Where's the Love?

I was reading some posts on Reddit today (surprise, surprise), and I came across a post that asked "What is a misconception about your job?" I started thinking about what my answer would be and I finally came up with an answer: that my job is hard. Don't get me wrong; my job does require some critical thinking and problem solving skills, as well as attention to small details. However, when it really comes down to it, I could teach any of my customers how to do my job. It may take a few months, but it is possible. This fact always come to mind whenever I have a frustrated customer on the line and easily handle the problem they are having. It makes it seem like I am some experienced veteran with years of experience, when the truth is, I've been doing my job for less than two. I had just this kind of call earlier today when one of my Puerto Rican dealers called in and I spent over three hours helping him make adjustments to his system. He acted like I had unlocked some magic secrets in the system that only someone with the right voodoo could access, but I looked up half the things I helped him with in a database that we have in our system.

This all brings me to the subject of my post: giving credit to those who deserve it. This is a subject that has been on my mind lately because of my wife, Betina. She is an amazing teacher and her students were in the top 20 in the district for their writing scores in one of the largest districts in the entire US. What makes it more amazing is that she is the only 8th grade language arts teacher at her school, so those scores are a direct reflection of her teaching abilities. I would venture to say that she is one of the best teachers in the state, if not the nation. Now that may be the loving husband in me coming out, but I wouldn't say it if it wasn't what I really felt. I tell her how amazing she is every chance I get, but I know that the praise that she so rightly deserves is not coming from the one place you would expect, her school. From everything that I have seen so far, it seems like they are quick to give credit to everyone under the sun for something they had no real influence on. I'm sorry, but a math teacher doesn't help kids write an essay better. For all of her hard earned results, Betina doesn't get credit she deserves. So, while I may be "the Fixer" to some of my customers, I feel that I may be a bit undeserving of it. I sit at a desk all day and basically do IT work. Betina gets up every day and she molds the minds of the future leaders of our country, but doesn't get half the praise that I do. It only reinforces our excitement in the move to Abu Dhabi as they are showing their appreciation for teachers with great pay and benefits.

On another note, I got to spend some quality time with Betina and Aurelia over the weekend. I took Friday off, so I ended up having a four day weekend with my favorite ladies. We took advantage of the situation and got some paperwork done for our move and cleaned up around the house. All in all it was great to spend some much needed time with Betina and Aurelia and I'm looking forward to doing it more often.