Part-Time Job

Part-Time Job--what does that mean to you? Does it mean you spend part of the time at work? Or Part of the time at home, maybe an evening, or an occasional late afternoon, doing your own thing? I haven't decided which description fits this job I currently have.

My original concept of a part time job was that I would go to work for a couple of hours and then come home to have the rest of the day to do what I needed to/wanted to do. This description sort of fit what I have been doing for the past three years. But about a year ago, I was approached about taking over as coordinator of the program of teaching in which I spent part of my time doing. I officially took over that role in May, 2008. Since then part time has been redefined for me!

Does going in at 8:30 a.m. and coming home at 5:45 p.m. sound like the job is part time? Does attending three afternoon meetings in a week, one emergency meeting the next week and still nothing resolved sound like part-time work? Does grading papers until 10 p.m. at night sound like a part time job? The only thing that even resembles the part time part of this is every month when the paycheck rolls in!

My job seems to have been redifined for me, thinking that as coordinator, I must be given enough jobs to do and responsibilities to accomplish to make my part-time pay worth while. My predecessor made things look so easy, why did I think I would be able to do this job?

Right now, I'm looking for another teacher to work with us. That has been fun and interesting, getting to talk to some very talented people. One beautiful candidate was teaching in our department! Weren't we lucky that the boss remembered in her resume that she taught our brand of English as a Second Language as well as English comp? Yes, we were!

So, in these economic tight times, I guess I should be glad to have a part-time job. My days are full, the people are wonderful, and my only wish about this part time job is that I really had enough hours in the day to do all that I am expected to accomplish. But it keeps me off the streets and out of the department stores, so that is good.