Teacher comes up with ingenious plan when asked to pay for students' zoo trip out of their pocket

It's not only students who find themselves in a pickle during school trips but the teachers have to face some hassles, as well. Sometimes, they are instructed to pay out of their pockets for every kid accompanying them on a field trip. It's even worse when the teacher is not compensated by the school administration. u/Unfunded_Teacher on Reddit faced a similar situation and they had no choice but to maliciously comply with the instructions of the authorities. The teacher titled the whole ordeal: "Want me to pay out-of-pocket to take students to the zoo? Okay, but you'll miss out on a killer photo shoot."

The teacher revealed how they were teaching a class consisting of 18 kids back in 2017. "The curriculum changed near the end of the school year and it was expected for the kids to visit the zoo. The school admin told me that since their budget was created at the start of the year, they wouldn't pay for the entrance fees and that I would have to pay out-of-pocket for all 18 kids," the post read. Not only that, the school administration told the particular teacher to take pictures so they could share them on the school's Facebook page for promotion.

"I love my students but I love my savings too, not as much as my students but still. I couldn't justify spending over €360 (approx $389) on a single, non-tangible thing. So, I took the kids down to a local farmer, Pete's farm. All Pete asked for was a 5 euro donation per person and that too was voluntary," the post continued. "I put down a €50 (around $54) note for old Pete and showed the kids exotic animals like cattle, sheep, goats and chickens." The school administration approached the teacher a few weeks later and they asked for the photos. "I gladly emailed it to them, with a subject title of 'Petting Zoo Pictures'. I got an email back simply saying that my conduct was not exemplary. No reprimand, no written-up warning but no photos for admin too. The kids enjoyed it though," the post concluded.

The community was awestruck by the school's behavior and how they simply expected the teacher to bear the expense of each student. u/cocoabeach wondered: "In what country do they demand you spend €360 of your own money and get away with it? I am sure there are a lot of places that expect that you might, but I am surprised one of them would demand it and want pictures as proof of their overreach." u/saraphilipp commented: "I'd have told them for $400 you can have the photos. My budget was created at the beginning of the year and you'll have to pay out of pocket for the photographer fees." u/GozerDestructor joked: "You should make the photos look as bleak and Soviet as possible. A cold, grey field, with one sad child holding the tether of a single goat."

u/river_song25 added: "I would have told the school flat out no. The zoo trip is the school's idea, not mine, and I won’t be spending MY money for myself and 18 kids to go to it when the school can pay for it themselves. Either the school pays or the kids can simply not go to the zoo at all, because no way am I spending my money for my own needs to pay $360+ in admission ticket fees to the zoo for other people." u/Squid52 noted: "I’m shocked at the number of people who think this is unrealistic. It’s messed up, yes, but it’s common. Every single teacher has spent their own money on things that should be provided by the employer. While having our time stolen by the employer."

Editor's note: This article was originally published on 2.24.24. It has since been updated.