I'm back from teaching. I did my first stint at subtitute teaching over at the travel school tonight, and it was a lot of fun. I went in early and had a long chat with the head of the school. The upshot is that I will be subbing for the next several months, and doing a bit of administrative work on the side as needed. This will be great. A chance to keep up my Sabre skills, some extra money for my very own to spend as uselessly as I wish, and a reason to get away from the computer now and then. I'm awfully pleased.
This is the travel school I attended, back in 1990, by the way. It's just down the street from where I live, and it's in the same building as the agency I worked for most recently. The school is a separate business, though. The students are a varied bunch. A lot of them are doing this as a way to change careers, like I did, or a way to avoid working at Burger King forever. Almost all of them have very fanciful notions of what it's like to be a travel agent. And I'm not going to dispel those notions, either.
I learned the hard way, when I taught full time for them a year ago, that people want to be told it's all fam trips and free rum drinks. They don't want to know that it's hard work, customer service, major headaches, and constant running to keep up with the technology. The older people have a little clue that this might be the case, but they don't want to hear about it. They want to imagine themselves popping over to Antigua for a long weekend, in between arranging first class fares for grateful clients. Pardon me while I laugh bitterly.
My job will be to coddle them, and give them as much of a grounding in the Sabre database as can be crammed in during 8 weeks (they've already done 8 weeks of geography by the time they come to computer class). They can learn the facts of life on the job. I'll make it sound glamorous, and mention all the trips I've taken, and be enthusiastic about how wonderful travel is for you (which happens to be something I truly believe). They'll feel good, they'll learn some computer skills, and they'll get their money's worth from the school. And I will be a popular substitute. My computer skills, which are formidable, will be second to my position as a fun, friendly teacher.
They aren't the only ones who had to learn the facts of life on the job. Teaching is a tough job. I like it. I'm looking forward to getting back into it. But I'll never again make the mistake of thinking I'm there to be a career counselor and confidant. I'm a cheerleader and a skilled technician. They'll be happy, the school will be happy, and I'll be happy. Sure, I could tell them how it'll really be. But sometimes, illusions get you further in life.
Know what I mean, jellybean?