All schools will have some rules that need to be followed by the teachers, but it is also important to remain flexible.

What would you do if your boss said that laptop adapters were never allowed to be moved from one room to another, but you had to substitute teach in a classroom that didn’t have the adapter that you needed?

That is what happened to the teacher in this story, so she texted her boss about the issue and made them come into work on their day off to deliver the proper adapter.

This is a great example of following the letter of the law, even when it is stupid. Hopefully, it will get the rules to change. Read through the full story and see what you think.

Don’t borrow the projector adaptor from the cram school so I can do my job? OK.

I work at a cram school in Asia and my boss has a lot of stupid rules.

Having the right adapters is important.

In each room of the cram school, there are adaptors that fit our different laptops so that we can project the lessons that we are teaching.

Since my workplace didn’t supply us with work laptops and standardized everything, they have had to buy different kinds of adaptors that will enable us to project the lessons. (I’m salty about not being given a work laptop, but that’s not the point of this story.)

This is a pretty reasonable rule.

Anyway, some of my colleagues cannot be responsible for the adaptors they have borrowed, and so adaptors have gone missing.

To fight this, my bosses have implemented the rule that no one can take the adaptors from each branch of the center.

What is the problem.

They have also labelled them so that they know which center each adaptor is supposed to be at.

Normally, this rule is fine, but one day, I had to go to another branch (Branch B) to teach a class since a teacher had called in sick.

How will they do their teaching?

Branch B does not have the adaptor that will enable me to project onto the screen, since I am using a MacBook.

Since I am not allowed to bring the adaptor from the center that I work at, Centre A, I simply did not grab it from Centre A before I left work the previous day, and made my way to Centre B in the morning to let this scenario unfold.

Maybe this will teach the boss a lesson.

In the morning of my class, I texted my boss that Branch B does not have a compatible adaptor with my MacBook Air, and that I couldn’t project the lessons onto the screen.

The class starts, the students come in, and I have to tell them that I cannot project the lesson onto the screen. We waste a few minutes of precious time and my boss has to come into Branch B in her pajamas and her un-made up face to hand me a compatible adaptor.

Of course, the students won’t complain.

I enjoyed seeing the haggard look on her face because this is the consequence of her inflexibility.

The kids and I also got to slack off for a bit before starting class, making it a win for all of us.

Following the rules is often the best way to get them changed.

Read through the comments to see what other people have to say about this story.

Here is someone who says she should have her own adapter.

This person says to talk to her boss about it, but I think she already has.

Some types of adapters are very cheap.

Schools should be responsible for this type of thing.

This person has had a similar experience.

She could have brought her own adapter, but why should she have to do that? Schools should be the ones providing the equipment that is needed to teach.

Maybe her boss will learn a lesson from this, but I doubt it.