It's not worth it

Technically, I have two jobs. One is at a certain polling institute, and we'll get to that job at a later time, because my desire to write about it is not that strong because the job is not that bad. A much more pressing problem is my supposed "other" job, and I shudder now as I write this and reveal this to the world, a...(sigh)...substitute in a high school. A sure sign that your life is not exactly on the right track, or at least that it's not going in the direction you imagined it would, is if you are currently a sub. It takes no skills, interview or qualifications - if you managed to graduate college, you're in. They're so desperate to find people to be subs, beggars can't be choosers. The fact that you need to be a college graduate to do this job is laughable. A kindergarden graduate is overqualified to be a sub and they would no doubt find the cursed position insulting to their intelligence.
I certainly would never be so pompous as to call myself a substitute "teacher" - absolutely nothing even remotely resembling actual teaching goes on. If I MUST mention it, I take the most inoffensive and barely noticeable term there is, merely a "sub", and that could be ANYTHING!
Unfortunately though, it's not just anything. It's a horrid tunnel-of-love through the bowels and intestinal tract of a disciplineless, anarchic society at its utter worst.
You first enter the yawning (and I DO mean yawning!) mouth of hell when the unforgiving, merciless phone rings at 5:30 AM. No matter when you go to bed, this brutal noise is like being awakened by someone viciously slapping your face. It breaks a sleep cycle, so even if I went to bed at 7 PM, I would still be disgustingly awakened by it. Besides, I want, and need, to have some time to myself and to actually live. I don't want to just work and sleep, and feel lucky that I have some spare time to eat and go to the bathroom. I at least need some time to figure out how to get OUT of this awful situation as soon as possible. Additionally, I read lack of sleep reduces the number of white blood cells in your body, making you less healthy and less able to fight sickness and disease. There are probably whole books on the benefits of sleep and the bad things that come from lack of it. But then again I suppose it's worth it if I can babysit a bunch of disrespectful and loud, vulgar animals, and get paid almost nothing to do so.
It does seem that the kids are louder than they were when I went to school. They are constantly yelling, screaming and laughing absurdly loudly ALL the time. You can't walk down the dark, overcrowded halls, clogged with nonmoving, uncaring students without someone literally yelling in your ear. Most of the students have to be yelled at by teachers just to get to class, because none want to go and it is very hard to make them do anything they don't want to do. And if a sub happens to have some stupid busywork "ditto" to hand out, by the time they all shuffle and shamble out of class, most are on the floor with dusty, dirty footprints on them. They line up at the door before the end of class because they can't wait to get out, and kids ask they entire period to go to the bathroom. I know that's mostly not where they're going, but I don't care, because the less students in the class, the less noisy and chaotic it is. And if you think they would actually listen to my vain pleas for them not to act this way, you are naive and clearly have never done this job.
They keep all the bathroom doors locked, except for when class is going on, so If I have to actually go to the bathroom, I have to luck into someone with a key, or go all the way to the main office, where the woman with the keys seems annoyed when I ask and always rolls her eyes. Like I'm one of the students, who, like me, float through the day and learn nothing. The only difference is they actively fight AGAINST learning anything. But the fight is not too hard because the wall of noise does most of the work for them, shielding them against almost any educational content.
Trying to leave at the blessed, merciful end of the day is a struggle because all the kids are coming out, all the buses are leaving, and all the other faculty and staff is also trying to high-tail it out of that hellhole as well. By the time I fight my way out of the parking lot, it's almost time for my other job.
So, after taxes, you get about sixty dollars for the day. That barely covers the gas it takes to get there. I'm at the point where I'd gladly pay the sixty dollars just to sleep another few hours. If that is the cost, it's well worth it. So let's recap: Horribly early wake-up call, loud, annoying students, locked bathrooms, rock-bottom pay. WHAT is the incentive? What? Nothing about this so-called "job" is worth it. My utter indifference when I am there is all over my face. They don't pay nearly enough for me to even attempt to feign like I want to be there. I submit to you that this is not a job, it's an ABUSE. An actual abuse that is detrimental to my psychological, emotional, mental, spiritual and physical well-being. But that's worth sixty dollars a day, right?