Students are the Future. Oh crap.

[RealUnimportant]

You don’t actually speak English, you can just make noises that sound like English flawlessly.

Wait.

How are we talking then?

Dammit, I know I saw this in a movie... Rob Schnieder? cameos as an immigrant of some kind who has a small conversation with The Hero, all of which is supposed to be pre-memorised sentences as he can't speak English.

[notalwaysright]

Re: Financial aid. Wow, it's really that easy to scam? That's disappointing. Speaking as someone who did kinda what you described. Got out of high school, went to community college, had NO idea what direction I wanted to go, stopped going, years later am going back to school. I envy those people who have always known what they want to do, career-wise. I've just been doing my own thing, and I don't regret it. But it was time for me to pick something. Anyways, I really appreciate financial aid, and it pisses me off when I hear stories of people who just take and take.

“I don’t know my student ID number, do you guys know it?”

Well.. To be fair, when I was new I had no idea who important that number was, and they could look it up for me, no problem. I do have it memorized now.

[Tee]

Simple, it's free for most of them, no cost for failing means it's okay for those not ready to do it anyway. No personal risk. The primary form of state financial aid is a fee waiver, it's also the primary form of financial aid for the campus (aside from federal grants, but you can get both at the same time, so...). And there has been no way to lose this aside from making too much money up until just two weeks ago when they added requirements.

Additionally, units are about $50 each for state residents, and $250 for nonresident, meaning that (this next part is conjecture I guess, but it makes sense) the state effectively subsidizes 80% of tuition even for those without financial aid.

Now, I don't think either of these are bad (I'd be a hypocrite if I did, the fee waiver is the only thing I currently qualify for, I couldn't attend without it currently), the problem has always been accountability, which they're finally starting to implement, somewhat.

Students sign up for classes, and those classes frequently end with fractions of the class total. One semester classes, 50 students at start, 20 person waitlist, barely a dozen take the final.

Financial aid fraud is a thing too, sign up for classes, get "your" check, drop the classes. When they put you on probation, sign paperwork, repeat. Dismissal? Wait, or try another school.

The other thing is the "everyone is entitled and required to go to college, you're a failure if you don't" mentality/culture. College is truly not for everyone at every point in time, it wasn't for me when I graduated high school, and it showed. I've gotten some life experience now, and learned some lessons about what I wasted, including nearly a full decade of my life. I'm ready now, still not perfect, but trucking along, and doing well. I have a 2.7, which isn't great, until you see that I had a 1.2 going against me when I started back, and even with the huge deadweight of my old idiocy, I've clawed it back up. It was hard, still is, but I've got a good chance of cracking a 3.0 if I keep my grades up despite the number of failing grades I had when I first tried right out of high school.

In the end, the problem is that the students aren't ready, they aren't prepared, and they don't care about preparing themselves. They don't know the costs yet.

They will though.

Life's the ultimate educational institution.

Oh, and I didn't use the fee waiver back when I failed my classes, didn't qualify at the time. Makes me feel a little better about myself. Now that I am though, I'll be damned if I let myself waste money given to me to PASS classes by failing them, especially money originally taken from my fellow citizens, state AND federal.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

How the hell did these people ever make it into college in the first place?

[Tee]

So, the first thing I have is a correction.

Last post, I had a story at the end about a student who apparently had something against “Retards”.

The document it was from was made in late January, early February, and I copied pasted it to that post.

While going through others (Mostly in my old International Political Economy class notes), I found a different account, and it included a lot I didn’t remember, but, now do (That time period was really busy for me).

I apologize for this, and am removing the faulty one from that post, and posted the correct version later that same thread (link here).

And no, the version I had posted originally wasn’t worse, it actually portrayed the student in a better light than this version I just changed it too.

Again, I’m sorry, this is really embarrassing, and hopefully you guys won’t think too poorly of me for this. I've always tried to tell the truth, not exaggerate, and never mislead intentionally.

As for this Post:

Once the semester starts I won’t have much time for things aside from Work, School, Commuting and Family doing it’s best to make as many rules that only apply to me that cause my time to be eaten up. This is the last of the pre-typed up stuff I had (That I can find so far).

But, I’ll try to post things as they happen, it’ll make for smaller posts, but eh.



But my parent hates me!:

(November Again)

Interesting note, if you’re less than 24 in the US, you’re required to provide information from your parent/s on Financial Aid.

Which lead to this.

Student: Um, I’m trying to fill out my FASFA, why does it need my parents information?
Me: Law, requires you to list parental information for financial aid purposes. The Government has to assume that your parents are providing a degree of help, whether they are or aren’t.
Student: Me and my mom HATE each other, why do they need her information?
Me: It’s a law, sorry.
Student: It’s bullshit! Why should I have to do this-

That’s about where I zoned out a bit. Waiting for something, anything to indicate the student was ready to move on.

Student: (Continuing) Why should they have the right to ask for that?!

Yeah, no dice. Though you have a point, how dare they ask you to fill out a form! They should just give you your free money now! It’s YOURS, not THEIRS!

Funny thing, she came back a few days later, and just shoved a phone with her mom on it in my face (No exaggeration, she actually did this, even did it with a Huff). Her mom ended up being an incredibly nice individual, made me wonder about the whole “My mom and I hate each other.”, I think “I hate my mom, and my mom is sick of my lazy ass” may have been more accurate.

Even better, Mom filled out the FAFSA for her, and when asked about the State Financial Aid Waiver, darling daughter said:

Student: UGH, this is too much work, why can't they just treat me like I’m on my own! I left so no one could tell me what to do! I’ll just have her fill this out too!

I had a good laugh about that one later.



From the Graveyard...:

(Not Sucky, and I swear this happened, I’m not making this up, I’m not pandering, I’m not bullshitting, this actually happened back in November, again.)

Me: Hello, do you need help?
Student: (Strange Accent) Yes, I’m trying to register for classes, but my Password is off, I was told you could help me reset it with this paper?
Me: Yes, just click “Forgot my Password” here, and start filling things out.
Student: Thanks.
Me: Uh, no offense intended, just curious, but I’ve never heard that accent before
Student: Oh, I’m from Nunavut, it’s in Canada.
Me: (Brain flips for a second) Oh, furthest North part of Canada right?
Student: Pretty much. (Finishes the reset) Thanks again.
Me: What about your classes?
Student: Oh, I can do that at home online, it’s not hard.
Me: Well, alright, have a nice one.

So yeah, met a guy from Nunavut. Actually pretty nice, knew what he was doing, needed almost no help, and was actually dressed pretty normal.

Maybe he was exiled or something.

Note: This is actually why I reactivated my account back in November, and why I was sad to see that Gravekeeper had been in such poor health, and has been gone for a while. His posts had been my favorite thing to read here back when I used to frequent here more… well, frequently. Most of his stories were just funny, and insane, not involving malicious Sucky customers.

The funny thing is, I had forgotten about it till going back through the notes. November and December were insane for me, between everything, then the papers, projects and studying for finals… kinda a blur even now.



Life Story:

(No date mentioned, likely November)
Student: (Walks up)
Me: Hi, how can I help you?
Student: Well, I recently had my job change, and I couldn’t go to classes that were late in the day anymore, before I had classes that...
(Okay, give her a few moments, maybe she’ll get to a point.)
Student: … and I can’t just ignore my family too, they need me to…
(And, maybe she won’t. After a minute (In which she mentions a variety of things I address below, but don’t feel like typing a speech that long), I interrupt her)
Me: So, you dropped some classes?
Student: Yes, I had no choice, I need this jo-
Me: Okay, did you drop any before the semester began?
Student: Yes, one, it was my-
Me: And was the other in the first 2 weeks?
Student: Yes, I felt really bad about-
Me: (Smiles) Then you should be good, anything before the semester won’t count against you, and anything dropped in the first 2 weeks won’t be either. Did you get a refund for that class?
Student: Yes, I did.
Me: Okay, and you were wondering if this would hurt your registration, or your GPA?
Student: Yes, both.
Me: Well, it shouldn’t have hurt your GPA. You can check on the BLAH website, under the unofficial transcript section, but, it should all be fine, and you should be set for spring semester. As for your registration, you likely won’t qualify as a “Continuing” student since you dropped all of your classes, but keep an eye on your student e-mail. They’ll let you know what priority you are, and what your registration date is before November 24th, which is the first day for registration with Priority 0.
Student: Okay, thank you.
Me: Did you need anything else?
Student: No, that was it, thanks again. (Walks off)

I get the whole “Tell them the whole story” thing, I do it frequently. The key to that is telling them everything they would need to know regarding the issue in question, and nothing further. You don’t tell them your Life Story, you give them the Barebone but full facts of the matter, and you ONLY do that when you aren’t certain what to do next, and need them to help you figure out where to even start with your problem.

In the Circumstance above, she could have started with something like, “Hi, I needed to drop some classes due to some personal and family circumstances, and I’m worried that doing so may have harmed my chances at getting a good registration priority, and possibly my GPA as well.”

Instead, she decided to tell me everything, and I had to parse what she needed out of what she said since she sprinkled her questions in pieces throughout the story.

But hey, she was nice, and grateful for the help. When I worked at Dollar Tree, it would NEVER have gone that well.

Also, I really need to stop talking over students, and interrupting them. I haven’t gotten in trouble for it, but it’s a bad habit to make. XD



But I only want to take ONE class!:

(No date mentioned, Likely December)

Yes, I get that, but, you still need to apply to be a student, it is literally impossible to take a class without being a student here.

Complaining about how much hassle it is to apply when all you want is ONE class, doesn’t endear me to you, in fact, it makes keeping the smile on my face that much harder, though you didn’t notice when weariness, lack of sleep, and stress from my own life combined with your whining over having to fill out a simple application were sufficient to cause my Customer Service Mask to crack a bit, and slip ever so slightly.

The fact that you came in to fill out something that can take up to an hour for particularly slow people, when you have barely 30 minutes before you need to leave for an appointment, doesn’t help much either.

And, as a fellow procrastinator and someone who routinely schedules out their life poorly, I understand that things can backfire on me. And frequently do. But, unlike you, I don’t take it out on nearby people, or those helping me. Instead, I generally take it out on myself.

Thankfully, I was able to deflect most of what you were saying and doing, and force you to motivate yourself to finish. While this certainly didn’t help your mood, it did help mine, as I have no intention of trying force someone to finish something that they have no desire to finish themselves.

Thankfully you did, and I helped you every step of the way, despite the need to hand hold you, as well as your complaining.

Of course, the fact that you ran into several system glitches, and had to restart 2 different pages was CERTAINLY something to complain about, I do not dispute your right to to be irritated about that, I certainly was, and it’s definitely frustrating.

Which leads to the Glitches.



The Catch 22 Glitch:

One of the more annoying glitches we get on one of the 3-4 websites we commonly use.

You will try to create an account in the system, and it will insist you already exist, even showing some of the account’s information so that you can be sure it’s right. You will then have to use the Account Recovery system to find that account.

Where you will find out that you don’t exist, “The account information listed was not found in our records.”

Well, okay then, you try it again.

Nope, nothing.

Huh, well, okay then.

Let’s make a new accoun-”This account information is already in use by: YOUR NAME, and YOUR INFORMATION. User’s are not allowed more than one account.”

In the end, you have to call their help line. This happens at least once a day here, and it’s a Statewide system, so likely happens a lot more elsewhere.

And it’s yet to be fixed.

Almost as annoying as the self-check out glitch I used to get back when at the grocery store. “Remove the extra item from the bag, YOU REMOVED AN ITEM FROM THE BAG, PUT IT BACK, you have an extra item in the bag, please remove it.”

Note: Thankfully, this has since been fixed. It got bad there for a while.



The DERP glitch:

Different website, but one the almost SC Lady two up from here ran into. It will just randomly dump the page you were working on upon you pressing “Continue”, and tell you to close all tabs for security purposes.

And it won’t save any changes while it does so.

This happens also at least once a day, and this happened to that lady TWICE. That’s why I don’t rank her as a SC. Her attitude, “predicament” and complaining were almost enough to do so, but, those Glitches make it so that I don’t hold most of it against her.

This, like all Glitches (Though this could just be a bad security measure), I forwarded on up the chain to hopefully reach those in control and hopefully will cause them to be fixed.

Probably after I don’t work here anymore.

Note: This was fixed, it was indeed a poorly implemented security measure, that there was no warning about. Now, it gives you warning, and the chance to tell it you’re still there.



Glad I could help:

(March, of this Year, helping a student on the computer)
Student: I can’t log in to the [School Homework System], it won’t accept my password, I need to change it.
Me: Okay, do you remember your password.
Student: Yes.
Me: Okay, then hop onto this computer here, and open up the link that says [system]
Student: Which link.
Me: It’s on the desktop right there (Points), it says [system].
Student: I don’t understand.
Me: Click the link that says [system].
Student: Where?
Me: Right there. (Points closer, an inch or so away, nothing else within 4 or so inches)
Student: Where?
Me: I’m pointing at it.
Student: Where?
Me: Right here, where I’m pointing, click the thing next to my finger.
Student: Oh, okay.
Me: Now, you remember your password right?
Student: Yes.
Me: Try to Log in.
Student: (Does so, doesn’t work)
Me: Try again please.
Student: (Does so, again, still doesn’t work)
Me: Okay, it says the password or username is invalid, is that your ID Number?
Student: Yes.
Me: Okay, then the password is wrong, you’ll need to change it.
Student: No, that’s my password.
Me: Well, we’ll have to go to the Forgot my Password section to change it.
Student: But I didn’t forget it, and I don’t want to change it.
Me: Well, right now, as long as you don’t have the right password, you won’t be able to log in.
Student: I’ll take care of this later.

Good frikking luck with that Homework then. XD



Frikking Signs:

I was asked by campus police to keep an eye on the cafeteria, the doors were open to allow people to go to the bathroom, but not to use the cafeteria itself.

Two young women walk up to the roped off cafeteria, see the sign I added to it that read “Cafeteria closed, bathroom open only”, one reads it aloud to the other within my hearing, they look at each other, walk around the barrier, sit down, and start chatting.

I walk over, and inform them that the cafeteria is closed (True), and that campus security has been checking frequently (Technically not true, but eh).

The one who read the sign that said “Cafeteria closed, Bathrooms only.” aloud tells me:
“Sorry, we didn’t know.”

...of course you didn’t.

You don’t actually speak English, you can just make noises that sound like English flawlessly.

Wait.

How are we talking then?



A Letter to Financial Aid:

(This was something I wrote for a Student, since Financial Aid repeatedly sent them back to me to complete the orientation before they would help them, telling the student that they could see their orientation, and it was incomplete.)

Student arrived this morning needing to fill out the Online Orientation. Upon her logging in, the option to take the orientation was not offered. As is standard, when such a thing occurs, student was registered into the orientation using the self-registration option. She completed the orientation, and left to perform other errands.

When she returned, having been told that she needed to re-do it, or provide proof that she had, we logged her back in, and found that the class we had registered her into (Labeled, “SCHOOL DISTRICT Online Orientation SR”, the only orientation option to enroll into) was in fact done (As the print out shows), but the [School Homework System] system had also in the meantime enrolled her into the “SCHOOL DISTRICT Online Orientation 2014”. Further investigation reveals this was the SPRING 2014 Orientation. As she is a brand new student, and it’s Spring of 2015, this is obviously an error.

Attached is her completed orientation, a copy of the faulty orientation, and the screen showing both. Thank you for sending her over, and have a great week.

-Tee, Information Desk at Admissions and Records

(One of these days someone here on campus will learn what sarcasm and feigned enthusiasm is, and on that day I will be a lot of trouble.)



One Liners:

(Assorted things I’ve heard, like Belly Flops, oh god, I want some of those right now XD)

“This class says it’s an online class, is it an online class?”

“It says I may need to meet on campus, will I have to come to school for that?”

“I don’t know my student ID number, do you guys know it?”

“It says I need to have taken Class BLAH to take this class, I’ve never taken BLAH, can I still take the class? What if I take BLAH next semester?”

“If the semester starts on a Monday, but my class only meets on Tuesdays, do I have to come in on that Monday?”

“I didn’t show up to the first few weeks of classes, and my professor dropped me, how do I get that changed?”