Uneven workload
I am a paraprofessional in a transition program. There are 6 paras and 3 teachers. I feel there is no structure to things a majority of the time and a lot of coworkers who avoid work. We had our annual picnic yesterday and it is a lot of work. We prepare a lot of food and have to load everything up in vans from our kitchen which is upstairs. It's an exhausting day. At the end of the day we have to load everything up and bring what's left back upstairs. None of the teachers came back to help at the end of the day and one of our male paras disappeared. It was just me and 3 other paras over the age of 50. I'm the youngest and I try to lift all of the heavy things for a lot of them a lot of the time. I was putting things away when two of the paras went down to get a large cooler. they tried to call me to help but my phone was on silent. One of them gave me attitude and it totally rubbed me the wrong way. I'm actually there and helping and the guy who disappeared is the same age as me and never gets any flack for anything because all the older women flirt with him and show him appreciation for any and every little thing that he does. I'm tired of feeling like a doormat. I work so hard. I can't change anyone or make people respect me. I love my job and it was a great day and sometimes it's hard not to let these frustrations overshadow that. There's also another para who is best friends with the teacher who I would say makes most decisions for the program and they both just have mean girl energy. That para hardly helped with anything the entire day. She would never be called out for anything and can seemingly do no wrong. I got commendable on everything in my review I had so in some way my hard work is noticed. If we all supported each other more I know I would feel less burnt out and defeated. The 3 paras and I didn't take a lunch or a break the entire day.