the book I did not have and the vague idea of what to teach

I was supposed to have a job interview today that never happened.

Over the weekend, I was browsing the job ads and came across a job for a "temporary" mathematics teacher, to cover "sickness" - it was unclear what was meant by temporary (a day, a week, a month, the rest of the school year?) and sickness (cover for anyone who is sick, cover for a specific person who was sick?).

I don't really want to teach while I'm here, but I figured, it's temporary. I downloaded the application.

It said the applicant needed a National Insurance Number (I don't have one yet) and a DFES teacher certification number (I have no idea what that even is). I applied anyway, stating in my cover letter and application that I had neither of these and would understand if I was to be ruled out immediately because of this. I got a call the day after I turned in the application.

"Can you come in to interview tomorrow?" I was asked. I could not. I said I could come in the day after.

I was told I would have to teach a class for 35 minutes. I asked what I would be teaching that day and was given the answer "well, they just started statistics". Anyone who's taught (and especially those who've taught statistics) knows that is about a vague an answer as could be given.

I was to go in 45 minutes before the class when someone would give me a better idea of what I would be teaching that day and then I would have to prep. 45 minutes to prep from a book I did not have, on a somewhat vague topic, at a 9th grade level (I've never taught 9th grade), at an elite independent school (I have little experience teaching at elite private schools), in England (which I assume has a different style of teaching than in the US).

Not the type of students I have experience working with

I was nervous as hell. How was I to make sense of all of this, with only 45 minutes to prepare for a 35 minute class?

It never happened.

I got to the school at 10:25 (I was told to be there at 10:30) and waited, and waited, and waited. If it got to be 10:45, I would only have 30 minutes (at the maximum) to prep for a class I did not have a book for, and had only a vague idea of what I would be teaching.

At 10:50, I left.

I told the receptionist I had to go. He said "she'll be here shortly" - he had said this exact phrase to me when I arrived at 10:25. I said "she should learn to keep her appointments" and walked out.

If this was just an interview, I wouldn't mind waiting. But, with 25 minutes before I'm to teach a class that I did not have a book for, and only a vague idea of what I would be teaching, I would do a horrible job. I would probably end up not getting the job, and thus wasting several hours of my day.

I felt it was better to waste one hour of my day, and end the feeling of being a nervous wreck instead of wasting several hours of my day, feeling like a nervous wreck, only to be rejected a day or two later.

I still do not know what book was used, and only a vague idea of what was to be taught. But, at this point, I don't really care.