Work, Maggie Thatcher, gay teachers.

Yeah, there are a few things occupying my mind at the moment. Nothing really all that deep and profound but, you know, meh.

Work at Faceless Corporation's Call Centre of Hell^TM wasn't all that interesting tonight. There was a pretty cute lad sitting across the way from me though and I had a bit of a perve. Dark brown and carefully messed up hair, jeans, black studded belt, and a wanky polo top. Yeah, guilty pleasure: boys with wanky polo shirts. DON'T JUDGE ME OKAY.

Anyhoo, at one point during my shift Queer As Folk came on the TVs all over the call centre, and well, there wasn't much else to do but watch, really. The cute lad across the way had his eyes on the screen too and I thought for a while if he was one to nosh on teh cock, too. Of course, the obligatory scene where Brian fucks someone flashed on the TV and cute-lad-across-the-way averted his eyes. Now that could mean anything. He could be closeted. He might just be a modest kind of guy. But most likely, he's straight. Bah!

Also at work, there's this supervisor I kind of have a crush on (bah, this is ridiculous; Matthew reckons I have crushes on every second guy I meet, which is probably shamefully true). He's got this soft, sweet voice and he always makes me titter when I ring through and he answers. At one point today, he answered me with, "Hey, what's hangin' my brutha?" With his voice, it's so lame but so adorable. Brightens up the start of a shift when he's on the sign-on desk. Le sigh.

To other things, has anyone seen the new Red Cross Blood Service ads? I love this frame from the print ad:



Of all the things that are British and eighties, they chose Maggie Thatcher. Matthew says they probably want to remind everyone what a mad cow looks like. Touché.

Lastly, after yesterday's post few people have asked me about what I'd say if a staff member or a student from school asked me if I was gay. That's a toughie. See, if was a colleague, then it'd depend on who it was. Incidently, quite a few teachers I've spoken to at my prac school and several others studied under one of my current lecturers/tutors, who's apparently ancient and, well, gay. And one teacher I've spoken to referred to him jokingly as 'that faggot', and stopped short of warning me to be cautious when he was around. Now I don't think come out to that particular teacher, even if it meant lying, and especially while I'm in preservice training.

With students on the other hand, I don't think I'd tell them. It's not absolutely vital for them to know, and there needs to be some kind of distance between them and us anyway. But I'll admit, there is a need for honesty between student and teacher. Students know if you as a teacher are hiding something, and to build trust and a rapport with them, one would need to be completely honest; it's been drummed in to us through this whole semester that if they ask something, tell them. There is, however, a line.

Coming out to a group of one's students may expose a teacher's vulnerabilities. They are kids after all, and particularly the adolescent boys, are probably insecure about their own sexualities. As much as they may have had exposure to positive attitudes of tolerance towards queer folk, some are still going to feel threatened when a fag is around, and that's not conducive to creating an effective learning environment. So in a way it's as much in their interests as mine.


Listening to:
Title: At Last
Artist: Eva Cassidy
Album/station: Time After Time (2000)
Length: 2.58