An Open Letter

Dear lord, I actually kinda burnt out today. I’ve been monitoring Piazza, which isn’t my job, and also answering student’s questions on the discord constantly. My only job is to grade quizzes in person every lecture with 2 other TAs, and for this entire week, neither of them has shown up so I’ve had to grade 180 tests by myself. I’m fucking tired of this. I feel bad because if I don’t monitor Piazza, or do all these extra tasks I do, the students in the class get fucked over. It’s a double-edged sword wanting to be helpful to both the staff and the students, but at the same time, I think that’s been taken advantage of. It also kinda does suck that I am getting no benefit for all of this extra work I’m putting in. It’s not like I get overtime, a raise, or any recognition. But I guess if I learned anything over the summer it’s that I can do good things for myself, and not for external validation. I guess I’m kinda grateful for that, as then I know that the good things I do for others are because I care and not because I want them to pad the way people view me.