I believe that like any other industry you will always have someone not being professional 100% of the time. It is life, it is being human. You cannot always have your guard up all the time. I have since entering into this profession seen those that are not professional. I have even seen it happen between teacher/parent. That is the sad part. I try my best to be professional at all times but when I catch myself lowering my guard with a parent or another staff member I do try to catch myself quickly. I take mental notes during staff meetings of what occurs and remind myself that I am unfortunately always "on" no matter where in the City of Gilbert I travel to! When I am out and about I remind myself that my students and or their parents might be around or my fellow teachers.
In my past career, I dealt with the public a great deal, so it is not new to me and I find I use a lot of my knowledge from that here, and I keep myself out of the "dog house" on a consistent basis. :-) I honestly remind myself, would it make me feel ok to be treated or talked to in a that manner? That in itself helps to regulate.
I really like how you consider how being human factors in to being professional. I agree! It can be easy to focus on the positive 100% in any profession, and the key is to catch ourselves quickly when we see we may be drifting to the dark side. As you shared, we are front and center in the community- at school and out and about.
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