Gone in November

A foreign teacher has left the country. I came to work today to find out that I will be picking up another class to make up for a vacancy left by a Canadian teacher in only his third month at the school. Fortunately, the class I gained is a group of all-stars with stellar personalities and great attitudes. Some teachers didn't get as good a deal, but no one is overly upset. Apparently, his grandfather is ill and he wanted to see him before he passed. That's understood, I can't argue with that. What I don't understand is why he didn't ask our director for some time off to be with his family. Whether he got it or not (he probably would have) doesn't really matter; he could have asked and given some notice of absence instead of making it back to Canada before notifying the school. That bothers me. As foreign teachers, we are treated pretty darn well at this school and should have nothing to complain about. He could have, and should have, shown the director and staff the respect they deserve. I know he wasn't having the best time here, but his attitude and social behavior didn't do much to help that. I don't want to make him out as a pure ass, but I think he deserves to have a few faults exposed because of this, plus I'm a little angry and have some built up animosity towards him. He went behind another teachers back to dump one of his classes on her because he felt he was overworked. We are all way under our contracted hours, and the fact that he'd complain about his workload shows the laziness that made him that "heavy" slob that he is. He was incapable of having a conversation without dishing out an insult. This can be illustrated by the countless times he chose to chime in with smart ass comments while I was having conversations with other people. Had he handled this situation with a little more class, I would never had made this attack. Under the circumstances, though, I'm happy to take my shot. I think the workplace will be a little more pleasant without him. That said, I hope that his family is ok and he is happier at home.
I just watched a Larry David episode in which he used his mother's death as an excuse to get out of various social engagements. A very funny episode and questionably relevant to this situation. I'm not suggesting this guy used his grandfather's condition as a way to get out of a bad situation, but I do find it curious that he didn't mention a word of it before and chose to tell the school after he was already home...

How can a place that was so humid this summer become so dry. The inside of my nose feels like it's going to crust over and fall off. I'm sure it will bleed soon.