Story #14: Part-Time Jobs

Almost every teacher I know has, or has had at some point in the past, an additional part-time job. This is of course ridiculous on many levels because teaching is WAAY more than a full-time job already, plus as the mentors of tomorrow's future promise of the leaders of the hope of the tomorrow, shouldn't we just get paid enough for the one job we all already have? There is a great book about just this very topic, and it is called Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers. Soapbox aside, I highly recommend it. One of the things it describes is this very phenomenon, that of teachers and their hyper-employed lifestyles.

Here is a list of actual jobs that have been held while also teaching full-time, either by me, by one of my colleagues, or in some cases both:

tutor
test prep teacher
exam proctor
curriculum developer
lifeguard
umpire
aerobics instructor
waitress
bartender
babysitter
dog walker
camp director
day trader
Mary Kay consultant
international tour guide
dancer (yes, that kind)
t-shirt folder at Gap

...and, these are only the part-time jobs I know about.

Now that I have a full-time job once again, I have to concentrate on finding my next part-time job. So I was looking on craigslist, where all good part-time jobs are found, and I came across this post. I have done many, many things for money in my time but this is not one of them and I just can't forsee that it ever will be. But, hey--never say never, I suppose. Read on:

Captain
Reply to: xxxxxxxxxx@craigslist.org
Date: 2009-01-31, 9:14AM

Part time Captain. Near coastal license required. Must be on 2nd issue of license. 100 ton minimum. Radar endorsement preferred. Must be clean cut, well groomed.

* Location: Pier 39
* This is a part-time job.
* Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
* Please, no phone calls about this job!
* Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

There are a lot of very unique skill subsets that are part of classroom teaching, but none of them have to do with radar. Oh wait, do the eyes in the back of my head count? Maybe I do qualify for this job, after all! I should check into it.