Replies

1. 
   stanley2 | Sep 07, 2007 03:16am | #1

   I bought an item on ebay from NY - I live in British Columbia (BC).  After some weeks I started asking the seller about it.  She did everything in her power to track it down when finally her post office said, in effect, don't ask again.  The oddest thing happened.  She was so good about it I decided to let her off the hook by not posting negative feedback and told her to forget it.  This was six months later.  Believe it or not, two days later my package arrived quite beat up but the item was fine.  The clearing house at USPS sent it to BC - Bagota Columbia!  The postmaster there wrote across the parcel in big black ink "Try Canada! !" and they did. 

1. 
   81treehouse | Sep 07, 2007 04:17am | #2

   Don't understand your complaints.  I live in Arkansas as in AR.  Airborne Express sent my stuff to Arizona and then it was returned to the vendor as undeliverable.  And this is all in the good ol' USA.  When finally tracking down the returned package, it was sent to Little Rock and put in the US mail system (USPS) since they don't deliver to remote addresses!  WOW!  All in the US.  The post office delivered it two days later!  By the way, I paid for overnight!!!!  No refund!!! But Heh, it only took two weeks.

   I never knew I was so remote Airborne couldn't or wouldn't deliver to me.  Now I use FedEx and UPS -- both deliver to me on time even if I'm not in Arizona or in a remote area of Arkansas. :-)  Even snail mail is sometimes acceptable.

   It's my money and I say who delivers or if the seller refuses, I spend my money elsewhere.  When you get to my age, I guess you get cranky.

    A bad day woodworking is better than a good day working -- yes, I'm retired!

1. 
   highfigh | Sep 07, 2007 05:36am | #3

   Re: people sending things to the wrong state because they can't figure out the abbreviations- our nation's school systems and the brilliant people who drop out because they think they have all of the answers are to blame. Too many schools allow students to graduate without being able to read.
   "I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."

1. 
   frenchy | Sep 08, 2007 11:06pm | #6

   highfigh

     Regarding your comments about the poor performance of our students in school. It's not as simple as you would have it seem.. it's not the schools fault, really. In the end it's the students and the parents fault more so than any one elses..

     In high school a teacher has 60 minutes to teach the subject matter. Well actaully usually 55 since they allow students 5 minutes to go from class to class.

    Now take away say2 or 3  minutes while students settle down from the dash from their last class and a couple of minutes as they prepare to dash to their next class..

     Have you seen the size of some of these modern high schools? why they can't organize the classrooms so one class flows next door to another class I can't figure out but often kids have to lug 30 or 40 pounds of books from one end of the building to another.. In 5 minutes that's a heck of a dash (and no running in the halls) 

     Ok, add a few minutes while attendance is taken..  and another few minutes while notices are given and etc.. plus we need to hand out the homework the kids did so figure at least a few minutes doing that.  Home work shouldn't be just about performing the required tasks but the teachers simply don't have time to help those who got things wrong.. At best if there is confusion as indicated by the majority of incorrect responses the teacher might squeeze a few minutes to attempt to explain it better.. usually not though, there simply isn't time..

    Assume the teacher has 35 students, and spent all the above time not teaching anything.. they have now have 42 minutes to teach the subject.

     That's without anyone raising their hand and asking a question, or anyone acting up and disturbing the class.  Heck, let's give the teacher one minute with each student to answer questions and direct them into discovery..   Some students simply won't understand it in a minute.. or need it explain differantly.  But let's time manage this to the second.  Just pretend it's not the real world..

       We're down to 7 minutes to teach the subject matter..  

         Are you beginning to grasp the difficulty of the situation?

     Now look at two differant schools..

    Both public, both right next to each other..

     One school district has children from some of the finest (most expensive)  homes around.. parents who had the smarts and ambition and drive to get to move into that district..   the other school district had parents from a vastly differant background.. Per capita incomes are a small fraction of the other school districts.. and that's reflected in the value of the homes (and accordingly the taxes paid) 

   Teachers at the expensive school district make much more income than teachers at the poorer district.. The students come to classes well dressed and prepared to learn.. their parents expect fine performance and help when the student needs it.. 'The poor school district  there are a handfull of smart ambitious students who's parents provide the support required but they are the exception.. The vast majority of parents send their children to class  so they can go to work.  School is really nothing more than a cheap day care center for teenagers..

        Now let's be honest..

     The vast majority of the time you get what you pay  for don't you? You pay Pinto Prices you really don't expect to get Ferrarri performance do you?  Schools with differant tax bases will produce differant results won't they?   

1. 
   highfigh | Sep 09, 2007 12:26am | #7

   Thanks for dumbing it down for me. I had completely forgotten my high school days. My graduating class had almost 800 students and the total in the school was around 2300. This is a school that takes kids from 4 suburbs, none with over 15K residents. The rest of the kids go to a few local private schools. One area with two stories and many classes on opposite ends of the school, so I know what it's like to have to hoof it from class to class. Now, the state has the voucher system and they bus kids in from the city. Sad to say, but the crime rate rose sharply as soon as the new kids came in. They catch them pretty quickly, so it's not just speculation.Moving to a school district means little now, in many cases. Some districts maintain their quality, though. A good school will make it possible for the students who "got it wrong" to get help in those subjects, even if it's not intensive. Sometimes, only a little help makes the difference. Other times, they have to take a remedial class to get up to speed. Hopefully, correct assessments are made before the kids get to the point that they're completely overwhelmed by any of their classes.If the teacher lets their class get so out of control that they answer questions instead of presenting the material, it's definitely a problem, I agree. Usually, attendance isn't needed after a certain point because the teacher should be intelligent enough to learn the names and associate them to the faces. That gives back most of the time you showed. The kids can hand in the assignment from the previous class when they walk in the door. A short Q&A on that homework and they can get into the day's topics. A few minutes for additional Q&A, then the handouts are distributed and the class is over. Doesn't sound like 7 minutes to me, but most of us were pretty well-behaved. The ones who weren't, were dealt with and received detention. If they did anything that was too destructive or disruptive, they were suspended and the parents were made to become more involved. You didn't mention the public school teachers who are just punching the time clock until they retire, putting in their time. What do we do about their lack of effort, concern and the kids who go through school being "taught" by these black holes of school budget money? Speaking of the money paid to teachers, you might want to look into what they make, thanks to the teacher's unions. True to form, worthless, burned out humps are still paid well and have great benefit packages. To be fair, I think most teachers should be paid well and receive more praise than they do. I also think more teacher evaluations should be done, to deal with burn-out more effectively.
   "I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."

   Edited 9/8/2007 5:27 pm by highfigh

2. 
   frenchy | Sep 09, 2007 03:09am | #8

   highfigh,

      Some of the most stupid things the teachers do are because parents require it.. Attendance for example I agree after a bit teachers should recognize their students. But.. assume the teacher has 6 classes of say 35 students  that means they need to know 210 students It's not going to happen the first few weeks.  My oldest daughter attended a school with nearly 4000 students so you can imagine the size of that school (which was built to accommodate 7000)   

     But if you're a parent you want your little Johnny/Susan to be accounted for the whole time not just at start of the day..so time is wasted and teachers have to do it by the book or face repercussions.

    Again the process you mention of handing in assignments would work except  for requirements which vary from school district to school district.. some school districts want assignments handed in at certain times in an attempt to control the selling of homework..

     With computers today it's relatively easy for one student to do the homework of many.. My own daughter used to do that to earn some spending money (until I found out about it)   

     and as for dealing with trouble makers.. approximately half of all marriages end up in divorce.   Those that don't certainly get strained often enough.. that instability causes some good kids to misbehave or act up at times,, harsh penalties don't always work and may cause a student who might otherwise do well to start down a path towards destruction..

     You are speaking about tenure.. yes some teachers burn out and stop teaching. They simply are going thru the route and waiting towards retirement.. That's the negative of dealing with all sorts of parents.. some of whole threaten and intimidate teachers in order to get Johnny a better grade..

     Without tenure no teacher could feel confident speaking up to powerful people.  thus rich kids who need help or attention wouldn't get it.. Tenure affords teachers the ability to tell parents where Johnny does and doesn't need help..

    All this from experience, I thought for over 4 years but choose not to remain in that thankless low paid job. The teaching part was great.. when  you'd get a lite bulb turned on some kids head and see the excitement as he connects the dots it's the most powerful drug on earth.. but the endless meetings, countless stupid battles with administration over the most mundane issues.  (many of who were burned out teachers who hadn't broken any rules but weren't teaching...really). 

   The budget battles which really prevented much real learning from happening..  there are really two battles.. You see most schools tightly control circumlum. and lesson plans must be approved and adhered to.. that means on Tuesday you have x number of minutes to  recover things you taught on monday but most of the students didn't understand.. If they don't get A then they won't understand B etc.. but you have to teach B not A. 

    When I first started like every other new teacher I was under close scrutiny. So I knuckled down and did like I was told..  I could see the lack of connection.. but I taught according to lesson plan..

    I can't remember when I decided to teach rather than follow the lesson plan, but I did and I started to connect with the students.. in a few weeks I had all of the class up to speed and then we really started to rip.. learn stuff.. I had a hungary class eager to learn because I challenged them and rewarded them and made them see on their own terms what it meant for them..

   I won't tell you the battles I had with administration over the most trivial issues..  They wanted to replace me early on and forced my students to take the final test 3 weeks early.  They were shocked when my class scored higher than any previous class had.  and now the trivial BS really went to work.. letters in my file,, formal complaints meetings with advisors and so on so on so on..  They advised me not to look to be rehired the next year. (tenure comes only after a long look-see) I repeated my performance the next year and the next but the final year they actually had someone qualified to replace me and I said sure I'll leave and went and made much more money delivering sandwiches..

    I'll say this Most teacher are decent hard working and really try the exceptions you noted are just that, exceptions..

3. 
   highfigh | Sep 09, 2007 03:54am | #9

   " I'll say this Most teacher are decent hard working and really try the exceptions you noted are just that, exceptions.."I think a lot of the exceptions have enough friends in the right places that they don't need to worry much about getting the boot. I also think there's a lot of Admin vs the people who really know what's going on that's causing problems. Pointing fingers and telling others what to do rarely works when those pointing their fingers are basing their instructions on what they read and hear about instead of what they see and experience in those classrooms. If a teacher has a real desire to teach, they'll find a venue. You could have changed schools and kept teaching which, apparently, you had the ability to do. You wanted or needed to make more money. It makes me wonder if you passed on the opportunity to work with kids who would have made a real difference. I guess we'll never know.
   "I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."

4. 
   frenchy | Sep 09, 2007 05:20pm | #10

   highfigh

     Teachers who obey the rules and follow all the little petty procedures don't worry about getting fired but they aren't teaching..   Administration is all about rules and procedures.

    Want to cause major disruptions?  get sick.. Not a I need a break sick but honest puking your guts out sick.  When I called in with what turned out to be a case of food poisening the vice principle made such a stink that I bagged the last two throw ups and brought them in to school for his inspection. When he looked digusted and started to back pedal I tossed them in his waste basket (secretly hoping the bag would burst) and turned and walked out.. even without a docters note it was written up as an excused absence;-)

     The school districts have procedures for everything and you need to submit changes in your lesson plan in sufficent time to have it reviewed and approved prior to implimentation.   That doesn't work any more than fighting combat based on what Washington tells you..

     I couldn't tolerate that constant interferance and petty BS so I choose to do something instead.. delivering sandwichews was supposed to be a stop gap measure untill I figured out what I really wanted to do. The better pay changed my focus it wasn't the driving force. I didn't quit to make more money I quit because I couldn't absorb all the petty BS.. Kids weren't a problem.. even the trouble makers quickly learned that I was on their side and would honestly help them.

     No I couldn't have worked elsewhere.. the interferance and petty rules are the norm not the exception..

    

2. 
   forestgirl | Sep 07, 2007 07:06am | #4

   "This is being shipped by UPS snail mail Division."  Do you mean UPS (United Parcel Service) -- probably "Ground",
   or do you mean USPS (United States Postal Service) = "Snail Mail"????

   Whatever, at this point, I might ask the supplier to send you another order, and they should trust you to refuse delivery if/when the original order shows up.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 
   
1. 
   dougmeyer | Sep 08, 2007 01:05am | #5

   I feel your pain. A convention that I was part of was supposed to get the signs for the convention in Mid July (Convention was in Late July) They were found in the Lost and Found Dept of the Shipper about 2 weeks ago.

   Doug

3. 
   AB | Sep 09, 2007 05:33pm | #11

   I once had a UPS supervisor explain to me that 2nd day air always takes
   4 working days.Even if you gave them something on the exact moment they opened, the day they get it is not counted. The next day the item ships.The next day is the first day. You get it the next which is the second day. Weekends don't count. So 2nd day air takes 4 to 6 days. I ship a lot of merchandise. Non of the shippers are what I would call great. Fed-ex routinely delivers products on Monday or Tuesday that I paid extra for Saturday delivery ("Saturday deliveries are never made if they would have to run overtime pay to get it into the trucks Saturday morning".Got that gem from a customer service supervisor in Memphis.)The good old USPS is the most reliable shipper that I deal with. If you are willing to work with their shipping windows they are consistent on deliveries, though expensive for next day services.

1. 
   TaunTonMacoute | Sep 09, 2007 05:56pm | #12

   Almost all (if not all) USPS air shipments are moved by FedEx or UPS.  USPS is both of these firms' biggest customer.

1. 
   AB | Sep 09, 2007 06:05pm | #13

   I still find them to be a good value when I can live with their shipping windows. They are very consistent about getting packages out inside of the days they quote.

1. 
   TaunTonMacoute | Sep 09, 2007 06:40pm | #14

   I agree - they carry a lot of weight with UPS and FedEx.  I figured, why not?

4. 
   WillGeorge | Sep 09, 2007 07:18pm | #15

   My Fuse is getting shorter every day !!! BANG.. there I go again..