The apostrophe actually makes it a contraction, not possessive. So they're really saying "the underpaid teacher who bought it with it is own money". I know not everyone cares, but that's how our weird language works...
Playing devil's advocate here: maybe they were trying to be inclusive by not specifiying gender but haven't heard of they. The US education system is a joke in a lot of places so the (hypothetical) teacher may have to think twice before suggesting they change the it's to their. But hey, at least the apostrophe is where it should be and I'd take that as a win for education.
I got a job once at this little video production company, and everyone was always trying to find pens. I'm pretty sure this one smart ass there was stealing them just because he thought it was funny that no one could ever find one...
Anyway, it was probably my second week on the job and I got pissed off because there were like 10 cups that were supposed to have pens in them at all times and I couldn't find a single one, so I went to the grocery store across the street and bought like 3 boxes of pens and filled all the cups again with the warning that these were my pens that everyone was welcome to use but if they all went missing I would start keeping them locked in my car. Everyone seemed happy to have pens again.
I got hauled into the managers office 2 hours later and questioned as to why I spent my own money on office supplies, why I didn't just requisition more pens, told never to do that again and handed a check for $11 for "stationary supplies".
That was the last time I ever bought anything for anybody at work ever again lol
Haha yes! You did the right thing though. It's all about timing. I knew my team needed the dumb prizes that week/month for the extra goodwill. You knew everyone needed goddamn pens.
How long would it have taken to get that done going through management?
"So I spoke to manager X and they said we'll have pens in a couple weeks" doesn't exactly inspire anything.
No, there's definitely a science to this. It's the same reason sandwiches taste better if you cut them in a triangle. The sharp points make for the perfect bite size.
I think the "underpaid teacher" thing isn't necessarily rooted in reality,. especially outside of the US. My wife is a teacher in the UK, and she's a head of her subject. For many years her pay was similar to mine as a software engineer, but everyone often treated her as if she was poor and that I was rich.
In Australia I don't think teachers are underpaid, but schools are absolutely underfunded. Which can often mean teachers end up spending personal money on school resources, which means their actual effective pay isn't as good as it looks from the outside.
They also work way longer hours than is reflected in their contract.