Will Work For Assisted Reproductive Technologies

When I'm not surfing the Web or studying, I work as an editor for an educational company. I've been an editor at a bunch of places including a handful of trade book publishers (I quit when I was so embarrassed by the books I was editing that I started removing my name from acknowledgements pages) and an Internet consulting company (I was laid off when everything turned to shit in 2001). My current job, however, is without question the worst I've ever had, and I'll tell you why:

1. For-profit education is a bad thing. I used to believe that capitalist zeal could force educators to innovate in ways that non-profit, bureaucratic educational organizations could not, but now I see that it's never good when the interests of stockholders come before the interests of students and innovation only happens if there's money to be made.
2. Our products are bad. Because the No Child Left Behind Act supports high-stakes testing, school districts are taking what little money they do have and spending it on test prep: don't worry about learning how to read, just learn how to answer questions in such a way that people *think* you can read. (Yet another reason to get W. out of office.)
3. The executives at my company are bad people. For 3 years in a row, we've been frozen at 3% raises (during this time I've been promoted and singled out by the President for "outstanding" work), but every year the executives get phat bonuses including iPods (last year) and Handspring Treos (this year). On a recent junket, they decided that making plane reservations was too much of a hassle so they Chartered. A. Corporate. Jet.
4. The company treats its employees badly. They changed our working hours from 9-5 to 9-6 (with no corresponding raise in pay) and installed cameras at the exits and entrances to watch our comings and goings (one person has been fired for leaving before 6 although she regularly worked through lunch). They recently created 2 separate entrances: one on the 23rd floor for the executives, the other on the 21st floor for the rest of us. And there’s more, but I won’t get into it.

I mention this because today I was reminded that Monday is a regular work day in my office. While the rest of the country salutes the legacy of Washington and Lincoln by sleeping in, going to white sales, and watching the Law & Order marathon on TNT, we have to be at work....or take a personal day. At this point, I'm an hourly employee so I have to work if I want to get paid, but it's the principle of the thing. Oh, and the fact that the building is closed so there won't be any heat.

Anyway, I was grousing about all of this to my husband who for the first time was really encouraging me to quit (he recently got a raise and is apparently feeling flush). And for a minute or two I was tempted, but then I remembered that we're still waiting for the bill from the IUI (conservative estimate: $2,350) and who knows what the future has in store for us. So, for right now I’m working exclusively to support our assisted reproductive habit. Here’s hoping for an early retirement.

Comments

[JulieBean]

Hey girl.
Sorry about the job situation and no holiday on Monday -- the nerve.
I don't think I knew you were an editor (if I did I apologize for being so forgetful). Did you know that I am a career publishing person? I currently work for a major educational publisher. My company has definitely been on the test prep bandwagon lately too. To be honest, I hadn't made the connection to No Child Left Behind but I definitely get it now. While it's nice to work for a publisher that seeks to "do good" -- i.e. educate our nation's children -- I do miss trade publishing...
I will be in your work neighborhood on Monday... Maybe we will run into each other. ;-)
-Julie

[Julia]

Hey, who knew that women with ties to the world of educational publishing are commonly reproductively challenged?!

Before becoming a freelance writer/editor, I worked with several educational publishing companies, and then for a well-know professional developer who traveled around the country giving speeches about the latest in education (specifically elementary level reading).

Nice to know you, sisters!

[Lisa]

Seriously--clealy someone needs to investigate the connection between educational publishing and infertility. Who knew?

[ElenaSergeevna]

My friend left me alone. Can someone help me, what should i do.

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[shoper]

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