At the time (last year) I was working as an elementary school teacher in Ontario, Canada. I’m now back at high school, which is where my training and expertise is. I had been experiencing some mild mental health issues; a bad combination of my partner leaving me, being unsatisfied with work (I’m not fond of young kids, and having to work with them for 4 months was devastating), and a dash of good ol’ fashioned depression and anxiety. I hadn’t realized that my psyche was apparent in my expression, I thought that I had been hiding it well. Well enough, at any rate, that 7th graders couldn’t tell that I was miserable. I suppose I carried myself differently when I wasn’t with them.
The vice principal, who was known to get involved in the affairs of others (and also for incompetency) called me in for a meeting. Said it was plainly obvious to everyone I was depressed and just insisted I take the first half of the day off tomorrow so I could get some rest, and she would cover my classes. I must have said no thank you a good 6 or 7 times before she told me it wasn’t really a request, and that she would be covering my two morning classes the next day.
Fast forward to the next day. I always arrive at the school at 7h50, and the bell rings at 8h15. This gives me a great cushion in case something makes me late. As I no longer had classes to get to in the morning, I arrived at about 8h10. I show up and the vice principal is going nuts- I look at my phone, which was on silent, and had about 15 missed calls in my 10 minute drive there. Another teacher had called out sick at the last minute, and thus was a “fail to fill”, meaning that because it was so short notice, a supply teacher could not be found to fill the position. When this happens, other teachers are pulled from their break times to fill the position. The vice principal is screeching at me about where the hell I was, why weren’t you checking your phone, the finer points of punctuality, etc. I covered the class, and went home. Told her I was taking the rest of the week off. No one reprimanded me, though as I understand, she ended up resigning at the end of the year.