The Lighter Side of Sickness, Death, etc.*

I used to work with this woman who was often absent from work, taking off due to a recently deceased relative or a sudden illness. Most often, it was a deceased relative. Sometimes, she would come back from her bereavement with a sun tan, in the dead of winter. She averaged over one death a month, throughout the school year, but things definitely got worse toward the end of the year. This, of course, annoyed me to no end. I mean, how could she take so much time off, while the rest of us worked all the time?

Now that I'm a substitute teacher again, however, I have an entirely different take on the matter. It's people like her who keep me in business.

This is great!

Sickness and death actually have a big up side. I have four words for it:

1. money

2. in

3. the

4. bank

And, you know, if someone has a certain habit of creatively articulating situations, perhaps an alternate definition of the word "relative" or the word "death," "sick," or the phrase, "unable to work," well, so much the better.

All in a day's work, as they say. I'm just doing my "job".

* I initially posted this yesterday, but then when I saw, "September 11," and "The Lighter Side of Sickness, Death, etc." I said, "Holy @#$% @#$%!!! I can't post this today!" Meaning no disrespect to anyone, of course.