How I fell out of teaching: Part II

There was the incident, then there was the aftermath. Going to work every day became a living hell for me. I did not know who was saying all this crap about me. After I really thought about it (oh and I did) none of it really made any sense. Was I detoxing because I quit smoking? Did I eat tuna one day and smell afterwards? Should I take garlic out of my diet? These thoughts were absolutely ridiculous, and why should I even have had to worry about such utter nonsense. Looking back on all of it now, the situation almost seems unreal, like some kind of freakish nightmare, but it was real.
People were talking. My class was observed by one of the Assistant Principal's. He actually had the nerve to say to me during a professional review of my work that he walked passed me every day to see if maybe it was my breath that smelled, but he could never smell anything. He actually said this to me. I am not making this shit up. I had to get to the bottom of things. I had a feeling the "smell rumour" had something to do with the other woman I shared a room with, Jody. Jody did not like me, that was already apparent. The two of us were around the same age. She was tenure, so I think she thought perhaps she was entitled to things. For instance, she only "allowed" me to use a quarter of the chalkboard. Also, I had a small piece of a desk to place my handouts. She'd write me strange notes about cleaning issues in the classroom instead of actually speaking to me as an adult. I let her have her board and the desk because it did not really matter to me, yet seemed incredibly important to her.
I had two classrooms. Having two classrooms and no desk of any sort can take its toll on a frazzled person such as myself. Every day I'd forget a hand out and every day I'd have the same sweet, trustworthy student go get whatever it was that I needed. One day, my student told me she would not go get my stuff. I asked why. She seemed uncomfortable and said, "The teacher in your other room does not like you, and she is not a nice person". Hmmmm...It turned out that Jody was talking to the students about me. I am not sure if she brought it up to them or vice versa, but I found out that she told students to go to the principal to tell them I smelled. She also told them to tell their parents as well. Wow.
I went to my department chair and the principal. This woman helped create a horrible rumour about me. What she did was horrible and downright mean. Because of her I had to regain the respect of my students. Teachers were talking about me. I cannot believe I had to deal with this kind of crap where I worked. We had a meeting. She said the students were complaining, "what was she to do?" Poor thing. After the meeting she actually hugged me in front of the office. I let her. Ugh!
School starting to make me nauseous. It was around this time that I began having sleep issues. I started taking sick days, so I could sleep. Going to work became really hard. I actually started going to a healer to resolve all the issues I was having. Every day I had to force myself to go to teach with my head held high.
The next year I would have had tenure. I could have done what I wanted to. All that hard work, all that bol shit that I had to deal with through out the year because of that rumour with students would not have mattered anymore. I do not think that Jody should have gotten off so easy. Teachers are supposed to be role models and act like professionals. At the end of the year we got our placements for the following school year. I never went to my department chair to tell him what grade or level I wanted to teach. He gave me the worst possible schedule. I actually would have had to teach in both buildings (it takes 15 minutes to get from one side to the other). In my mind my schedule was just another nail in the coffin. I knew at that point that Erik and I were moving to Houston. I could not stay at that school. At the time I felt like I rather start somewhere new, learn a new curriculum. My last year in Philadelphia I took another job at a new school. Now, I realize that the whole smelling thing was really the beginning of the end. I was done with teaching then, even though I taught at another school for a year. My heart was just not in it anymore.
It has been about 6 years since I taught in New Jersey. I still wonder if I really did smell. Maybe I did for about a week when I quit smoking, maybe not. I will never know, but nor do I really care. People can be incredibly cruel. Mostly, cruelty stems from something else. Usually, its their own shit that they need to deal with. The whole thing was very strange.
I know I always say that the universe gives us signs. I felt like the whole mess was a huge, blaring billboard telling me that there was something else out there for me, something more. Oh, and I was right. I am not sure what the hell that is yet, but it will come.