Me: And there we go.

I demonstrated that I knew what the class was about, and then sat down. From then till the end of school with him, he called me by my last name, which I had no problem with.

I can get that you have new students every year. It may seem like too much effort to know a student well. But to call a student by the wrong name, and then try to demand that they answer to it for YOUR convenience is disrespectful and demeaning to the student.

May all your customers be nice,

Hilarious English Advertisement FAIL

 

Pulp Fiction With Pooh

A science teacher drew this on eraser board for his students while they did their work. Wow, what a talented awesome science teacher!

A Story Of A Sweet Old Lady, And Another Creepy Hair Fetish Custy

Dear RHU´ers,

Here is Soft Ice Girl again, with two stories.

The first one I merely witnessed, it´s from over the counter, but so, so sweet!

I went to the recreation park where I used to work, and stood in line for admission. While I didn´t have to pay, teeheehee, due to having worked there, I still had to show my employee´s card.

And then I heard loud talking on the cashier window:

Cashier: No, really, I can´t! It´s not right!

Older woman: Have it, child, buy yourself a treat!

Cashier: But I have never got tipped, and it´s much more than the ticket!

Woman: Yeah, well, I got promoted and thought about how to give something back. And you are always so nice. Since I figured that you don´t get tips, I think you should have.

Cashier: No, I...

Woman: Well, I have to go enjoy myself, bye-bye! *grabs her ticket from the counter and runs away giggling*

The cashier just sat there for a moment in awe, then pocketed the 20 Euros (tickets are just 7 or 8 Euros!) and continued selling, a smile on her face.

Since I have worked there, I know that tipping is not against the policy, in fact it never occurs, so there is no policy on it. The salary was ok, but not really Hard Ice Girl, so I guess that these 20 Euros made her day!

-------------------------

The other story got triggered by a post on RHU about people touching slaves´ hair.

This instantly made my blood boil and I have to get a story about it off my chest, which turned me into Hard Ice Girl.

I have very long, dark hair, it reaches my butt. I always wear it open.

Well, people really like looking at it and touching it, and with friends, I often feel like a my-little-pony-doll (I have nerdy friends :P) with all the braiding and combing and... And since I am not really shy, I cannot remember that I ever refused if a stranger asked nicely if he could touch it, because I get that it looks interesting.

BUT! Never ever should someone touch it without permission, simply because I am not a doll! Even at petting zoos, there are signs to approach the animals face-to-face first so they can go away if they do not like to get touched by you, yet some people think it´s ok!

So, one day, I was tutoring when I felt some gentle tugging on my hair, and as I turn around, there is a guy, touching it.

Hard Ice Girl: Excuse me?!?

Guy: Oh, your hair is so beautiful, and it is soft, too.

Hard Ice Girl *ripping my hair out of his hands*: How dare you touch it? I am not a petting zoo animal!

Guy: Oh, excuse me, I did not think you would mind.

Hard Ice Girl *a bit calmer*: Well, ok, just know that I do mind. If you want to touch somebody, you have to ask first.

I turned around again and continued to explain stuff, as this happens time and again, and I get that people can be oblivious and insensitive without even wanting or realizing it. No big deal.

But then, this stupid asshat took the cake!! About 30 seconds later or so (which means that it was a product of a thought rather than a stupid thing that you blurt out and want to rip out your tongue afterward), the guy says in my direction:

"As you wear them open, I thought you wouldn´t mind."

Hard Ice Girl: What?!?

Guy: Well, it is really beautiful, and if you wear them open, you have to know that everyone wants to touch it.

Hard Ice Girl: So, you mean I´m asking for it?!

Guy: Well, no, not like that, but if you wear it that way, you must anticipate what would happen.

At that point, Hard Ice Girl turned into Frozen Concrete Girl, and in order to prevent myself from beating the living crap out of this waste of oxygen and clean water, I just turned on my heel and marched right out, went to the toilet and cried out of burning anger.

When I got a grip on myself, I returned to the student and apologized for leaving mid-sentence. He said he understood and apparently he had told the asshat-guy to leave.

--Soft Ice Girl

Retail Balls Award: Caring For Monsterous Socio-Hellspawn

Katiedid and Mama Bear get Retail Balls Awards for how they dealt with very scary hellspawn:

Katiedid here, not with a tale for myself, but for my mom, whom I will refer to as Mama Bear.

Mama Bear works as a home daycare provider, so I have plenty of knowledge on hellspawn. I know it's not technically retail, but I have to admire Mama Bear for being able to stay patient all day with five small kids all screaming for her attention and messing up her house.

We get a lot of great kids, we get some kids who are hard to handle but Mama knows how to deal with them. The kid that we got a couple years back was the scariest child I have ever had to meet in my life and I have to nominate my Mama Bear for a Retail Balls award just for putting up with everything this child did over two years and still somehow being able to care about her.

Alright, let's start at the beginning, I'll call this girl Baby Socio, because I am damned sure she was a sociopath.

We got her and basically all hell broke loose. She threw the most incredibly amazingly frightening tantrums I have ever seen in my life. I'm talking screaming, throwing things, throwing punches.

When Mama Bear had to put this girl on time out she couldn't just send her to a corner, because Baby Socio would try to destroy anything she was in contact with, including the wall, so Mama Bear had to put her in a high chair, in the middle of a room.

It got so bad with her in the beginning that Mama Bear stopped going out with the kids to the mall, the market, play dates, everywhere, because this child's temper was so unpredictable, and Mama Bear didn't want her hurting someone.

Strangely enough, for awhile, she got better. Mama Bear worked with her, figured out how to prevent her temper from exploding and tried to teach her that hitting was not okay, that we use our words when we are angry.

For awhile, things were alright, but then... we don't quite know what happened, but she began to spiral downwards again. She became weirdly possessive of Mama Bear and got angry if another child had her attention.

She started having her frequent blow-ups, even going so far as to casually strike out at the younger kids, a couple of 1 and a half year old boys, if they got to close to her when she was getting mad.

Things came to a boiling point one day when we went to the local market for veggies and other local yummies. She had a meltdown while Mama Bear was trying to get her to sit on the toilet and go pee. Mama Bear had to hold her while she had her tantrum, pinning her so she couldn't run away.

Baby Socio screamed 'I'm gonna pee on you!' a couple times while the rest of us waited for her to calm down.

Once at the market everything seemed alright, she was acting good again, but then we went into the mall to have a look around. Baby Socio had to be warned a couple times not to touch things, until Mama Bear finally said that we were leaving and she wasn't getting anymore Timbits for snack, because she was being naughty. Que second meltdown of the day.

This one wound up with Mama Bear having to pick her up and physically carry her out of the mall, screaming and kicking, while I walk the stroller with the little guys in it. I don't know what Mama Bear would have done if I hadn't been there to deal with the stroller, to be quite honest, the possibilities scare me. So we're walking out of the mall while she's screaming 'OW YOU'RE HURTING ME!'

Yup, this kid's clever enough to understand she'll get a response from that, but my Mama Bear didn't care, she needed to get this child home.

We got out to the car, got everybody buckled in, and were just out of the parking lot when Baby Socio unclips herself from the carseat.

Mama Bear has to drive back in and spend five minutes making sure she will not touch her seatbelt again.

I was honestly thinking that if we couldn't get her to listen, I was going to have to go back there and make sure those belts stayed on, and if I did that, I was going to get hurt by this child, I just knew it. Fortunately, the only thing she did was scream some more.

I remember being the most shocked I'd ever been in my life when Mama Bear turned to me, and whispered over the screams, 'I'm done.'

She was going to stop taking care of this child, something I'd never seen her do. But Baby Socio was hurting her, she was hurting the other kids, and Mama Bear didn't need that stress.

So by the end of the week, Baby Socio was gone and Mama Bear was significantly less stressed. I still don't know how she managed to stay sane with Baby Socio for two years.

--Katiedid

 

N.Y. Dept of Education BS: High School Counselor Fired For Being a Lingerie Model 17 Years Ago

 

From Huff Po: Tiffani Webb, a "highly regarded" guidance counselor at a New York City high school, is suing the city Department of Education to get her job back after being fired for racy photos, the New York Post reports.

The 37-year-old counselor at Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers says she was fired after 12 years last December -- just before earning tenure -- when photos of her wearing lingerie and bikinis from her previous career as a model resurfaced on the Internet. Webb says the scantily clad images were taken more than 17 years ago, and that she disclosed her former job when first hired by the city as an educator.

"The inappropriate photos were accessible to impressionable adolescents," a chancellor's committee ruled, according to the Post. "That behavior has a potentially adverse influence on her ability to counsel students and be regarded as a role model."

Webb disagrees, citing her positive track record and respect from parents and students. She is fighting to be reinstated and seeks back pay and punitive damages, claiming wrongful termination and sex discrimination. Meanwhile, she has changed her name and has taken a teaching position in New Jersey.

Webb also isn't the only educator to face consequences from a past career. California science teacher Stacie Halas was placed on administrative leave in April for a former career as a porn actress. She appealed the dismissal from her post as a seventh- and eight-grade teacher after students and teachers reported a pornographic film Halas appears in from a career that spanned years before she was hired to teach.

Halas and Webb are among a number of educators caught in the crossfire of a nationwide debate on teachers' rights beyond campus. About 20 percent of teachers are moonlighting in second jobs as their salaries have taken a hit due to massive budget cuts. That figure is up from about 11 percent in 1981.

Educators are increasingly trolling "help wanted" ads and are taking on second jobs as bartenders, waitresses, school bus drivers and the like. And teachers say they do it because they need the money.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

 

 

Entitled Driver Gets Comeuppance

  

 

 

 

 

Big Bird Ponders The Future

 

Clever Back To School Merchandising

Pet Peeves of Substitute Music Teachers

From Piano Slave:

G'day, RHU!

I'm writing in with tales of being a substitute music teacher for a local piano school. 

Background:  I took lessons at this piano school for 10+ years.  I'm now in college, but during the summer, I'll fill in for full-time teachers when they go on vacation.  Since I took lessons for so long, I know a lot of the students already.  Sometimes we took lessons before or after each other, or we competed together, etc.  Even if I don't know them, sometimes they know me anyway from having seen me play at recitals and stuff. 

This is a public service announcement for parents/students on how NOT to make your time worthwhile.  This first part involves children who clearly haven't practiced but have decided to try to pretend they have.

This piano studio is not generally made for music majors.  Sure, we've got some really stellar kids in high school, but mostly, it's just kids who are pretty good but enjoy piano as a hobby only.  We're not deadset on having every single kid practice for an hour a day or something.  Especially since it's summer.  If you were on vacation, it's cool.  Just tell us!  If you're in some sort of camp and didn't have time to practice this week, fine!  Just tell me.  But don't try to pretend you've practiced when you really haven't.  It's a waste of both of our time and usually the lesson ends up not being very fun for either of us.

"But Teacher," you may say,"kids all learn at different paces!  Just because they cannot play the song perfectly doesn't mean they haven't practiced!"  And I agree with you completely.  Making a mistake isn't necessarily a signal to me that the child isn't prepared.  But if they can't remember what song in the book they're supposed to have practiced all week, are struggling with playing songs much easier than other things they've played for me without difficulty, and can't tell me what about the song is difficult for them when I ask, it ususally means they haven't looked since their last lesson. 

Sometimes, if it's just one song that they haven't looked at, it's not a big deal.  I move on, tell them that they need to practice it this week, and go back to stuff I can tell they've worked on.  But when they haven't done anything at all to prepare, it usually just ends up with me internally facepalming while they sit down and try to figure out what key they're in, which is something they should be doing AT HOME.  It's a waste of time, because it's stuff they know how to do already, when we could be working with other aspects of music that they might not know yet.  Parents, if this is your child a lot of the time, you have wasted your money (and your teacher's time) on lessons!!!

My second pet peeve deals with people who don't show up and don't call to tell me. 

I can't even get into some of the communication disasters I've had.  There are just too many.  My favorite are the parents who make a list of every lesson for the month basically saying that they "might" be able to do lessons.  What the hell does that even mean?!  The community is about 2 hours from the shore, so taking an unexpected beach trip here and there is not entirely unheard of, since the weather varies.  But your child's lesson occurs for only half an hour, one day out of the week.  Can you make it a prority enough so that you show up MOST of the time?  You brought your child/teen here to give them a hobby that promotes a lot of self-discipline and responsibilitiy, motivation and many other traits of high-functioning people.  That's why you said you're paying us $70/month.  When you just bail constantly, you're allowing them to think that commitments can be broken without warning, that taking frequent (and sometimes extended) breaks from practicing is okay, and that you don't need to communicate with your teacher.  It's not a good example and it undoes a lot of the work I've done when teaching. 

And aside from that, I think I've earned a little damned respect!  How would you like it if you showed up to work one day and the office was empty and you couldn't do anything but you still had to stay there for a shift because your boss didn't bother calling you?  That's what it's like for the abandoned musician.  I don't live at the studio, so when people cancel without telling me, I've wasted gas and time driving there to not do my job.  Pick up the phone and call the teacher if you're going somewhere or are otherwise engaged.  Chances are, we can even reschedule you!

Most of the time, I love my temp job.  It pays well and it's different every day.  If you show up and know what you're doing at least a little bit, we'll have a great time and you'll probably learn something new!  But please, work with me a little here. 

--Piano Slave

Tales of Stupid Parents #4029384023840: Bad Parent At Summer Camp

Today, my fellow RHUers, I did not spontaneously combust. I did not hulk out and smash. I even managed to respond with professional language instead of a stream of gutterkin curses.

I'm frankly amazed at my restraint.

Because today one of our parents thought it would be perfectly fine to drop their child off, unannounced, in our parking lot over an HOUR before the start of camp.

I don't really care that such behavior was inconsiderate and in total violation of four different camp rules. (We're all used to that, amirite?)

I care that it was completely fucking unsafe for the kid.

You see, the parking lot leads to our back downstairs door. No one is downstairs at that hour. Kiddo could have walked in, seen that his instructor wasn't in the room, and walked right out to wander the area. (Fun Fact: we're wedged between a major road and a public park.)

Or climbed on some equipment and hurt himself. Or gotten snatched by some creep. All without any of us having any idea that he was in danger, BECAUSE HE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!

Fortunately, none of those things happened. Instead Mr. High-Maintenance Hellspawn came upstairs demanding to know where his instructor was, sending my blood pressure through the roof as I tried to keep him busy and supervised while still managing to do my job.

And Idiot Parent?

Cellphone off, voicemail full, wouldn't respond to email and sent someone else to pick up the Hellspawn.

I can't wait for tomorrow.

--Art & Amaretto

Shock Video: 68 Year Old School Bus Monitor Bullied and Verbally Harrassed By Middle School Hellspawn

From Hiedi:

This poor woman was at the mercy of fucking little brats.  I didn't think hellspawn were capable of this bull shit.  Guess I was proven wrong.

There's a fund set up for Karen to send her and her husband on a nice vacation.

Little over $15,500 a year is not fucking enough to deal with these fucking tards.

RHU readers please talk to your crotch fruit about bullying. Share Karen's story with them. Beat it into their heads that what they see in this site's youtube video and read about on the website IS NOT FUCKING COOL.  Okay?

Below is the blog post and details:

I’m not sure if this has already been brought to everyone’s attention or not, but here is the deal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l93wAqnPQwk&feature=player_embedded

Above is a video of a 68-year-old bus monitor named Karen Klein being verbally harassed by a group of middle schoolers on their way home from Athena Middle School in Greece, New York. Throughout the ten minute video, you can hear the kids verbally berate the woman, calling her a bitch, fatass, poor, ugly, and various other words of the like. At one point in the video, you can hear one of the kids yell, “You’re so fuckin poor you fat ass,” in which Karen responds, “I try to live by some of these words, I try and it’s really hard,” referring to the words on her purse. Now, I don’t know about you, but that broke my fucking heart. There’s even a point in the video where one of the kids touches Karen’s arm in an attempt to make fun of her. I’m not sure why these kids would want to bully a senior citizen to tears, but I feel we should do something, or at least try.

She doesn't earn nearly enough ($15,506) to deal with some of the trash she is surrounded by. Lets give her something she will never forget, a vacation of a lifetime!

Link to the school’s website: http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/athena-middle.cfm

Bus number: #784

School’s fax number: (585) 966-4039

Principal of the school’s E-mail address: David.Richardson@greece.k12.ny.us

Staff E-mails & Other Links:

http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/staff_directory.cfm
http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/contact.cfm?school=7
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Greeced=0CGoQ_AUoAg
http://pastebin.com/mMvJ4ZP8

Links to the videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oipwaZos58E&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l93wAqnPQwk&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBedTlo7BDs&feature=plcp

Karen’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kklein1944

************ UPDATE 11:00 am est 6/21: This is Amanda (tammbg below). I am Karen's daughter and I just joined this campaign. I have spoken with Max and with Indiegogo and we just want to thank you so much for your support. I am at work now so can't put a picture up yet. We are completely overwhelmed with all the support, so thank you. *************

via www.indiegogo.com

Two Washoe County School District Lunch Assistants Arrested For Giving Leftover Food To Seniors

 

 

Maheen found a blog post from a husband upset that his wife who worked as a school lunch assitants in Nevada was arrested for giving left over food to seniors. I was only able to find one news story about it (video above and article)

Here is the post one of the women's husband wrote:

"I'm not a happy camper right now. My wife's assistant in the school lunch room, where they've both worked for over 7 years, was arrested yesterday for felony embezzlement. You know why? Because she took leftover unopened food the kids didn't eat and instead of throwing it in the dumpster as they've been directed, she had the audacity to pack it in ice and take it to a local senior center for seniors, living only on social security, to eat. They set her bail at $10k! This is a 60 something loving and caring women!

"What is the Washoe County School District trying to prove here?

"What makes this even worse, is that the federal government just passed a bill in November of 2011 absolving school districts across the United States from any liability involving the donation of uneaten / unopened food. Apparently, Washoe County School District has chosen to ignore this new law. Coincidentally, this article recently ran in our local paper:

"So now we wait to see if my wife is going to be arrested as well. This whole situation disgusts me. My wife and her assistant are two of the most caring, giving, loving women I know. They don't get paid enough to be subjected to this kind of treatment...Felony Embezzlement? Doesn't it seem obvious that when you know there are people in need, you would do what you could to help them? We're talking seniors that don't have enough money to feed themselves! What has this world come to?

"Oh, great...just got the call. I have to take Darla down to the jail to get booked. This is absolute BS!!!

Please share this. I want people to be aware of this injustice!!!"

CLICK HERE TO GO TO BLOG POST AND LEAVE COMMENT

Here is the news article via 4 News:

RENO, NV (KRNV & mynews4.com) –Two women who work for nutrition services with the Washoe County School District have been arrested, accused of embezzlement. According to the police report, Darla Cates, 49, and Robin Boyer, 59, were taking food from the school cafeteria since December 2011. The chief of police for the Washoe County School District, Mike Mieras, says during the interview process, both suspects admitted they were using the items for personal use.

“They clearly knew what they were doing was wrongdoing and not only were they giving it to family and friends, but they also through self-admission, were using it for personal use as well,” says Mieras.

But according to the family of Darla Cates, the women were giving the food to underprivileged seniors. The family tells News 4 the women do not want to speak on camera due to legal reasons. I told them that the police report claims both Darla and Robin confessed to using the food for personal use. But the family adamantly denies that fact.

The family points to a provision to the Good Samaritan Act which was signed into law in November 2011. It protects school districts from being held liable if food is donated to food banks in good faith. But the head of nutrition services tells me, the Good Samaritan Act does not apply in this case because the majority of the food taken was not expired, so the food could have been given to students in the school district.

via www.mynews4.com