Sunday, March 2, 2008

The job at the Chinese Catholic Girls' School may be the best job ever.

My new job at the Chinese Catholic Girls' School may be the best job ever.

A sudden realisation occurred to me when I finished work for the week on Thursday afternoon - my new job at the Chinese Catholic Girls' school may be the best job I have ever had.
When I hated working in an office at Telstra, I used to turn up on some days at eleven o'clock. That is to say, on the days that I did go to work, I would arrive at the office at eleven. I hated being watched and I hated being asked what I was doing.

A brief comparison:
Telstra - Constant supervision - being constantly asked how was a project progressing.
Chinese Catholic Girls' school - The principal at the Chinese Catholic Girls school watched me for a few minutes on the first day and left me to do the job.

Telstra - for years I had to be at work at 7:30am - two hours before my supervisor arrived.
Chinese Catholic Girls' school - I start at 11:00am and I leave at four.

Telstra - Required specialised knowledge of electronic equipment. And the worst thing about that was when my specialised knowledge was made redundant by an even newer technology.
Chinese Catholic Girls' school - Requires the ability to speak in monosyllabic sentences.

Telstra - 5 day week.
Chinese Catholic Girls' school - Every Friday off.

Tesltra - My supervisor was an idiot.
Chinese Catholic Girls' school - My supervisor is a kind lovely Nun.

Telstra - I had to sit in a desk all day, (even though I didn't) with no view, outside my supervisor's office as if I was his personal assistant.
Chinese Catholic Girls' school - I get a whole classroom with a view of the old airport site in Hong Kong. A kind Chinese lady brings me cold water regularly.

Telstra - When I walked into a meeting, someone from Vodafone or Optus would not be happy to see me.
Chinese Catholic Girls' school - When I walk into a classroom, everyone smiles, stands up and says good morning. Sometimes they sing a strange Chinese welcome song.

Telstra - I had to be quiet. One of my supervisors said that my loud voice was "aggressive"
Chinese Catholic Girls' school - Not only an I allowed, but I am encouraged to be loud.

Telstra - Everything I said, I needed a reference.
Chinese Catholic Girls' school - Everything I say, the kids write it down and say it back to me later. An entire generation of Chinese Catholic Girls will use the phrase "Press your palms to your cheeks!" as an exclaimation when something goes wrong.

I landed the job through an agency that understandably takes a fee for their services. The school principal, Sister Maria, asked me if I would like to work directly for the school and not through an agency. It makes sense that the school would save some money by not paying the agency and would also pay me slightly more. How wrong could I have been? It seems that the agency charges the school twice what the agency pays me. The agency takes half of what I earn. I won't be signing on with that agency again. My contract ends in June.

Rachel Ruby is on a school excursion to India. We were very concerned because Rachel Ruby was not feeling at all well a few days before she left. We did get a call on Sunday afternoon from Rachel Ruby and she said that she has made a full recovery and is having a great time helping orphans learn to speak English.

I have been asked to speak at the Asian Women's Conference on the subject of internet safety and the organising committee sent me a form letter asking for my personal biography. The form had places to fill in information about how many degrees the speaker has and to give the membership details for all the many humane and dignified charitable organisations to which one belongs. This is what I said:
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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION FOR ASIA WOMEN’S CONFERENCE(Please replace the bolded information in parenthesis with your personal information)
David Nightingale serves as the District Clerk for the Hong Kong China District and a Sunday School Teacher for the 14 – 15 year-old youth in the Victoria 1 Branch. Prior to this call he served as the Stake Technology Specialist for the Logan Australia Stake. He has received no educational degrees from any institution and has worked professionally in Australia as a telecommunications technician, a project manager for construction and maintenance of telecommunications exchanges, a radio design engineer for cellular networks, computer technician specialising in the integration of cell phone test equipment and global positioning systems, a soldier in the Australian Army as a radio technician and weapons instructor, other odd jobs include kitchen hand, repairing pinball machines, personal fitness trainer and a brief stint as an Avon lady. He belongs to no professional organisations – ask Groucho Marx why. He was born in Australia to goodly enough parents. He is married to Carolyn Nightingale. They are the parents of three wonderful children.

References:
http://asiaconference.googlepages.com/
http://www.olps.edu.hk/
http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/

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