Don’t You Know That This Hand Washes That One Too

The first part of July I was asked to be Interim Division Dean for my division at the college.  I didn’t just say no…I said HELL NO!  In fact I said HELL NO every time asked for the next week or so  I didn’t want to be an administrator.  I wanted to teach.  I didn’t want to feel overwhelmed and hate what I was doing, stay long nights working, come in on some Saturdays to get things finished.  I wanted to teach.  Or quit and become a toll booth operator; one of the two.

Then it changed to NO and they knew they had me…and it changed to MAYBE and I knew they had me.  I started my new position mid-July, officially beginning August 1.

Dean Doris

Our Former Dean was a good guy and did great things for our division.  But my style is different from his…and I wanted the division–Visual and Performing Arts and Design–to know this was no longer their father’s Oldsmobile.  Sooooooooo……the first meeting of the entire division was held as usual in the Little Theatre (we have a small theatre and a Performing Arts Center).  Former Dean usually sat in a chair in the center front of the stage where he sat and talked with us.  I put a chair there with papers on it like we always saw, and a felt hat similar to our former dean’s.  As the division entered, they started tittering…."there’s Steve’s hat…look there’s Steve’s hat…"  There was a piano also on stage–it’s always there so no big deal–and a can of Diet Coke was on the upright.  Former Dean is a diet Coke drinker and brought his own because we are a Pepsi sponsored college.

At that, my secretaries and I came out on the stage….I had my back to the audience and my two secretaries flanked me facing the group.  Dan, the stage manager who is also a professional piano player, started playing the piano….one of the theatre instructors called out from the back of the audience, "And now…ladies and gentlemen…the keeper of the committees…[some stuff I forget now]..Mama Dean Doris!"  I turned around and faced the division and Dan gave me a starting note.  I stopped and stared at the chair in front of me, looked at the stage hand on the side and cleared my throat.  She scurried onstage and removed the chair (the audience is already clapping and making sounds).  She then returns to the piano and draped a purple feather boa across the piano.  The piano player began again and gave me my note.  I stopped, stared at the Diet Coke on the piano, cleared my throat and the piano player switched it out with a Diet Pepsi (my drink).  Mayhem exploded in the audience.

And then I started to sing…  What was my song of choice?  When You’re Good to Mama (Mama’s Good to You)… There’s a lot of favors I’m prepared to do. You do one for Mama, she’ll do one for you.  Standing ovation!  One instructor called out, "I think we’re not in Kansas anymore!"  We had a ball doing that 🙂

So the new job…I am still in the honeymoon period.  Faculty like me.  Staff like me.  They feel listened to (I’m good at this) and they feel understood (I’m good at this).  I am working with two separate diads who do not get along and their jobs depend on them getting along, facilitating these relationships (I’m good at this).  I like creative problem solving and I do a bunch of this.  The hard part is the tough conversations with an instructor about a student grievence…I have one next week and I am not looking forward to this.  But I am still in the honeymoon part and haven’t had to make any hard decisions yet…so everyone is still happy with me.  The budget (I’m not so good with this) and getting people to move along in things that need to be done (I’m not so good with this) are there, waiting for me to conquer.

They say that life is tit for tat and that’s the way I live.  So I deserve a lot of tat for what I’ve got to give.

So my time is pretty busy.  No three-month summer break 🙁  Ironically I got a 20% raise for accepting the interim position but turned out my contract is only for 10 months, with no income in August and September, until my teaching contract begins again….and the 10-month salary is exactly what I would have made over 12 months as a 22-year instructor…but I need to save out two months worth of income.  So while the monthly income will increase, it won’t be as much as teaching because of taxes and I have to take out some each month for savings…  Now the bigger irony is that if I decide I want this position, apply for it and am selected, my salary as a new dean is substantially less than my instructor pay as an employee of then 23 years would be.  Is this crazy or what?

I come home very tired some days.  Tired from all the mental stuff.  Sucks up a lot of energy.  I am watching TV more (instead of the half hour of Jeopardy! and then House Hunters on HGTV, I might fall asleep and wake up during the next half hour of HGTV).  Some Saturdays I don’t want to do any sewing or quilting and just sit in front of the TV watching movies.  But I know this will change as I get more used to the different type of job than teaching.

Don’t you know that this hand washes that one too.
When you’re good to Mama, Mama’s good to you

Basically, I’m having a good time 🙂
peace~~