It was a cloudy day as I returned home from school when the wind picked up and the clouds grew thick. A stronger wind blew and paced. Since I had to be home before the downpour, I struggled to continue my walk to my house since the wind made the dust and dirt blow right into my eye.
My big bag hung heavily on my back, it was like I was carrying stones instead of books in them. I placed my already tired hands on my face because they were giving me pain from writing on the blackboard all day. I was already frustrated, as I had told the school management to change the blackboards in the classrooms to marker boards. It would have been better to use a marker to write than to use chalk.
ME: Sir, Besides the fact that the blackboards aren't very effective, they make us teachers look dirty after a long day of cleaning because the white dust is stuck to us, so our clothes always look unkempt.
Mr. Shina: Hey miss, maybe if you provide us with some money for new marker boards, we might consider replacing them
This was me complaining to the owner of the school. It wasn't that he didn't have the money to spend on new boards, he was just being selfish. Many parents complained about how their children usually came home covered in white dust due to cleaning the board for the next lesson. The day the parent-teacher meeting was held, it was one of their complaints, and so the school authorities asked teachers to always clean up the board themselves and not ask pupils to do it.
I made this request on behalf of other teachers, as they were too scared to make their opinion known. Since I was free to talk to the school owner, I took it upon myself to do this. I wanted the teachers to be able to voice their concerns without feeling intimidated. I knew that if I spoke up, the school owner would take notice and be more likely to listen. I was determined to make sure that our voices were heard.
My conversation earlier on wasn't the first conversation we had together. I decided to speak up again after two months when there were no signs of anything being done.
After a while, I noticed a little change in how his wife responded to my greetings. She always had this cheery smile and also this heartwarming feel to her responses, but it was gone, I didn't bother asking what the matter was, this lasted on for a while, and I didn't ask her why she changed her character.
Then the time for paying staff came, every other staff member was paid, and I was left, I didn't even think there was a problem until I got called to the office, I sat down for the information I was to be given, only for the woman to tell me I won't be paid, WHAT!!!
WOMAN: Miss Charity, we will withhold your salary this month due to your disrespect towards management.
ME: Excuse me? Can you tell me who I disrespected? And how?.
After arguing for almost an hour and I wasn't getting my desired result, I decided to start a storm, so it wouldn't just be us talking. Still, so there could be other people involved to judge the problem, which I succeeded to do, other teachers came out to see what the problem was, and after they heard what was wrong, I had people on my side. Also, when I demanded my payment, the man reluctantly counted out the money from his pocket and gave it to me.
Well, that was my last day there because I couldn't cope with being in the same space as them.
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