I'm just kind of at a road block right now. So I'm looking for any advice.

I work for a school district transportation (I'm a substitute bus aide on ESE buses) so I pretty much work with 100+ coworkers (including my mom) whom I see on a daily basis and who mostly all know me and my mom. I'm not out at work tho, because I just got promoted to a full time position and theres the whole probation period where they can fire me for anything without reason, so I don't know how my superiors would take my news seeing as how I work with children who all know me as *female name* and female pronouns, as well as all my coworkers. I would love to come out at work because right now its the only place holding me to my former pretend female-self, but I work with all old/older people, most of whom like to gossip, so I know there's bound to be hard times given and a lot of confusion going around.

Today I had an incident on the bus I'm subbing on, that brought me to writing this post.

As most of you know, I pass well, so all the kids on the bus recognized me as male. Until the 2nd aide came back today and tried to out me. One of the boys called me "he" and she said I was a girl so another kid said "no he's a boy" so confusion was all over the bus with the question "Are you a boy or girl?" I played it cool until the other aide got off the bus, and half of the kids continued to call me he and sir. Naturally the whole situation upset me, but I feel bad for the kids having to get confused. So my question is, does anyone have any ideas and advice on how I can deal with my work situation?

sorry for the long post :/ Thanks everyone

Hmm, it does sound like you are overdue to straighten out your co-workers.
You might as well do it now, even if you are on probation.

On the other hand there is the aspect of a "sexual deviant" working with children.
Sorry, but undoubtedly that is how some parent will view you if your profile gets big enough.

That's what I'm worried about, transphobic (or even homophobic if that's how they view it) parents. And I can't just quit

How long is the probation period?

Quote from: Lee on November 10, 2010, 08:04:20 PM
How long is the probation period?

I think its like up to 6 months

Great 
Is it worth waiting that long?

Quote from: Lee on November 10, 2010, 08:34:45 PM
Is it worth waiting that long?

That. Do you think you can manage waiting 6 months?

Gah I hate those situations. Is it possible that you can out yourself to the people you work with on a regular basis?

I guess I could try to hold out and like Tad said, come out to some a little at a time, starting with the ones I feel closest to. Eh its not going to be easy tho. Thanks everyone

Good luck!  Let us know how it goes.

I think if you work with the same people normally.. you should be able to do it that way. It's how I came out with friends, family, work. school, professors, counsellors.. did it in the order of.. need to know/people that see me the most.. placed trust in them to respect me/not tell other people til I was ready. They weren't necessarily people that I trusted that found out first.. they just needed to know.. and it worked. Turns out most people are decent even if they dont always appear to be. It's scary though..

Specially since youre putting your job on the line. However.. it sounds to me like it's that time where you have to make the decision to come out.. or try and hide your transyness better... :/ Tough choices man