It takes more than radar to locate subs

Substitute teachers are in high demand. The pay is good. I think I’d rather be a Sonic carhop.

An Amarillo ISD help wanted sign is circulating on Facebook. Substitute teachers make $132 or $137 a day. The extra five bucks is for anyone with a college degree.

        There you have it. The value of a college education.       

        Meanwhile, what does car-hopping pay?

        ONLINE SONIC RESEARCH.

Carhops average $11 to $17 an hour at Sonic, counting tips. If you skate, you earn more – like maybe $20 an hour. That figure beats substitute teaching, at least in Amarillo.

Sure enough, my friend Terri told me her stepdaughter, former carhop, made $100 in tips on some days. When Terri’s handsome little brother car-hopped, women threw money at him. Neither skated.

If you car-hop, you’ve either gotta get skates or invest a lot in your education to reach the next plateau. The daughter is now RN. Terri’s little brother is a geophysicist. 

As for the carhop-versus-teacher choice, either way you face people.

If a customer is rude, you smile and act like things are your fault. They’ll soon be gone.

 But when you’re a teacher and a student misbehaves, you must frown (straightforward reaction) or smile (to prove they didn’t get to you). Then you still must deal with the student to change that behavior pattern.

Right? If you don’t, the student may grow up to become someone who’s rude to carhops. That’ll probably happen anyway.

Most obnoxious Sonic customers return. If you’re lucky, they get a different carhop. Truculent students return too. Even if you’re a sub, you see the repeat offenders daily. You’ve got their number. They’ve got yours.

My retired teacher friend Beverly told me the less desirable students are a healthy lot and rarely miss school. If they get sick, their parents send them to school anyway.       

        SONIC BREAK.

        I went to Sonic. I got lucky. I got the really cute guy.

        “Do most people tip?” I asked.

        “Yes,” he said.

He got a quarter from me and an apology that it wasn’t more. I told him it was all I had. It was.

He was courteous, competent and neatly dressed. His Sonic sunglasses made me want a pair. I don’t even wear sunglasses.

        “You don’t skate?” I asked.

        “That would be dangerous,” he said.

If I were hiring substitute teachers, I’d hire him. He looks like he could handle a classroom full of miscreants. But I’m guessing he’s happy with his Sonic gig and all the money thrown his way. I’d have thrown some if I’d had any. Maybe next time.

        ANOTHER SONIC BREAK.

Again I scraped up all my change. Carhop Carol is a woman of a certain age. Would she rather teach? Nope. She’d rather car-hop.

        TIP FROM ME:

Throwing money at education issues has always bothered me. It’s a simplistic approach. Good teachers are about more than good salaries. Aren’t they?

But when a school district is desperate for subs and up against Sonic?

Throw money.

Hanaba Munn Welch, a correspondent for the Times Record News who divides her time between Abilene and a farm north of Vernon, appears on Mondays.  Her columns, as a tribute to the Childress Engine 501, always contain, amazingly, 501 words.