A transition in position is not as easy as a snap of a finger, just like those cartoon characters who transforms from a school uniform to a superhero/superheroine and the like. It's not like committing mistakes while typing and by pressing the backspace or the delete button the error is gone. No. It's not l ike those.
Position transition means a long process of adjustments, of getting the knack at everything in and out of the new company or department you're in and so on, especially if you are new in the company and the position you hold is far from what you held in your previous workplace. Talk about a major turn from educator to clerk like I did. Anyone would agree if I say that being an educator is far from being a clerk, right?
Let us look at the points that makes an educator different from a clerk. An educator obviously, teaches, trains, calls the shots in the classroom, holds the records, computes and keeps the grades, approaches the parent/s concerned, disciplines the class, prepares the lessons and delivers it, a parent and a guardian to the children at the same time, the one being obeyed, the one being respected, imitated and looked up to, the one students can consider a buddy sometimes. A clerk, on the other hand, is the servant of the department or group. She takes orders from the boss, she follows what her superiors tell her to do, follows-up on documents/ files, the one being trained, the one being taught, you don't give orders unless prompted by the boss, you receive calls (and if you get lucky, you get shouted at or asked with so many questions regarding something you're not even knowledgeable of or worst be pressured on the phone to look for a file that you don't really have a copy of), you file important documents, memos and letters, you call up banks to pick up there letters or send them through mail, you keep a track record of outgoing and incoming documents, you inform (if possible everytime) people to accomplish their personnal papers which normally is done and passed annually or quarterly like, accomplishment reports, attendance sheets, annexes, the SAL, SL/VL applications, TAO, the OTA, etc., and of course, not to forget, you also make the calls for a meeting with your boss and other superiors, and one great deed which I have to keep in mind is to smile while on the phone (even if you're already talking to a stubborn employee or someone angry or too scary to speak with).
However hard these tasks may seem, I want to look at the bright side of turning into a clerk (though am not permanent yet). I don't write the tiring lessons plans anymore. I don't do the tedious work of checking examination papers anymore. I get to sit down and relax if I want to (especially if there are no memos or letters to be edited, typed or sent). I get to eat more (hehehe!). Plus, I get to learn more about the function of banks and other computer-related information. I also have access to the interent but will only be used when the boss ask me to look for something in the net, or for killing boredom, and of course, like most workplace with computers and internet access, there are restrictions in getting an access to sites. I get to email some colleagues here. I'm lucky that I became a part of this department because I they gave me (actually requested to have them for me) desk-cabinets, file-cabinets and computer unit to work on complete with a printer. But, of course, I have to be reminded who's accountable to all these office properties. There are also the missing-what-I-used-to-do kind of emotion inside me. Whether I like it or not, ther are times that I really want to go back to the academe. I get to be envious with my classmates in MAT-ELA (Master of Arts in Teaching English Language Arts) who are obviously teaching in schools whether in the tertiary level, the secondary or the primary level. I miss the classroom, the chalk board or white board, the overhead projector, the 3D or LCD projector, the textbooks, the workbooks, the tiring lesson plans, the tedious checking of test papers, the grading sheets, the record book, the dreaded deadlines of submission, the teacher's table, the books in the library, my colleagues, the school premises and most of all, the love of my life, the students: their laughs, their cheers, their tears, their fears, their anger, their madness, their craziness, their wit, their talent, their smiles, their hugs, their gifts of appreciation, their curiousity, their pain, their joy. I equally love the jobs I got into. Frankly, if God permits, I'll do both.
