See, it's the parents and staff part that kind of worries me. My experience has been that it's never a good idea to burn bridges and that would be blowing up the bridge with a tactical nuke. The question is, will they remember you as a person who was wronged or as a person who will send letters about her boss to the known world? Sending it to the parents and staff seems likely to force him to defend his position, no matter how irrational it is, and incline him towards defamation of character lawsuits.

Maybe instead of scorched earth, are there a couple of staff memebers and/or parents that know the situation that would "happen to know about the letter" and be very supportive of you?

t random

Ok, I am having such a problem with the latest batch of teenage actor/singers singing songs about the perils of their fame. I get that not being able to take a crap in the mall without the contents of said crap being posted on the internet and joked about on nightly talk shows would be incredibly aggravating. But ya know? Contents of celebrity crap had been public fodder (no pun intended) for a billion years. It ain't new. Ya knew it when you decided to become a celebrity.

Shut it.

They didn't decide to be celebrities. They had a dreeeem! They needed to use their gift.

In public, where people can see them, and then they hired people to lash the public into a frenzy of anticipation to make them more money.

Totally not their fault.

Best of ma, Fay. I'm afraid my advice would be complete pants. So just lucky vibes. Otherwise, today has been a day to gladden a Bitch's heart. I've porned, trashed George Lucas, and received a great compliment...it could get better but not without money or sex. ETA: Remind me not to piss off ita.

My bad.

it's the parents and staff part that kind of worries me.

Ginger is probably right. Although dreaming of the Evil Boss getting taken down by a mob of parents is quite lovely. Maybe a separate, somewhat softer, letter to the parents of your students Fay if you decide to leave early will do the trick without burning bridges. Leaving without saying anything to the parents and students would seem unprofessional to me, so that might not be seen as lashing out.

Emma is going to handle her fame with aplomb, Aimée.

Oh, Fay...I have no advice, but lots of sympathy for the situation. I hope it ends soon.

Congratulations, Betsy! That is wonderful news! Send that extra ~ma over here. I head off to the school to do observation in a little over an hour. I'm hoping it goes well and that I hear that I've gotten the job when they call tomorrow.

I took a nap. I am feeling more human. But, I'm also really embarrassed. Not only have I acted like an ass today, but I just finished my third full dishrack of dishes of the day. I still have one or, probably more likely, two to go. I cannot believe I let them get this bad. I mean, I know it was end of the semester, then finals and stuff, but wow...5 dishracks of dishes?! That's embarrassing.

Emma is going to handle her fame with aplomb, Aimée.

Damn well better. Or all my parenting will be for naught.

Hmm...

Thanks, folks. You're providing me with some much-needed perspective. I'm just So. Bleeding. Angry with the man right now that it's impacting upon my judgment somewhat.

Not meaning to bogart the thread totally, but how does this sound?

t bogarts thread

Dear Mr Evil Boss,

Thank you for your memo of 16th May.

I understand that you have decided against ratifying the contract that I signed last year, and that thus there is presently no contract of employment between The Evil School of Evil Town and myself. I was very surprised and sorry to hear that you preferred to disregard the contract, but I accept your decision that there is presently no legal relationship between us.

Thank you for your offer of a new ‘standard’ contract to cover the remainder of this year, and the offer of a renewal of said contract to cover next year. I appreciate this vote of confidence in my teaching, but unfortunately I find myself unable to sign any new contract with The Evil School. As I indicated to you prior to the memo, I have had a better offer. Following your memo I visited the British Embassy, consulted a lawyer and signed a legally binding contract with the new Hopefully Better School.

Subsequent to receiving your memo, it appears that you no longer consider that you have any legal obligation to continue paying my salary. Nor do you have any legal obligation to pay the money for the initial two months of my work for The Evil School, which was held back on the understanding that it would be paid at the end of the contract. Nor do you have any legal obligation to pay for the return ticket.

By the same token, I have no legal obligation to continue to teach the Year 3 class I have been working with for the past year. I have no legal obligation to continue carrying out assessments of their ability, no legal obligation to level their work, no legal obligation to work for hours after school planning lessons, writing the reports or attending parents’ meetings.

It was my full intention to do all of the above. However, it seems perfectly clear to me that you do not intend to pay me my full salary. If you did intend to honour the contract you would certainly have signed it, either when I gave it to you last year or when you looked at it recently. Instead you have made it explicit that you consider that you have no contractual obligations to me.

If this is the case, we need to resolve our present situation as soon as possible. I regret that I am unable to sign any new ‘standard’ contract with The Evil School, since you tell me that this would prevent me from working elsewhere in Cairo. I would be more than happy, however, to honour the contract that I signed with you last year if you would care to sign your copy. This would mean that I would be legally obliged to continue teaching, write reports, attend parents’ meetings and fulfil all the other reasonable teaching duties expected of staff. It would also give me the security of knowing that I would receive my salary in full at the end of my contract.

Alternatively I would be open to the idea of signing a short term contract specifically drawn up to cover the period between now and the end of term, provided that this contract included or was equivalent to the salary for August and September of 2003 as well as June and July 2005.

I have financial commitments to meet, and following your memo I have no confidence that I shall be able to meet them. I love my class and I hate the idea of placing them or any of my colleagues in a difficult position. I should be very sorry to have to leave precipitously, but I cannot afford to work for free. Nor do I wish to work illegally.

It would have been sensible to leave as soon as you told me that we have no binding contract, in order to secure paid work elsewhere for the rest of the Academic year and/or over the summer.

Rather than leave immediately, however, I have stayed at school long enough to level the children’s work and write their reports. I have also written the planning for the rest of this term and (continued...)