I know this is minor compared with what's going on in the DOE, but it irritated me enough to write to Booking.com about their commercial.
Here is the text of my email:
After watching your ad in which a kindergarten teacher is letting her class run wild with no supervision while she contemplates her vacation choices, I am moved to do something I've never done before- write a company to complain of the image they are portraying of my profession. As a 15 year veteran teacher, I can assure you that my stress does NOT come from the students in my classroom. My stress comes from endless meetings forcing me to enact tactics that do not help my students learn and achieve; my stress comes from not getting a cost of living raise in 10 years; my stress comes from national figures who know nothing of public education working to destabilize our system in favor of private, religious, and for-profit charter schools that are free to discriminate against differently-abled children with no penalties.
Isn't there enough teacher bashing without you adding to the myth of the inattentive, non-caring, child-hating teacher?
If you want to show a teacher needing a vacation, how about showing one burnt out on caring too much? Giving of her own time and money to her kids while an uncaring administration makes ridiculous demands on her? That would be relatable and not turn off the 3.1 million public school teachers in the US.
Thank you,
Alana Milich
Update - Here is the reply from Bookings.com:
Dear Dr. Alana Milich
Thanks for your feedback.
We’ll be sure to pass it on to those relevant. At [link removed] we value all professions, including teachers, and this ad was only intended as a light-hearted bit of fun. We are passionate about connecting our customers with great stays, empowering them to experience the world in the easiest, most seamless ways possible, which this advert aimed to convey.
Kind regards,
--
Kyrillos Saeid
Customer Service Team
Kyrillos Saeid
Customer Service Team
I think that this is a good thing you decided to stand up for yourself. People do need to understand that us teacher never feel at ease when they are with kids, we even care about them when we are at home, we plan and schedule activities for them, we want them to be brave and educated. We want the students to know what is a case study and we want them be independent in their educational process. So, I hope you understand that ads are rarely focused on smart people and people who are smart enough won’t take it seriously.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of poor grammar and typos for a teacher.
DeleteAs I watch videos of Marxist, indoctrinated,violent students tearing down society and destroying property I find that I have lost all respect for teachers on all levels.
DeleteIf this evil vermin is the final product of our educational system then our educational system is a failure!
Acedemia is now just an indoctrination center for the PC SJW agenda. The system Needs to be purged of most of its curriculum and a great many teachers and "professors"!
The state has assumed control over our children and the end product is unacceptable.
As I watch videos of Marxist, indoctrinated,violent students tearing down society and destroying property I find that I have lost all respect for teachers on all levels.
DeleteIf this evil vermin is the final product of our educational system then our educational system is a failure!
Acedemia is now just an indoctrination center for the PC SJW agenda. The system Needs to be purged of most of its curriculum and a great many teachers and "professors"!
The state has assumed control over our children and the end product is unacceptable.
As I watch videos of Marxist, indoctrinated,violent students tearing down society and destroying property I find that I have lost all respect for teachers on all levels.
DeleteIf this evil vermin is the final product of our educational system then our educational system is a failure!
Acedemia is now just an indoctrination center for the PC SJW agenda. The system Needs to be purged of most of its curriculum and a great many teachers and "professors"!
The state has assumed control over our children and the end product is unacceptable.
I see an alt-reich poe.
DeleteI am disabled with a serious spinal disease. The teacher who wrote her reply to Booking.com would call me handicapped or perhaps, hanicappable. I am neither of th[se terms. I am disabled,no, I am crippled. The liberal teachers have been one of the flag bearers of the vile polotically correct use of cute little euphimisms to replace words they and their soft weak brethren deem much to insulting to minorities and those with disabilities like me. PU**IES! Hey,teahcers, leave them kids alone (Pink Floyd). Quit making our GD kids soft marshmallows.
DeleteAs a bed and breakfast owner I can tell you we in the industry hate this necessary evil. They get us exposure but they charge a whopping 15 percent! Always book direct everyone! And ALWAYS SUPPORT OUR TEACHERS EVERYWHERE!!!!!!
DeleteBadassteahers? Ha, you need to relax. It's a commercial. Taking yourself so seriously says a lot about how stressed you really are. The commercial was about making travel plans as stress free as possible, the hectic classroom was set dressing. No one was degrading your profession. As a teacher you'd think you of all people would be able to read between the lines.
ReplyDeleteYou don't get it. This like many other media images disrespects US teachers, schools, and children...your children for the fun and fast buck. I have a great sense of humor...as a teacher as well...and this stuff just isn't funny. It's a cheap laugh.
DeleteI agree with the original poster. I am NOT a teacher but I take great offense to seeing a teacher who has NO control over her class thinking the most important thing in her life is a vacation, not assisting the children that she allowed to run rampant. Good teachers don't usually have classrooms like that, this one is a bad teacher representing ALL teachers and I don't find ANY humor in it at all.
DeleteI agree, everytime I see this ad I get angry, i'm not a teacher but it still makes me mad. she doesn't need a vacation, she needs a job where she would have to answer for her inability to do her job. I have grandchildren in elementary school and if their teacher was that bad he or she would be fired, not going on vacation.
DeleteFeel this is an insult. I hate this commercial as too many people think teachers have a easy job with lots if time off. Will never use a company that thinks this is funny. Will not use booking . Com.
DeleteI taught elementary school for over 30 years, 17 of those years in kindergarten. Like most teachers I worked VERY hard not just during school hours, but many more hours at home preparing lessons and materials for my students. When I saw that commercial I was incensed! A teacher like that wouldn't have lasted long enough to collect her first paycheck, much less earn enough money to go on vacation!
DeleteGet a life people!
DeleteI am tired of people that make as much as any other profession, constantly bitching, when they are only PART TIME workers to start with! They pay NO state taxes, they have health care for the rest of their LIVES! Do they think this is FREE? Hell no! WE pay for it ALL!
My mother in law retired 15 years ago at $90,000 a year, plus all the perks! She makes more retired now than she did when she worked! And she taught Food Service, to the tard class! So at BEST they may get a job putting the fries into the little bags! $90K for THAT?? And EVERY summer off too! Plus sick days,vacation, ALL the kids Holliday's off! Hell, were lucky if they work six months out of the year! Don't give me that old crapp about working after school to plan for the next week. BIG DEAL! I worked from 8 AM untill 9PM, six days a week, and I was lucky to get out by midnight, by the time I finished my REAL work!
I ended up with three heart attacks! What did I get for it? FIRED! That's what I got! NO insurance! No retirement! Just a hole where an income once was!
So save your whinning for someone that would give a damn! IF my sales reps crappy work was as bad as you people, I would have fired every damn one of them!
Then hired PART time workers, and paid them as such! With No benefits! You want all that, then get a grown ups job! Not a that of a lifetime student, and getting paid for it!!
In the State of Oklahoma teachers don't get raises let alone a pension, at least not any teachers I've heard of, and when the teachers are not even allowed to so much as keep a kid in from recess for biting another kid without being "written up", how any teacher keeps his or her sanity is beyond my comprehension.
DeleteI resent the terminology of Anonymous on July 7 when she mentioned her sister teaching the "tard" class. That is far more disturbing than anything else being discussed here.
DeleteWow, teacher bashing.........really? Pat yourselves on the back. You really do listen and dissect those mindless and annoying commercials. So, if you consider booking.com was actually bashing your profession, then you must believe stepping on an ant is murder.
ReplyDeleteSorry to see your lack of insight. You must be the kind of person who when people laugh at you and talk behind your back you think they are your friends. I see kids like you everyday (when you were a kid...you now seem to have grown into a cowering person) and I will even defend you/them. And this is the kind of silly exploitive humor used in American ads. The US seems to have become a nation that is fine with allowing businesses to laugh at them and they don't stand up. Stand up for yourself. In small and big things.
DeleteIt is in some circles. You want to watch your step!
DeleteI'm a teacher and this person is completely overreacting.
DeleteLOL...getting butthurt over this commercial is plenty of things, but badass isn't one. Get over yourself.
ReplyDeleteStand up for yourself. Stop letting business laugh at you...in your face. I have many serious things to do...and people to help...but this one thing I can spend my short lunch break to complain about. Good work teach!!
DeleteReally? I spend my short lunch break...eating lunch.
DeleteThis post isn't defending the honor of teachers so much as it makes us (really, mostly just you) look like humorless crybabies. I'm a kindergarten teacher teaching for 15 years who's accommodating a range of abilities and personalities, and I thought this ad was hilarious. Betsy Devos is doing way more damage to the profession than my need for a vacation. Go get overwrought over that.
ReplyDeleteYou don't think teacher-bashers watch this commercial and say, "Yeah, that's what teachers do; they're just overglorified baby sitters. They don't deserve to be paid as professionals are."
DeleteNo, I don't. I'm too busy looking forward to my trip to Vegas that I used booking.com to book my flights, hotel, and rental car. Yay summer!
DeleteAre you going to go defend golf course workers too? They also have a commercial where a groundskeeper is apparently the worst ever because he's looking forward to his trip.
See you snowflakes in August!
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ReplyDeleteI also emailed about the ad and got exactly the same response. The company must be responding to quite a few complaints. It was extremely insulting.
ReplyDeleteCool. I watched this ad many times with family and friends and we all looked at each other in confusion. Laughing at it and wondering if she took a vacation or was obviously fired. The ad shows the company is pretty simple minded. What they thing they are showing is not what it really shows. The woman they got a vacation booked for will clearly have her credit line closed and bills never paid since she has no job to return to. The ad is just so stupid on so many levels I can't go into it. And there are plenty of people complaining. Goop to know we are teaching US kids and not like the weak kneed above who called us names for complaining.
DeleteI'd rather be weak kneed with a sense of humor than have eternally clenched cheeks like the complainers taking this commercial so personally. It must be nice to have the ability to sustain outrage over a silly commercial. I wish I had that kind of energy or privilege to make that my big problem.
DeleteWhat's that lady's phone number? I like her face when she says " yeah " I bet she's not thinking at all about her children!! Great Ad!
ReplyDeleteThank you for emailing the company - I find the commercial insulting as well. I'm an experienced (19 years) art teacher and this ad is just another example of Joe Public not understanding what it means to be a teacher. They're just jealous that we "get the summer off" (most classroom teachers DON'T - they attend trainings all summer) and think we play all day.
ReplyDeleteAnd they think we're overpaid for our non-work.
DeleteI am offended by this commercial every time it comes on. The ad does not portray any kindergarten teacher I have ever known. They have to be organized and their children love them. They know the rules better than the teacher. Again just a cheap shot at the teaching profession.
ReplyDeleteGood for you! My mom wrote a very similar message to them, noting they'd never poke fun at a doctor ignoring patients or a plumber leaving houses with leaky pipes because they are tired. Have a little more respect for our profession. I don't know any dedicated teacher who would allow students to put themselves in danger.
ReplyDeleteShe got the same response as you.
Exactly!
DeleteAnd so "uncaring administration", really? It is acceptable to negatively characterize all administrators? As an administrator for 30 years who has worked 60 hours a week, weekends, all summer, to make sure students get what they need, and that schools are instruments to help marginalized communities see more justice, thanks a lot.. for doing to administrators just what you've charged booking.com to for: present an essentialist negative image that does damage to some just to promote your point.
ReplyDeleteMy concern is that a teacher so sensitive to a stupid but funny commercial shouldn't be teaching or even around kids at that age. You are liable to go off the deep end because Johnny said something that offended you. Get over it.
DeleteHow could you produce such a disrespectful video? And you wonder why children don't respect teachers and adults? I'm forming a group to boycot booking .com, the only way to get this sort of disrespect stopped is to go after the sponsors
ReplyDeleteI have used booking.com in the past, but won't be in the future, due to this commercial. It is beyond not ok. It is NOT a lighthearted bit of fun, it is wrong, pure and simple. Companies who think disrespecting our profession are not going to earn money from me.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher of 30+ years I have reservations about ever making reservations through bookings.com. They are perpetuating a myth or bad joke that really should disappear since it's summer, schools out and I'm sure there are several other professions that can be "lovingly" roasted till tender.
ReplyDeleteI think it's funny and will be using booking.com and will tell all of my friends to use booking.com. I've heard about you type of people. You complain about everything and take everything personal, riot in the streets and wear pussy hats on your head. Pull the stick out of your a**, relax, you pc snowflakes. It's a commercial!
ReplyDeleteThat ad is terrible. I found your blog because I was searching on Google wondering what teachers thought of this.
ReplyDeleteAs a retired teacher of over 30 years, I feel the booking.com commercial demeans the teaching profession. There is nothing funny or light about it. Teachers are constantly under attack in this country from people who have no idea how difficult it is to educate our children. I doubt the average person could spend even one day in a classroom teaching children let alone day after day, year after year! The teachers I have known in my career care deeply about their students and deserve to be portrayed with respect. The commercial staff who put this ad together could have used their tv power for the good of our nation and to highlight dedicated teachers who need a great vacation. I am sure they could even include humor.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to let you in on a little "behind the scenes" secret about the education system. THEY DON'T GIVE A RAT'S ASS!
ReplyDeleteI pissed my last two years of college away dealing with/tolerating/suffering the liberal bullshit of "saving the world, with one pithy quote, group project or Venn diagram poster at a time." They are phenomenally CLUELESS. It is a Ponzi scheme of the highest order, a money grab.
The education system, and ESPECIALLY all of the universities and "alternative certification" mills that crank out useless people have no CLUE how to handle kids.
If you decide to still fall on your own sword for a lack-of-common-sense, and take up this conformist indoctrination profession...you deserve everything you get.
Be ready to be thrown to the wolves - and have ranks closed against you - if you don't fall lock-step into what they deem conforming and acceptable...teaching kids how to be worker bees...keeping them just smart enough to run the machinery, fry vats and trash trucks - and do the paperwork without killing themselves - or others - but dumb, naïve and submissive enough to accept it all without question.
I sleep much better at night knowing I am no longer responsible for being an overpaid babysitter and juvenile warden...because from what I experienced my first year as a teacher, those kids DAMN sure did not learn anything, save for cranking out worksheets that taught them how to take a standardized test.
Remember "those girls" from Tri-Delta & Chi Omega in college?
Remember Cameron Diaz's character in Bad Teacher?
Yeah.
HOME SCHOOL YOUR CHILDREN.
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DeleteAfter sifting through all the hurt feelings and condemnation for hurt feelings, I am disappointed to find that NO ONE HERE has mentioned the difference between the teacher's teeth in the classroom and then during the massage when she says, "Yeah." Weird and funny.
ReplyDelete