LAUGH
Payday is always a happy day on any teacher’s calendar until we see the size of it (or lack thereof) and realize there’s not a whole lot to be happy about. So let’s take a minute to take a break and have a laugh over these teacher sala memes that remind us that we are definitely not doing this for the money.
1. I wonder if the founding fathers had two jobs?
Much like Alexander Hamilton had to do, teachers often have to get really creative when it comes to paying those bills. I guess we’re lucky we’re not also fighting the Revolutionary War at the same time?
2. Ah, retirement… it’ll happen…eventually
Remember when the commonly accepted idea was that teachers could retire at 65 and enjoy some peace and quiet in their later years? Considering teaching ages you in dog years, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to retire when I’m 147.
3. It’s so small!
A lot of us felt like we may have been sold a false bill of goods with this whole teaching thing. It sounded like a stable job with a steady income, and yet the only thing steady about that income is that it’s steadily less than what we deserve.
4. Can I have a do over?
I know my parents (who were teachers themselves) warned me not to join in their footsteps for years. Then they slowly watched me make a series of life choices that lead me into education. I’m pretty sure their foreheads are permanently dented now from facepalming themselves.
5. Fooled you!
You graduate from college fresh with ideas and ready to take on the world. You find your first teaching job and are all excited to finally be making that “adult” money. Then you get that first paycheck and realize you’re just a little kid running a lemonade stand all over again.
6. That’s a good question
Nope. we don’t have an answer for that question, and believe me we’ve been asking it for decades now.
7. I am one with the force, but I’m not sure if the force is one with me
Nothing like that old double whammy is there? And if you’re thinking the whole “overworked” angle is only true in times of a worldwide pandemic, think again. On our best days we’re overworked. These days we’re being ridden harder than Seabiscuit on the final stretch of the Kentucky Derby.
8. Even math teachers don’t get teacher pay
Your paycheck should be a pretty simple formula, and yet somehow every two weeks you stare at it and wonder just where all that money has gone.
9. Let me check. Nope, still not enough.
Teachers are like goldfish when it comes to paychecks. We have no long-term memory of what it’s like to open our paycheck and realize just how small teacher pay is. So every two weeks we wait with eager anticipation to get hurt all over again.
10. You have GOT to be kidding me
As kids we were taught to find a job you love, work hard at it and you’ll be happy. That might have been true in the days before the internet, but watching some kid rack up 50 million views on YouTube for playing with their toys does make us want to chuck our computers out the window.
11. It doesn’t hurt to ask
It couldn’t hurt to ask for more money. Unless you’re talking about the emotional pain of being told “no” directly to your face. In which case then, yes… yes that does hurt. Quite a lot actually.
12. Should NOT have gone crazy on Amazon last week
It’s a familiar trap for teachers. You see something you want, you buy it and reason with yourself that you can afford it because “I’m getting paid next week.” Then you see that paycheck and realize you forgot to account for things like food, electricity, and everything else.
13. I want to speak to the manager!
This was the dream we all saw on TV as kids: The perky school teacher who goes to work every day, then goes home and lives a comfortable life where all their basic needs are met. I don’t ever remember Mr. Feeney working a drive-thru on the weekends for extra cash on “Boy Meets World” do you? How did he survive on teacher pay alone?
14. And a 3rd and sometimes a 4th…
Teachers have become the modern day hustlers. We have figured out myriad ways to make a little extra scratch every now and then. I’m pretty sure without teachers Uber and Lyft would go out of business.
15. But hey, here’s a new piece of technology you’ll never use
Every school year teachers return to find the district spent millions of dollars on new smartboards (which are the same as the old ones), or new online resources we didn’t ask for. But boy howdy when it comes to paying teachers suddenly they turn into Bob Cratchit on Christmas Eve.
16. My nest egg currently looks like a goose egg
We’re all told about the importance of saving for your future because at some point we will want to stop working. And that is a lovely sentiment, except for the fact our bills barely cover the present and the past (credit card debt anyone?). So planning for the future isn’t exactly in our crosshairs.
17. Help me help you!
We’ve been shown disrespect, overcrowded classrooms and a workload that would make a normal person choke. But, wait let me check one more time… nope we have not been shown the money just quite yet.
18. If Chapter 7 is bankruptcy, how many chapters does this book have?
It may seem hopeless at times, but fear not teachers. Oh wait, actually it doesn’t look like things are improving anytime soon so yeah… go ahead and start fearing.
19. Congratulations! You lose!
Other than that one week of teacher appreciation we get every year, there’s not a whole lot of praise teachers get. In a normal world, we’d say something like “Yes, but at least the pay is good.” Sadly though teacher pay is not all that good, what we lack in actual dollars we make up for in coffee cups.
