Fired Again!

I don't know if my tuition instincts are becoming more refined, or rather I have a dire self-fulfilling prophecy lingering over me.

I [used] to teach these 2 boys in AMK, and the most irritating thing about them was that they were forever late. Latest record: Late for 1 hour, while I loitered at their void deck, SMS-ing quet and juls complaining about them, and from time to time, calling their house to see if they were in. The best part of it all: I couldn't leave because I was supposed to get paid by them that day.

Fume.

Anyway, on that day, I had this strongest feeling that I won't be teaching the boys for a 2nd month. [yes, this was the first month] This strong, instinct-like feeling just kept bugging me again and again. Somemore, I would actually be rather relieved if they would fire me, because they were starting to make me rather late for my student after them. [Thurs' class, supposed to start at 3pm, became 4, then 430. After their lesson, I had just enough time to take a bus to the MRT, take the train down to my next student and walk briskly to his house, without time for dinner.]

Also, teaching the boys was becoming damn sianz..... They obviously couldn't be bothered with tuition lessons, they came late consistently, and they couldn't be bothered to do their homework. The times they came late, they claimed they were held up by school. Hello?? My lesson is at 5? What are you doing in school that late? [either that or I'm woefully oblivious to the hectic schedules of an average Sec 2 and 4 kid.] And anyway, if you couldn't make it at that timing for tuition, why did you tell the agency in the first place that you could be home at 3? [the original timing agreed on via agency]

The other irritating thing was when they were late, they couldn't be bothered to even send an SMS telling me how late they would be. This meant that I ended up waiting outside their house, for half an hour or even up to an hour like the last time. Eh, guys, this is basic courtesy lor. When you're late for an appointment, the polite thing to do, especially since it's your tuition teacher whom you're paying and are dependent on for your continuing progress in school, is to notify the person lor. I had this feeling that they just couldn't be bothered, and that's what irritated me the most about them.

So anyway, today was the last lesson. I went down and the younger boy said his mom said they didn't need tuition and they could do self-study on their own. Highly unlikely, by my account, but done is done. I took my pay from them and I left the house on the spot, suddenly faced with 2 hours free before dinner and the next student. Yay! [the little pleasures we take in retrenchments]

I expected this anyway. If I was her, why would I waste my money on a tutor who couldn't make my kids' timing? In fact, it's a waste of money to do so, because either my kids don't get taught, or I'd have to compensate the tutor for the times she came down and ended up waiting for an hour. It would be more worth my while to either hire another tutor, or just let my kids study themselves lor. So somewhere in my subconscious, I guess I expected this to happen to me all along.

The loss of the income is a sad thing, but fortunately while I was teaching the boys, i managed to pick up some new students, of whom I'd be starting this month. So thankfully my income didn't take such a large dent after all. [heng ah...]

What makes me happy is the thought of having my Thurs afternoons free again... Sigh... and not having to rush from one house to another without meals in between anymore. I can't believe I'm getting to the point where I'm sick of getting new students. If I already can't stand the loss of time from my already-pretty-free schedule, how the heck did all you guys take [or used to take] working 8 straight hours in a day?? I bow to you on that. Or maybe I just have too free a spirit.

Yea, yea, put a positive spin on things. Hee....

Domestic Mode

"Necessity is the Mother of Invention" - an oft-used cliche in reports, compositions and GP essays. Maybe for this purpose, we should change it to "Necessity is the Mother of Laundry".

The parental units have gone on vacation over the weekend to Malacca, and obviously, the little laundry basket piled to inconceivable heights. Ok, there wasn't actually a Mount Underwear in my house, but to a person who's only done laundry thrice in her entire life, it definitely seemed that way. Plus the fact that I was running out of clean underwear [mother happily leaving aforesaid dirty laundry pile behind before leaving] meant that action had to be taken. Out with the detergent.

Thankfully my machine is a very fool-proof device. You switch on the water supply, press "Power", and "Start" and the magical machine starts pouring water into its belly and washes everything for you. It even spins-dry the clothes when it's done. All this is a godsend compared to the old chunky machine we had. You had to turn 5 different dials throughout the laundry cycle to get your clothes cleaned, and when it was in the spin cycle, you could hear its shouts of complaint from the first floor of my block. And to further make its point, sometimes it would even jump up and down in loud, spinning protest. Yes, I am definitely thankful for the new machine, which purrs like a kitty and obediently washes and dries your clothes for you.

Humans are such versatile creatures. When faced with an imminent problem of survival, ie in this case, not enough clean underwear, they can quickly figure out a way to tackle this problem. Problem: No clean underwear. Solution: Do laundry. It's AMAZING what the brain can do! I actually managed to get the laundry washed, iron my dad's shirts, and hang all the almost-dry laundry from the first wash! And I even managed to remember to separate whites from colours! Mwahahaha...The power of Detergent is mine.....

Another cliche to explain this phenomenon: Nature abhors a vacuum. Since my parents are off overseas, the Seat of Domesticity previously occupied by my mother was left vacant. This hence left my household open to the evil forces of Dirty Clothes. In order to let the family survive in the Jungle of Household Grime, the next Chosen One, ie the Daughter, has to rise up to the challenge and save the family from being overcome by the Stink of Dirty Clothes. Armed with her Chalice of Detergent in one hand and the Staff of Bamboo in the other, she is left to confront the Stink by herself. [her useless bro having sprained his ankle once again and ironically, being a nurse, unable to heal it and thus hobbling around the house today]

Was that the cheesiest piece of writing you guys ever read or what? hahaha.... I'm just thankful I'm not such a klutz when it comes to laundry and that I can turn out a decent piece of clean laundry. This will definitely come in useful in Europe... Ok, time to take out the next load...

BTW Anyone been to Wheelock place lately? On the 3rd floor there's an amazing photo exhibition full of pix that this guy took at beaches around the world. There's some amazing underwater shots as well, my favourite being the one where a school of little blue fish are swimming around a bright coloured coral. The ones of the beach also are so pristine, it made my heart ache to look at it. Fond memories of Redang. Sigh. Go check it out.