Teacher Complaints

It’s really amazing how much teachers bitch about work.  I haven’t held a full-time job other than teaching, so I’m wondering if other people at other professions complain as much as teachers do to each other.  Every day at lunch, it’s one thing about this student, another story about another student, this one said this, that one said that.  Every other day an older teacher mentions, with the requisite pining in their voice, about the decline of students’ attention spans and the rise in the instant-gratification, all-about-me attitude.  Nobody ever talks about anything else.  I’m wondering if it’s just the teachers here or if it’s everybody everywhere.  Is anybody happy at their job???

Conversation with two students:

Girl 1: “I wanted to wear this skirt so I look good, but now I’m freezing.”

Me: “You’re a teenage girl.  You don’t have to dress like that to get guys.”

Girl 2: “Tell me about it.”