It's the little things of the job that make everything worth it. All the stress of working in education, all the meetings with the big bosses, the paperwork, the endless staff meetings, professional developments, the weekend-long courses, all the after-hours work we have to put it to get work complete, that all just seems to melt away with the little moments that happen each day. Those special times when you just smile to...

How can I start this letter? My name is Walter Cole. I lived at 25 Maple Avenue, Greenwood Town, Maine. I’m not a native American, I moved here from Europe. Firstly, if you ever read this, go straight to the police. Of course, I know they won’t believe all this right away, but hopefully, they will start an investigation to reveal the truth. Down below, I tried to describe all that has happened to me as well as I could. It...

I got told off at work the other day. Not uncommon, the children always have an answer for everything, and I am constantly getting attitude and sass, but I just sass them straight back. I am teaching the next generation to be sarcastic assholes. You're welcome, society.The particular boy who told me off, has no language skills. He is on the autistic spectrum and he has a specialist who comes into see him a few times a wee...

Tina sat in her seat and waited. The end of the school year was less than fifteen minutes away, she could hang on that long. She breezed through the finals and was sitting there just counting the minutes. No more greetings of fat ass, chunky monkey or anyone of the dozens of names bestowed upon her by them. Them? The hateful hotties as she dubbed them. Any student who wasn't tall and slender was fair game in their eyes an...

I've tried this self employed lark,it has left me with barely a spark,my words, reader, I beg you mark,my voice, I'd like you to hark,this not working has to stop,my life right now, is utter plopp.I love my little Kitten,but feel as useless as a single mitten,then, along comes she, makes me smitten.So readers, don't despair, this broken life, I shall repair,I'll find a job and save and save,a pathway, I shall also pave,an...

I have been asked many times why I do not share some of the stories about my years in law enforcement, alas that I cannot do. Remember those of us in public service quickly develop a dark sense of humor to help us cope with the day by day drama we face, we rarely see people at their best. Then there is the whole language issue. While in earshot of the public and news media it is a strain to maintain a PC tone in our speec...

It came unexpected. Oh I had applied for a job at the new casino here in Cleveland like thousands of others, but the casino website was so jammed with so many others attempting to apply that I could not make the connection. It was about 4 months later that I finally was able to complete the on-line application.I first applied for their chief of security, after all I was a police officer/trainer for many years, I figured t...

I worked in Tombstone at Diamond Jim's Olde Tyme Photo Studio dressing people up like saloon girls and cowboys and taking their pictures with a hundred-and-eighty-year-old camera that went POOF and running to the back to dip the sheets of paper from between the glass into a chemical in a little red-lit room and selling the pictures to smiling parents and lovers and bikers and tourists, but someone was stealing from the ti...

This story contains mature themes* * *The California Board of Education meeting once again ran late into the night. The stale air became stifling in the August evening, as the air conditioning units had been shut down over an hour ago. Tempers started to flare, as discussions had become as hot as the California sunshine. Arguments were heard and heard again with no end in sight. "Look," said the chairman flatly, "we have...

I graduated from college in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in Geography. Because I had changed my major course of studies along the line, I also had “under my belt”, twenty one credit hours in history, twenty one credit hours in geology, and several semesters of economics, sociology, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics and secondary education. I had also had one paper published in the Maryland Journal of Geologic...

I was approached Promptly Not even before Pulling out my cash When I heard rustling And shuffling Behind me As I spin around There she was Close behind me As if they could smell the greens Or they have some ex-ray visions She spoke politely Asking for change I felt so generous Not knowing I was just another played fool A victim of this entrepreneur There I saw, she went on begging With the lump of coins and paper In her h...

I walk into the store.It looks exactly the same. But it feels different.I usually get a fun feeling when I walk in here. I always head right over to the clothes, excited about finding a good deal. Something I like. This store is known for its great deals. They have designer clothes sometimes, for 85% off the original price. That's better than a garage sale or the Salvation Army, because these clothes are new!If I'm with m...

Dear Friends, The silence was drowning me into my innermost thoughts that seemed to sprout from ‘second week’ at my new assignment. The cream and maroon cubicle with an entire glass wall on one side and an endless stretch of green reminded me of the museums I frequented with dad as a kid. So much beauty, only to be ‘seen’. I hated the butterfly corner they had in the museum back then…beautiful, rare (endangered some of th...