Spank you very much

It seems to be my day. (And no, not "spank" in any remotely good way. Though I didn't realize there existed people who thought there was an allegedly GOOD way until I was well over 20).

First: got a phone call yesterday afternoon from some random potential student. I had already left for the day (it was 4 pm, I had a 6:30 meeting at church, I had been on campus since before 7).

So I called him back.

First off - he's huffy because when he showed up on campus (AFTER 4 pm, because the call was from his car), of the three people who could have helped him, one was in class, one (me) had gone for the day, and the third was not to be found.

I'm sorry - but isn't it common practice to, if you need to meet with someone specific, call BEFORE you leave? Especially if you're driving, like, an hour to get there?

But anyway. The other thing that got me were the long............... pauses.......... in what he said. A couple times I nearly asked if he was still there because he stopped midsentence and waited for 15 seconds or so.

In the end? He had nothing I could really help with over the phone. He wanted to know if he had figured out the correct plan of study but didn't have a transcript from his old school in front of him to discuss classes with me.

I asked him if he had questions and then there was another long pause and he said, "I had one yesterday but I can't think of it now."

He said he was thinking of going to us, or to a competing school in another part of the state. I have a feeling I just lost a student for us.

But whatever. I'm not sure I could deal with someone who can't complete a sentence within its normal statute of limitations.

But I'm still irked about that "Wah, I showed up on campus unannounced at 4:30 on what is for many faculty the busiest day of the week and you weren't there to HELP me" attitude. That expectation that our whole lives revolve around us sitting in our office waiting for people wanting to be helped on a moment's notice.

Seriously - if I'm driving more than a half-hour to go to a SMALL BUSINESS I call them first to be sure they're open even if it's normal business hours. People chip teeth or their kids fall off the slide at school or other emergencies come up.

The second one? We were asked - nay, told - to cancel all our classes one day this semester for a certain particular thing that will remain nameless in the interest of trying to preserve my anonymity.

We were only ever asked to cancel morning classes in the past; while a bother, it was OK. But now I am losing an entire week's worth of lab in one of my classes.

I grumped about it, privately, to colleagues. But apparently some people grumped publicly to the individual making the request. Because today he sent us what I very much think is a "spank you very much" letter explaining why and attaching a long article justifying the reason. (I assume we are not expected to read it).

But there was just this petulant tone about the whole thing that bugged me. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but it still bugged me.

Look, you asked people to do something that they didn't like. Some people complained because they didn't KNOW the justification - you didn't give it ahead of time.

I don't know; some days it feels almost like everyone around me got up on the wrong side of the bed. Not a good feeling.