Saturdays and Sundays

The weekends were always special for me and no doubt many others because we had 2 days off when a 60 hour work week...  unless we were in the group of lucky ones who only had to work 40 hours each week or less...  in which case the weekends would have been rather meaningless to them.  For 3 years, I was one of them...  in fact, it was the last 3 years of my working career which was a nice way to end it all, let me tell you.

I got paid for a 40 hour work week and barely worked 20...  I was a COLLEGE PROFESSOR...  although, I did not have that designation because I did not have a PhD and had been invited to join any kind of a tenure track.  I believe they referred to me as a visiting instructor which was all the same to me because the pay was more than I needed and the hours were more than lenient.

I was required to teach 4 classes...   which was a total of 12 classroom hours...  and spend another 6 hours in my office which was no bigger than a bathroom with a medium sized desk, a bookshelf, and two chairs.  I was also required to join and attend two committees of my choice.  Even though, you had to post office hours on your office door, there was no one standing guard or checking to make sure you were there.

It was common practice to remain in and around one's office before and after teaching if you classes were in the morning at least until noon or 1:00 pm...   but, if you had classes in the afternoon, there was really no one there to check since everyone had disappeared.

There was no night work at all, even teaching classes, because they would hire adjunct faculty to teach those.  This schedule was particularly designed for those who were doing research for grants or for writing and publication which was a requirement of tenure.  All the rest of us simply benefitted.  There was no weekend work either unless there was an educational fair in the gymnasium for prospective high school students...  then you were strongly urged to work a 2 hour shift which seemed only fair since you had so much time off.

And, while the money for Visiting Instructors was not at the level my salary should have been, it was still more than adequate for the low cost of living State in which I was living.

Each class lasted 50 minutes and 1 or 2 lasted 70 minutes which at the time was a piece-of-cake since I was used to teaching training programs for industry that lasted 4 to 6 hours.

I retired at age 67 right around the time I started receiving my Social Security Checks so there was no loss of major income that prevented me from paying my bills...  plus, I taught night classes for another local University...  6 classes to be exact...  and the pay was $100 an hour...   or, another $12,000 each year to supplement my retirement.

If there is a regret to be had at all, I wish that I had spent 2 more years in college and gotten a PhD and taught at the college level for my entire career...  as it is a relatively stress free environment as long as one does not try to become a DEAN or move into the ADMINISTRATION which is where all the politics are played.

My 3 years was spent at a Christian College which had more devastating, back-stabbing politics than one might find out in the business world from which I came...  and, the fact that the college was a Christian one, made it even more traumatic in my mind and helped to further destroy my faith and belief in INSTITUTIONALIZED RELIGION...