Rant and then some good!

So, we were always warned in our Interpreter Training program that we would encounter professionals who had issues with us, working with interpreters that is! Professionals such as teachers, lawyers, doctors and such are not used to having to share authority or feel that they are not entirely in control of the situation. Having another educated adult, not to mention one who effectively has the reins of control of communication in their hands can be a difficult change for them.


Well, up until this point I haven't really encountered too much of this. But today, boy howdy did I ever! Not to mention that this geriatric (and she is, technically) teacher acted as if she was in high school!!! After an hour and a half of straight interpreting, the class went on break and I let her and the client know that I was running to the bathroom. While I was in there, the classic cliche situation out of a bad high school drama occurred to me! And I am over 30! The teacher was talking with another teacher about my client, and then began to discuss me! And she trash talked me. While I was in the stall!

Up until this point I had done my best to communicate effectively with this teacher, explain to her the interpreting process and inform her of things that she needed to know about in relation to the client. I viewed us as a team that was working in conjunction to get this client the best education we could. Well, apparently this teacher does not look at it the same way!
I had explained to the teacher that this class almost, and I said ALMOST required a team for interpreting because it was 2 1/2 hours and the only break wasn't until an hour and a half in. It may not sound like much, but this class is ALL talking, rarely an instance of independent work, which means that while the teacher may only be saying so much, I have to interpret every word that she, the client and all of the other students say. It is mentally taxing and much harder than it may seem to those who don't do it. So I mentioned this to her and she told the other teacher that apparently she talks too fast because I can't keep up and need help! She also told the other teacher that she wasn't sure if the information she was getting was correct or just my version. I am not sure if she is saying that I don't interpret correctly or if she is calling into question the information I have discussed with her about the process and the client's progress with me on that. Either way!

So I confronted her! I told her that I was in the bathroom and heard her conversation. I told her that I interpret everything and that if she is ever unsure of what is going on, to just ask me. I also told her that I can more than keep up with her but tried to explain what I did in this blog, and told her that our industry standard is 45 - 50 minutes of straight interpreting and then a break, that is what is determined as optimal time for quality interpreting.

What really gets me is that she didn't apologize or act in the least bit embarrassed for having been caught trash talking someone like that. That had never happened to me in grade school! But it happened to me at this age! It is nuts. That b$%h. Screw her. I am good at what I do, and I know what I am talking about, I can't account for her lack of professionalism or bad judgement!

Onto the good news! We are moving into a great house in 2 weeks! While I have loved being where I am at the moment, very cute comfy condo, we are going to move into a bigger house (yay, space for animals AND mom!) and have a big backyard for the pupster! It is a cute house, and has 3 bedrooms and I get my own office too (gotta love a tax write off!). It is very well maintained and I think we will be very happy there until it is time to FINALLY buy a house! It will be nice to be settled into somewhere for a while and feel really established. Wish us luck!