Locked Out

Thursday. I was having a morning. I had gotten out of my house late, and by the time I got to school, I was feeling rushed. 

The good news was, I had covered Ms. L's co-teacher on Tuesday, so I had had a chance to talk to Ms. L and I knew what the lesson for the day was. I had volunteered that I knew how to work the classroom TV, so I had the copy of the slideshow for the day. Which meant (the bad news) that I needed a bit more time this morning to get set up (because while I know what to do in theory, without having set everything up on this TV, I couldn't be sure everything would work smoothly). 

I got to school later than I would have liked. The classroom was at the far end of campus, upstairs. But, I know the layout of the school, so I didn't get lost. I took out the key, twisted it in the lock, and the door would not open.

Deep sigh.

I know a few tricks. I can fiddle with the doorknob. Sometimes the key needs a little extra push. Perhaps I turned it the wrong way. Nope, nothing worked. It would just not twist that little extra bit to disengage the lock.

I didn't have time for this.

(Yes, it was the correct key. It clearly worked in the lock.)

Out of ideas, I decided I'd try to call security and see if they could brute force me into the room. I went to the classroom next door (Ms. K who I subbed for earlier this school year) as it was open and asked if I could use her phone.

Ms. K: "Are you subbing next door? There's a trick to the lock..."

Ms. K led me back to the door and demonstrated how to get the door open. It involved shoving her shoulder into the door while turning the key. 

Well, that's a new one.

(Ms. K's door has the same issue. They've put in a work order to get it fixed. They're still waiting.)

Now that I knew the trick, I was able to get back in the room later. (I don't leave the door open or unlocked when I leave to use the restroom.) 

That extra bit of time to get in the room did not help with me setting up the slideshow for the day. (Seventh grade English class. They were learning about writing an argumentative essay.) Because, of course that didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked.

But the day went fine, once things got going.

(It was an advanced seventh grade class, so keeping them busy writing notes was just the trick to keep the class mellow.) 

Early Morning Exercise

Last Thursday, I almost didn't work. No assignments popped up until 5:40 that morning. 

Because I was kind of waiting on a call (and I really didn't want to stay home that day), I was way more awake when it was time to get up, and I got out of the house really early. So, I got to school really early. 

This turned out to be a good thing.

It was raining, but by the time I left the main office and headed towards the classroom for the day, it had slowed down to enough of a drizzle that I didn't need to use my umbrella. 

The main office is at the front of the school. The art classroom was at the back. So, it was a bit of a hike.

I walked the long way around the multi-purpose building as the other side of campus is still blocked off by the new building. (They started construction on the STEAM building in 2019 or 2018. It's almost done, which is great, but it's been a long time. At some point I should do a post on the headaches this construction has caused.) 

I got to the classroom, pulled out the key, and the key wouldn't turn. 

I looked at the key...

It was for the wrong room.

So, hiking back to the office I went...

The secretary was very apologetic. (She's doing the job of three secretaries right now, so I wasn't angry at her. I could totally see how this could happen.) She took back the wrong key and got me the correct one. Then I headed back out to the classroom.

It was a good thing I was early. 

And, I got a bit of a walk in for the day. Not a terrible thing. Annoying, but not terrible.

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Key Issues

Before the school year began, we subs were informed that for our assignments we'd be given "a socially distanced work location on site". Translation: we'd be working out of the teachers' classrooms. 

When I went to check in last week, half the staff was missing from the front office. (Two of the four were gone.) Why? Because their children had been exposed to the virus at their daycare (via the district), so they were isolating. One of them was the person I check in with. 

So, I got to check in with the sub for the sub desk. 

And everything was in disarray because the power had been knocked out (due to high winds). 

The sub for the sub desk went in search of keys for me. Usually when we check in, we get a key to the classroom and a key to the restroom. The adult restrooms remain locked. The students have a tendency to trash theirs. 

For reasons (which I know, but are way too complicated for the length of this post), the "sub keys" are configured so that each classroom key is already attached to a restroom key. However, the sub for the sub desk could only find me a key to the classroom. 

The way the campus is configured, not having a restroom key was going to be a problem for me. But not to worry, she wasn't considering not giving me a restroom key. 

So, I suggested she give me the key to another classroom. It wasn't like another sub would need it, and I was just going to use the restroom key on that chain, anyway.

Solution found, and I was on my way. 

As happens, later that day I needed to use the restroom. So, I pulled out the proper key. Fit it into the lock. But, nothing. 

I double checked the key. It was the right key. I played with things a bit.

Then I realized the problem. The restroom was unlocked. 

I mean, it's not like there are kiddos on campus to mess with the restrooms now.

So, all that, and I didn't need the key at all. Sigh.

(To be fair, the prior day, that restroom had been locked. And all the other staff bathrooms have been consistently locked. So, this was a new development.)