(no subject)

[katallison]

I feel bad whining about my job, given that so many people I know would give a great deal to have a job to whine about, and yet, still --

Holy mother of GOD am I wiped out. This was Registration Week at my college, and to an extent exceeding even the high standard set by Registration Weeks past, this one has beaten me down, kicked me to the curb, and tap-danced upon my twitching fallen corpus. With hob-nailed boots.

The problem is that my college, like pretty much every other institution of higher ed that I know of, is caught in the following brutal equations:

• Students who normally would be graduating deciding that hey, staying in college another year is better than being unemployed with student loans coming due;
  
• plus: People who have been laid off deciding that now is the perfect time to go back and finish that degree and hey, getting even skimpy financial aid beats the hell out of panhandling;
  
• equals: Record enrollment levels.

Simultaneously:

• Open faculty positions (due to retirement, departures, whatever)
  
• plus: Hiring freeze
  
• equals: Insufficient faculty staffing and hence fewer-than-usual course openings.

Adding these two together, we get:

• Courses that filled within, like, five minutes of opening on the reg system, and hence:
  
• An extraordinary number of pissed-off, freaked-out, disgruntled, angry students who cannot get into any courses whatsoever, most of whom have been in my office at some point this week delaminating/melting down/sobbing/yelling.

How wiped-out was I today? When I got home and flumped down in front of the computer, I felt a crackling stiff something in my right front pants pocket. Thinking it might be a Critical Student Note I'd inadvertently brought home with me, I pulled it out and discovered it was -- a five-dollar bill. The five-dollar bill I'd stuck in my pocket to buy a cup of coffee over at the student center this morning.

I just ... I mean, there WAS coffee at some point in the morning. (I'm quite sure of that, since otherwise there would have been DEATH.) I can almost, sort of, vaguely remember walking back to my office carrying a cup of coffee in my gloved hands. But ... I still have the money in my pocket? Did I just fill my cup and saunter out, in blithe oblivion, without paying?

I DON'T EVEN KNOW.

(...Much wine now. And then much sleep.)

Comments

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

Whining about your job, even in a recession, is entirely legitimate, if you ask me. I am glad there are wine and sleep in your future!

[mrsronweasley.livejournal.com]

Awww, Kat, I FEEL YOUR PAIN. (This week was awesome - Spring break, but NEXT week will be AWESOMEFUNTIMESNORLY.)

Hey, you motherfucking DESERVED that cup of coffee, okay? And now? You motherfucking deserve that WINE, so - lie back, drink up, and HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEEEEKEEEEEEND! ♥

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

::massive hugs::

I'm glad you're GAFIAting briefly this weekend. You have excellent reasons for being thoroughly exhausted.

[whatthefaith.livejournal.com]

You and I. Parallel universes.

I swear, if I'd heard one more "You HAVE to put me in that class because I want to graduate and I already invited everyone!", I was gonna hurl my chair through the window. Perhaps one should make sure they have enrolled in all required courses before inviting people to their hoped-for ceremony.

You know...there just isn't anything I can do regarding room fire codes, decrees on teacher/student ratio, et cetera. My ass is not a TARDIS. Whining at me does not magically get me to pull a new class out of it(besides the fact it would totally hurt).

Grrr...Argh. *goes back to sandwich from shop*

[cereta.livejournal.com]

Every time I complain about how tired slashspouse and I are, I feel bad, because we not only have jobs, we have job security. And yet? Here we are, exhausted. Complain all you want.

[heresluck]

Yeah. We've got advising starting week after next, and it is gonna be ugly here too -- though for somewhat different reasons. We're short-staffed but still underenrolled (small entering classes for the past few years), which means that any classes not close to full are likely to be cancelled so that the faculty can be reassigned to classes for incoming first-years -- the classes usually taught by the adjuncts we won't be re-hiring next year. And then of course the upper-level students in the cancelled classes will be scrambling to find spaces in the classes that weren't cancelled, which... will be pretty well full, or they would have been cancelled.

I may have to start drinking pre-emptively.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

I'm just guessing, but I would think it would be even worse at your college than at some other ones -- when it's only one shot for the entire quarter rather than spread around over four or five classes, it's even more stressful, you know?

Kat I am giving you MANY MANY internet hugs! And possibly alcohol.

[tehomet.livejournal.com]

Don't feel bad whining about your job. It's interesting!

I work for the government, helping to provide housing for people on low incomes or on social welfare. Our department was always busy; now it's flat out. Plus, there's a hiring freeze to add to the entertainment. So, I know how you feel.

What are the students who didn't get into courses going to do? Will they have to transfer colleges or defer their studies for a year? I don't imagine the college would have the spare capacity in built infrastructure or teaching staff just to teach extra or larger classes.