O que significa What does 'Oh, this is my paycheck' in this video really mean?

I feel that there might be a certain implication, but Im not sure.
Does it mean literally what it is?


https://youtu.be/NuzvjUIENQc
From 0:47~ ?

See a translation

@aimztaku You are right about what "make a statement" means. You are also correct that suddenly saying "oh, this is my paycheck" would be a random thing to say, that it seems unnatural, like it is missing context or a reason for saying that in a classroom. I don't think there was a literal paycheck though, I think this was a symbolic use of "paycheck" to mean "job".

When he says "oh, this is my paycheck" he's not quoting her exactly. It is a slightly mocking, simplified version of what she said.

When paraphrasing someone, starting with "oh..." and then saying a simplified version of what they talked about, maybe making it sound a little more silly or stupid....doing it this way is a way of mocking something the speaker did not respect. By making it sound less reasonable, because they did not think the reason was good enough.

So what she was probably said was something like:
[critical kid] - "I don't think you take this [teaching us] seriously enough."
[teacher] - "No, I do take this seriously. This is my paycheck. This is my job. How dare you say I don't take this seriously! I am here every day and I take this seriously. Don't question me about this. Just shut up and do your assignments."

(just guessing what the earlier conversation might have said, and because they have probably argued before)

Referring to your job as "your paycheck" is a bit slang. The problem is that this slang phrase focuses on being paid as being the important reason for doing anything. Like "I show up and do what I'm told, but I am only interested in getting paid. I don't care about the work. I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't being paid for it. I'm here for money, and not because I think the work we do is important. If no one learns anything today, I don't care, just as long as I still get paid for showing up." Or at least, it can be interpreted that way and give that impression. Which is why the kid is using it to make a point about her being a teacher for the wrong reasons. That she's just in it for a paycheck, but she doesn't work hard enough at helping anyone learn. That she's not a teacher because she wants to teach. That she is only here because she wants to be paid and this is just a way to get money for her. That she cares about the wrong part of the job.

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So it is contrasting two different interpretations of "a paycheck proves that something is important":

Her: "this is proof of how I have to take this seriously: because I am getting paid for it and money is important to me. So of course I take this seriously. I need the money. If I did not take it seriously, then I risk not being paid."

vs

Him: "this is proof of how you don't take this seriously enough, because you don't care if the kids are learning. You don't care enough about doing a good job teaching or helping anyone here. The ONLY thing you care about is getting money. Your priorities are wrong and you are failing as a teacher."

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To be honest, I don't think either person in the video sounds very mature. They both sound very frustrated, emotions are running high, and they are not very good at communicating or listening to each other. He has more excuse because he is only a teenager. And she seems more worried about how bad this makes her look to everyone else, instead of solving anything. Maybe it's a bad day for her, or maybe she is a poor teacher. I don't know. In any case, they don't know how to get along and nothing is being solved. It's an awful mess.