Whether you’ve worked for a year, a decade, or longer, we all have those days. You know the ones. Maybe you woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or perhaps you have worked what feels like hundreds of days straight without a break. Maybe you’re getting sick, or perhaps you had a difficult client meeting scheduled. And no matter how hard you try to persuade yourself, you really struggle to muster up the enthusiasm to make it into work.

Honestly? It’s probably a sign that you need a break. A mental health day, or at least the next weekend without too many responsibilities, to give you time to recover. Because we work so much in our lives, and burning ourselves out is not an ideal situation at all.

For the young woman in this story though, burnout is not a concern right now. She’s full of energy and enthusiasm, and is loving working as a substitute teacher while she’s working on getting her college degree. More than that though, she loves the school she subs for, and has built up great relationships with students and other staff members there.

But then, in one fell swoop, reality of life as a substitute hit. And now, she’s not feeling the extra day of work she’s just been offered.

Read on to find out why.

AITA for not going in to work?

I am a 20-year-old woman, and I work as work as a substitute teacher for a preschool, so that I can get teaching experience while I’m in college, ready for when I graduate.

There’s a list of other subs, so if one decided to refuse coming in another can be called (we’re allowed to deny without consequences other than missing out on pay).

I’ve been working with one center religiously, having set days and everything. But all of a sudden I’m being told that a new teacher that is certified is coming in to the class, so I won’t be needed.

At first I was upset because I was told at the last minute, but  eventually I got over it because, at the end of the day I am a sub, and it’s better to have two full time teachers that won’t switch out, so that the kids don’t have to adjust to new people all the time.

But the next day she went to work, things got weird.

That was on Thursday. But the next day I went in (I usually work Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) and jokingly said to my head teacher, because we’ve grown close to each other, “so you’ve decided to get rid of me, huh?”

We joked about it and she said it wasn’t her idea, because she’s planning on moving jobs anyway.

The day went by and we started talking about seasonal food at the dollar store (it was almost October) and she talked about how she couldn’t find them the night before to bring in today, but she mentioned pumpkin spice latte cupcakes and how good they were.

Since it was Friday she wouldn’t bring them in on Saturday, so she said “girl if you don’t come try them on Monday” and I jokingly said “haha we’ll see.” Mind you, I don’t work on Mondays.

Let’s see what happened when the new week rolled around.

Monday came around and I was doing class work for college when she called me asking me where I was. I told her I didn’t know she was being serious and our boss (who decides who comes in) didn’t mention it to me at all. She said ok, and I apologised and told her (jokingly) she could beat me up the next day, because I usually work on Tuesdays.

The day went on and a little after the center’s nap time (1:30pm) I got a call from my boss saying “hey, where are you?”

I told her the same things I told my teacher earlier that morning. It’s not like she didn’t know because my teacher texted me saying she was asking about me.

I continued to say sorry and that I would be in the next day, and she responded that she’d already found a sub for the next day because she couldn’t get hold of my grandmother (who also works as a sub, but was at a different school that day) or me.

Yikes. The sub felt like this really wasn’t fair – for several reasons.

Later my Nana confirmed that she had several missed calls from her, because she couldn’t answer as her phone was off due to not being able to have it on during her shift. I on the other hand had not received a single call from her until then.

I got upset because she put in no effort to reach me before making a decision, even though I have worked there religiously for months without anyone having to worry about whether I was going to show up or not.

I kept my composure as best as I could, then and end the call with her.

Fast forward to today, a couple of days later, and my Nana who has a doctor’s appointment has asked me if I wanted to go in for her.

Read on to find out how she responded.

I said no, because the new teacher was supposed to be in today.

She said that wasn’t the case, but I still refused, because I do not want to work in a place where the management does not know how to communicate.

My nana told me that I should let things go, because at the end of the day I’m not hurting them, I’m hurting myself.

I responded that I wasn’t hurting myself – I’m taking time to do school work and a break from a stressful toxic environment. I’m bettering myself, because no one needs to be put in situations like this to make a living.

AITA?

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It’s great that this young woman has got boundaries and isn’t allowing herself to be walked all over.

But the truth is, as horrible as it is, this is often the reality for substitute teachers. Unless you have a long-term sub contract, you are going to be employed on a day-to-day basis – and your employers have lots of other subs to juggle, with their decisions frequently feeling nonsensical.

It’s a really, really horrible way to work by most people’s standards. All the more reason for this woman to secure permanent, predictable work when she graduates.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this post about a hardworking employee whose management refuses to give them one single break.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit are saying about this.

This person commended her for prioritising her studies and boundaries.

While others thought that taking a break was the right thing for her to do.

However, this Redditor thought that the workplace’s communication was the problem here.

The way that they dealt with her not coming into work on the Monday – when she genuinely didn’t realise she was supposed to – was very unfair. As for scheduling another substitute teacher on a day that she thought she would be working? That’s not really fair either – especially since they didn’t make very much effort to communicate with her about it. And calling her grandmother (who was at work elsewhere) doesn’t count as trying to communicate with her.

But unfortunately, this young woman has just got a taste of the gig economy. Because temporary and agency work doesn’t offer any kind of security, with the businesses naturally doing what is best for them without really considering the wellbeing of the employees involved. This likely stings more because she felt like she’d built up good relationships with staff and students at the school – but even though they probably liked her, the school staff probably viewed her as nothing more than temporary.

It’s a harsh reality, and something that isn’t much fun to learn. But at least she’s been strong, realised that her studies and her own wellbeing are the most important thing, and will be able to gain more secure employment when she graduates. Because no one deserves this.