What does your company give you for Xmas

[DawnM]

what do you do for a living?

Dawn

Ok I am going there!!! Flame suit on!!!

Seriously, teachers are complaining about not getting paid holidays off. You guys work 9 months out of the year. Get every single holiday off and in my area of the country you make between 40 to 50k a year!!!! Not too bad. Also, I know the teachers in my kids school gets tons and tons of gifts from their students.

I work 50 weeks a year got like 6 paid holidays and 40 hours a week.

 

[big_red_s]

I used to teach (college classes) and you couldn't pay me enough to stand a whole day in front of snot nosed grade schoolers or teenagers with an attitude.

That being said, teachers, through their union representatives, have negotiated contracts which they are willingly give up bonuses ("merit pay") in lieu of tenure.

Actually, every time the subject of merit pay comes up, the education industry (and I don’t mean the folks in the trenches, but the middle management and above – especially the unions) have sh!t fits over this “outlandish” idea.

 

[DawnM]

I think the problem with the entire idea is in who gets them. For a 3rd grade teacher it might be easy to figure out how well the kids are performing, but what about those teachers who teach art, or ESL, or special education? Do they have to forgo merit pay because they don't "qualify?"

Also, how do you figure out merit pay for inner city teachers, particularly middle and high school teachers?

For example, I worked in a high school with 5,400 students. We had a turnover rate of OVER 1,400 PER YEAR! It was a highly transient area. We also had a lot of students taking off to their country for months at a time and high absenteeism, etc.....

In a nice area, where parents purchase homes and stay and are highly involved in their childrens' education, there isn't the same issue.

Dawn

I used to teach (college classes) and you couldn't pay me enough to stand a whole day in front of snot nosed grade schoolers or teenagers with an attitude.

That being said, teachers, through their union representatives, have negotiated contracts which they are willingly give up bonuses ("merit pay") in lieu of tenure.

Actually, every time the subject of merit pay comes up, the education industry (and I don’t mean the folks in the trenches, but the middle management and above – especially the unions) have sh!t fits over this “outlandish” idea.

 

[big_red_s]

I didn't say there is an easy solution, nor is it particularly fair - but I think my point still stands that the bonuses were willingly negotiated away.

By the way, I work for a mid-sized defense contractor. If we get a bonus (only for top performers, usually managers) it is in the form of company stocks. We get Christmas day off with pay, a fancy shmancy shindig mid January (not as fancy since the company grew) and the company swallos the insurance hike every other year or so (which I think is very generous).

 

[nena]

Ok I am going there!!! Flame suit on!!!

Seriously, teachers are complaining about not getting paid holidays off. You guys work 9 months out of the year. Get every single holiday off and in my area of the country you make between 40 to 50k a year!!!! Not too bad. Also, I know the teachers in my kids school gets tons and tons of gifts from their students.

I work 50 weeks a year got like 6 paid holidays and 40 hours a week.

First of all, I Love teaching!! I teach because I want to make a difference. I am a 10 month employee, who chooses to have their check divided into 12 months because we do not qualify for unemployment during the summer. I also pay $600 a month for my family's health insurance, $150 a month for my Reitrement and $100 a month for disability insurance because teacher's dont qualify for that either.
Yes, I get a week off at Thanksgiving, 3 weeks off at Christmas and a week off at easter. But I come in an hour early and stay 2 hours late EVERYDAY! There are also several events throughout the year that are at night or on Saturdays that we volunteer our time to. This is my second year as a K/1 teacher. I am doing twice the work and getting 1 Salary.
This year for Christmas, I got an email from the Superintendent and a candle from my Principal. In the card she thanked me "for the many, many many things I do for our school". I didn't expect a gift, but her acknowledgement of what I do, is what I VALUE most.
Yes, some of my students bring me a gift. It could be a cup, chocolate or an ornament. The last few years, I have even received gifts from former students. But the best gift I got this year was when one of my former students came to visit me on the last day. She is now 14 and a Freshman is High School. The fact that she still remembers me 9 years later, even after she moved away, lets me know I am doing my job. I AM MAKING A DIFFERENCE!!

 

[wendylovesdisney]

NURSE here... a big fat nothing. Not even a card.

 

[Florida Princess]

I work for an Major Hotel Corp. and we have received nothing this year ---last year it was a $10 Publix Gift card.

 

[RangerPooh]

Another high paid teacher here and while we did not get a monetary bonus we did get an ornament with our school's mascot on it. Our VP also gave us each a mug of cocoa. I teach Special Education Pre-K so I'm happy to get anything, and actually got a few trinket gifts from my students/parents which was very generous!

And for the person who said that we make too much, I will agree with others that once our medical insurance, liability insurance/union dues, etc are removed we don't make that much money. Especially as my pay is spread out over 12 months, not the 10 that I teach. Basically I make a whopping $2700/month after all is said and done. And as pp have mentioned we do a fair amount of out of pocket buying to make sure that our students have supplies. Heck, I even have to buy my own printer paper as I only get 10 packs (1 box) to last me the whole year. When each IEP has to be printed a minimum of 5x, and varies between 10-20 pages in length, the paper doesn't last as long as it's supposed to.

 

[Cruise]

I work in a small, family owned accounting office.

A tin of walnut caramel cookies and $250 cash in a card. I'm pretty sure they're bribing me to keep me happy for the upcoming tax season though.

ETA: DH got one of those new Flip HD camcorder things and a paid brunch (to which I was also invited). We're still waiting to see if there's a cash bonus this year.

 

[mommyof2princesses]

I used to teach (college classes) and you couldn't pay me enough to stand a whole day in front of snot nosed grade schoolers or teenagers with an attitude.

That being said, teachers, through their union representatives, have negotiated contracts which they are willingly give up bonuses ("merit pay") in lieu of tenure.

Actually, every time the subject of merit pay comes up, the education industry (and I don’t mean the folks in the trenches, but the middle management and above – especially the unions) have sh!t fits over this “outlandish” idea.

Not all teachers have unions. In NC there are no unions, so no one stands up for their needs.

 

[Weluvdisny]

I work for a local community bank in our area and we grossed a little over $3k for a Christmas bonus. They always say every year that bonuses are not guaranteed but I've been there 12 years and they've never not given one. I work in a small town and our rate of pay is not the greatest (you can go to a big city nearby and make twice as much), but being able to go home for lunch or run a few errands makes it worth it to me.

 

[crisi]

Unpaid time off.

 

[Donnainnj]

Dh gets a party, he couldn't make it to this year. In the past he had two parties, one with good "prizes". He also got a $15 gift card for a food store in the past. (like a portable turkey?) He gets his bonus in the summer. (which was smaller this year then in the past. Still a good job with many other benefits, especially the ability to work from home at least two days a week.

Funny thing is my 16 year old DD worked at the boardwalk this summer and received a Christmas bonus of $96. Not bad for a job that (legally) pays less then minimum wage.
Donna

 

[Cindy B]

Our commissioner gave us tehe 24th off with pay and we don't have to take any vacation hours. So I guess I can say I go a days pay...

But other than that, nothing...

DH got a $25 American Express gift card.--he wasn't expecting anything so it was better than nothing.

 

[lovetonap]

My DH has a small business. He and his partner gave their 3 employees $5000 each for a Christmas bonus.

 

[Cjmuma]

I work for a small community based hospital, and we get a Ham for christmas. they also started giving us a turkey for thanksgiving too, so I feel very lucky. We haven't been hit as hard as a lot of small hospitals, and we were just told we will get a raise again this year! DH just became a supervisor (he works for a small security company at a school) - one of his employees gave him a bottle of champagne this year, but nothing from his company, which is fine, we don't expect anything. He gave his employees a pizza party yesterday on our dime as a thank you to them for putting up with the just learning the new job bumps along the way. I certainly don't expect any sort of christmas bonus, and neither does he. He was floored when his employee brought him the champagne. We are both just glad to still have jobs. Our area has been hit hard with layoffs!

 

[Robmom]

I get nothing. Years ago, we used to get a small gift. We also used to get a party for the kids, but this year they wanted to save money, and they didn't do it. We also used to get a free lunch on Christmas Eve, but not this year again. But at least thankfully I get the day off, and I'm thankful that I have my job.

 

[big_red_s]

Not all teachers have unions. In NC there are no unions, so no one stands up for their needs.

But there has to be some sort of "collective barganing". I find it hard to believe that each teacher negotiates their own contract with the principle.

 

[dfchelbay]

I, for one, have no complaints about my job. And am very thankful. Sheesh... this was like a poll, a survey, "What does your employer give you for Christmas" How is that any different from "What are you getting your kids for Christmas" As somone else mentioned, it is *interesting* to see what others get in the workplace.

If you don't find it *interesting* as well, feel free to ignore.

Cheer up! I hope you feel better soon...

 

[spaceacewannabe]

But there has to be some sort of "collective barganing". I find it hard to believe that each teacher negotiates their own contract with the principle.

In states without unions, it's generally a "here's what we'll give you" pay scale, and if you don't like it, you just don't have a job. Teachers in unionless areas, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, remember that in areas with unions, we HAVE to join (which is several thousand dollars each year out of our paychecks), and really, the unions mostly represent the people nearing retirement. At least that's how they work in our part of the country Don't get me wrong, we are generally better off for it, but I think implying that the union truly represents the interests of the whole is a stretch.