feast and famine

Last week was a pretty intense one at YB. We were short one teacher, so the two remaining staffers (plus one who was there only two of the four weekdays) shouldered a heavier load than usual. YB Near is a quieter branch than YB Far, and for the past few weeks, I haven't had the chance to work a full complement of classes-- a strain on the bank account, if nothing else. But last week was different: I had three full weekdays and a six-hour Saturday. Ideally, my Saturday schedule should be eight hours, but I was thankful to get six hours in addition to the full weekdays.

This week, by contrast, reflects the fact that school is winding down for most of the northern Virginia counties. Students are forsaking YB for reasons ranging from final exam prep (a bogus reason, if you ask me, since helping students prep for exams is part of what we do) to sheer laziness ("We're not doing anything in our classes, and I'm exempt from finals, so why come for tutoring?"). Next week will be just as sparse, then things will start to pick up as we take the plunge into summer. At that point, we'll shift to our summer hours, i.e., 11AM to 7PM weekdays, plus the regular 9AM to 5PM Saturdays.

For now, though, this pay period has been both feast and famine. Sometime soon, I hope to acquire extra work from our corporate headquarters (there's talk that I might get involved in curriculum design); that ought to help boost my income. (If you're reading between the lines, then yes, you got it: last month's windfall did much to get me out of a hole, but this month promises to be as dry as Hillary's naughty bits; the debt never stops rolling in).


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