Reason #439 Why I Quit My Job

I just thought it was over. The District is still doing their damnedest to make my life miserable:

May 2002 - May 2005: Worked full-time as a teacher in the Dallas Independent School District, with a contract stating that I would be paid each month, once, on dates that were set during the summer of 2004.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005: Wake up and check the bank account, expecting to see a nice, fat (well, maybe not fat but at least not scrawny) balance, and instead see the paltry sum that had been there the night before. Perplexed, I call the District payroll department to find out what's up, since I've had direct deposit for the entire three years I've worked at my school.

Am told that there is "some problem" with my check, and I won't be able to get it today. Ask for a paper check to be printed immediately, since I'm leaving town to visit my sick grandmother, and won't be able to wait around until tomorrow. Am told that there is absolutely no way a paper check will be printed; they never print them under any circumstances anymore, and I will have to wait until Friday when the money will be in my account. Call the Union, which is not helpful at all.

Friday, June 17, 2005: Still no money. Call the payroll department again, am first told that the check has processed and should be in my account, then am told that a paper check has been printed. Funny, right, since they don't ever print them? I am two hours away at sick grandmother's bedside, so I arrange for a friend to pick the check up. Payroll lady says my friend can come between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. to pick up my check.

Friend shows up, along with the dozen or so other people who have not received their checks either, at 4:00 to get the check. Gets told to wait. Calls me; I call the payroll lady again (by now it's 5:00) and am told that the check will not be ready - I will have to wait, now, until Monday. Get really angry and take it out on the payroll lady, who deserves it since this was her fault, and because she won't just accept responsibility and take care of the situation. When a person only gets paid once a month, it is imperative that the paycheck arrive on time.

Without my knowledge, my friend also takes out frustrations on my behalf by asking payroll lady a series of questions including "How would you feel if you didn't get paid?"

Saturday and Sunday: Spend the weekend broke.

Monday, June 20: Wake up and call payroll. Hear: "No, your check is not ready. No, we don't know when it will be ready." Tell payroll fool that this is not acceptable, and ask to speak to someone else. Finally get in touch with treasurer lady, (I'd draw a heart around her name if I could) who finds my check and gives it to me, along with the contact info for the head of the Payroll Department, when I arrive at the District headquarters building half an hour later.

My main complaint isn't even that they basically lost my check, it's that they never gave me a reason why the mix up happened. What if I had kids to feed, or a parent who needed medicine, or was going to leave on vacation on Friday? These people were truly inconsiderate to me, and I plan to demand answers from the Payroll director.