The Second Time I was Paid to Write — 2 mins

The second time I was paid to write was while working for a teaching agency that still employs me. This writing was not related to teaching and nobody knows that I did it, but I was paid to write.

The bystander effect has a significant impact on my life. The effect suggests that if someone is hurt and there are lots of people about, those people are less likely to do something to help. Each person feels like someone else is likely more capable. They convince themselves that, if they start helping the bleeding old lady, their presence will stop someone else from stepping in, and maybe that person could do a better job.

Most of us have experienced the bystander effect in some way or other. You’ve seen someone get treated unfairly and thought, ‘Someone should say something.’ You’re in the quiet carriage of a train and someone is playing music. You hope someone else tells them to turn it off, but you hope that someone doesn’t have to be you.

I am regularly the victim of the bystander effect. Most of my classes are groups. I drive to their office or factory and we meet in a room set aside for the lesson. If there is a company wide meeting, I expect them to let me know so I don’t drive the 30 minutes to their location for no reason, but the bystander effect works in whatsapp groups too. All the students know that they won’t be available, and each of them believes that someone else will tell me. Ten minutes after a class was supposed to start, I’ll send out a message asking where everyone is. At that point I’ll receive a flurry of apologies, but I’m already there.

I still get paid on these occasions. And as I’m there, in a quiet and comfortable room that is booked for me, if I’m in the mood to write, that’s what I do. I have started blog posts, and written pages in a journal. I’ve brainstormed ideas and written plans for classes.

I am paid for the sixty minutes that I spend in that room. If I napped I’d say I got paid to nap. If I juggled I’d say I got paid to juggle. But the last time nobody showed up to a class, I wrote. This means I can say that got paid to write, and in a way, that’s true. It’s not that difficult to get paid to write, but it’s much harder to get paid paid for my writing.

Have you ever experienced the bystander effect? Let me know in the comments, or tweet me.

If you enjoyed this and want to read more about problems with classes communicating vis whatsapp, click here.