The Venting Thread

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I know that there has been a major turnover with staff lately and some people are scrambling to cover multiple positions, but it has been over a month and my purchases have not been approved yet! How am I supposed to complete this project? *slowly pulls hair out*

[mamselle]

I was outside a few minutes ago and saw somebody riding a four-wheel ATV by the library.  Since sometime during the weekend I've seen four-wheelers and dune buggies running up and down the streets.  People have long turned a blind eye to ATV riders passing through alleys on their way to the edge of town to ride in the woods.  Suddenly it has gotten very brazen.  The guy running past the library especially concerns me, because he was on a main street that is also a busy state highway.  And he didn't appear to be going just a couple of blocks, either.  All this is both illegal and highly dangerous.  I'm starting to worry that somebody is going to get hurt before the authorities crack down on this.

What happens when it's reported? (Or do the local police all own their own dune buggies, too...?)

M.

[mamselle]

I know that there has been a major turnover with staff lately and some people are scrambling to cover multiple positions, but it has been over a month and my purchases have not been approved yet! How am I supposed to complete this project? *slowly pulls hair out*

Be kind to your scalp. This is probably rooted in one of a few possible (reversible) causes.

1. If there have been any changes in the pricing between the time the items were ordered and the time they were shipped, there could be a hold-up on the buyers' end.

Such changes usually mean the P.O. has to be re-cut for the new price, and those can snow buyers, since it really means doing the whole purchase over from the start.

(Having worked in a hospital AP/Purchasing unit where a 0.01 change in the cost of a lab chemical or drug meant we had holds on all our PO's and payment efforts, since the held-up PO means the bill never goes for payment, and if those pile up, the vendor starts withholding shipments until some amount is covered.)

Solution: Get some higher-up to issue a "gotta do it now" email that overrides the computer-gagging price-point issue (programs are often set for very little price-range tolerance when money is tight, another silent way of slowing down outflow).

2. Also, if there's a mis-match between payment expectations (in a financially precarious situation, many institutions may start silently extending "days-to-pay" from, say, a 30-day cycle to a 60-day cycle, which upsets vendors, making them inclined to be sluggish in shipping as well.

We had one Finance Manager who thought this was a cute trick until the Lab Manager called him on it--they were getting behind or certain basic tests because the FM didn't see the need for c.diff. specimens to be tested within a certain time frame, and applied his payment-slow-down tactics on the test kit supplier.

The doors were closed, so we couldn't hear, from across the hall, exactly what was said, but it was loud and brief.

Solution: See if there's a time-to-pay frame on the vendor's website (like, look for something that says, say, "net 30 days," in the "terms" section) and see if more recent payments on your accounts to them have exceeded it. Then show someone who can override that decision for your item(s) with good reason why you need them sooner-rather-than-later-rather-than-never, and ask for a liberating email to be sent.

It's just as maddening for the workers, who sometimes are not TOLD about the FM's decisions until they run smack up against the problems those decisions have generated, and then are caught behind the 8-ball trying to fix things.

M.

[paddington_bear]

A regional food chain that had a location on my campus, as well as two smaller eating places on campus, will be closed this fall due to a lack of patrons. Sigh.

[apl68]

A regional food chain that had a location on my campus, as well as two smaller eating places on campus, will be closed this fall due to a lack of patrons. Sigh.

Will this lead to a major decline in campus eating options?  At Alma Mater we never had as many as three dining options to start with.  At the R1 where I used to work, three dining closures would hardly be missed, unless one happened to be a real fan of one of them.

[paddington_bear]

A regional food chain that had a location on my campus, as well as two smaller eating places on campus, will be closed this fall due to a lack of patrons. Sigh.

Will this lead to a major decline in campus eating options?  At Alma Mater we never had as many as three dining options to start with.  At the R1 where I used to work, three dining closures would hardly be missed, unless one happened to be a real fan of one of them.

Our main "cafeteria" is staying open. And we have a Starbucks still. It's the places in our student union that will be closing. One place, a chain doughnut place, is busy when it's busy - maybe two or three times during the day -  but otherwise, apparently, it's dead. (And it seems the students, and some faculty/staff, aren't buying things that actually generate a profit. And there aren't enough patrons over all to keep it running, I guess.)  The organization that runs some of our eating places says that this will mean that the existing places will be offering different food types to make up for the closings. But we'll see.

[RatGuy]

A regional food chain that had a location on my campus, as well as two smaller eating places on campus, will be closed this fall due to a lack of patrons. Sigh.

Will this lead to a major decline in campus eating options?  At Alma Mater we never had as many as three dining options to start with.  At the R1 where I used to work, three dining closures would hardly be missed, unless one happened to be a real fan of one of them.

Our main "cafeteria" is staying open. And we have a Starbucks still. It's the places in our student union that will be closing. One place, a chain doughnut place, is busy when it's busy - maybe two or three times during the day -  but otherwise, apparently, it's dead. (And it seems the students, and some faculty/staff, aren't buying things that actually generate a profit. And there aren't enough patrons over all to keep it running, I guess.)  The organization that runs some of our eating places says that this will mean that the existing places will be offering different food types to make up for the closings. But we'll see.

We have a regional fast-food place in one of our dorms, and its managed via Aramark. It might shut down. But the big difference recently has been the addition of local food trucks. Our dining program posts the schedule (the trucks rotate position throughout the week) and for some reason that's been a lot more popular than the Subway/Wendy's combo in the Union.

[clean]

for the past several days in a row (and off and on over the last 2 years!) the handicapped entrance door is turned off.  It is not broken, just turned off. 
I sent an email asking who was in charge of such things as the problem has been reported to maintenance many times (and since the door is not broken, just in the "O F F" position it is not their problem.  The email trial ballooned to 11 people!  I asked "Please let me know who on campus is responsible for ensuring that this publicly funded building is fully accessible to all members of society (which I believe is a federal requirement) during our full 8am to 9:30 pm hours of operation."

The guy in charge of compliance with many things (Director, Employee Development & Compliance Services, Title IX Coordinator, ADA/504 Coordinator, Affirmative Action Representative...) replied, "The building has two other entrances that provide access doors that were working fine as of yesterday.  So, the building is fully accessible to persons just temporarily not thru the entrance facing the parking lots."

No, there is no sign on the door to direct someone needing access to the correct door.  Actually there are THREE doors, but one actually IS broken, but no sign on that one either!!  So it must be that 'sixth sense' that people gain when another sense or ability goes bad that lets them know what way to go to get into the building!

Certainly, EVERYONE knows what doors WORK if you need to use the handicapped entrance!  Even the parents or students that are touring the campus who are directed to THIS building First!  Certainly, that would be the first part of the official tour!  Find the working door!! 

what an asshole! 

He has not replied to my last email asking why there is no SIGN on the door IF it is not working directing VISITORS to Campus to the closest (hell, even the WORKING doors!) 

Oh... and the solution that was finally suggested?  They are going to move the switch to the top of the box or inside the box so that no one can change the settings (unless they are really tall, or have access to the inside of the box).   Im actually ok with that for now.  Let them worry about keeping the door closed when we evacuate for the next hurricane!! 

[AmLitHist]

The handicapped door by which I routinely park is often out of order, too.  I've repeated this to our maintenance crew more times than I can count since I started working here in 2004.  I've been particularly snotty about it over the past few years since I've been using a cane/walker myself. It's not that I can't juggle things and get the (surprisingly heavy) door open to get in to work, but rather just the idea that nobody should have to wear themselves out just to get in the damned building.

Of course, also since I've worked here, the elevator in the library doesn't work when it rains. (I am not joking.) Also, in the early years, you'd just walk in and punch the button for the 2d floor of the building, which is the 1st floor/circulation/reference area in the library. Now, you have to call upstairs to get "keyed up" and be escorted by a librarian.  (I call discrimination:  if I could walk, I'd be able to enter and leave with abandon--maybe we handicapped folk are born thieves?)  I used to always take my Comp I & II classes over for work days and database training several times every semester, but since I can't do stairs anymore, we don't go during class time, since I can't rely on being able to join my students upstairs. (And we're not talking about a modest staircase--this one is steep and vertigo-inducing even for young, healthy, fit students.)

[Anon1787]

Of course, also since I've worked here, the elevator in the library doesn't work when it rains. (I am not joking.)

Several years back at my university a staff member was killed when an elevator broke down. The elevator got stuck between floors and she got tired of waiting and was crawling out when the elevator started up again and crushed her to death. Adminicritters take elevator maintenance much more seriously now.

[AmLitHist]

^^ Yikes! ^^

[Vkw10]

NewDean is horrible at communication. After six months of dealing with the fall out from his egregious failures to communicate, I've decided life is too short to deal with the chaos he's causing by not talking to people before announcing major changes that impact them. Friday's email to all college staff was the last straw.

I've spent the morning letting my contacts in private industry know that I'm interested in new challenges. I'm spending the afternoon applying for federal jobs. I will not be reporting to NewDean as of August 30, even if that means retiring three years earlier than planned.

[Harlow2]

My tax preparer of the last 4 years has not finished work on my taxes. I turned everything in well in advance of the deadline; I did get a response to my concerned email this week. They promised that the taxes would be finished yesterday; but so far nothing. No response to the email I sent an hour ago.  Needless to say I am frantically checking email and their online "drop box". This is infuriating and not how I had planned to spend the day.

[clean]

Fortunately, taxes are due tomorrow. 
The worst case is that an extension will be filed.


This is our first year as a married couple.  We were married last year, but that tax filing was mostly as singles, so I had more taxes deducted.

Also, in December, my bride and I forgot that she had unemployment checks at the start of the year.  And not a vent, but together, we had a great year on the investment front, so this year was the largest gain I have ever declared.  (Because last year, I harvested most all of the losses that I could have taken to reduce my gains... with no offsetting losses, all gains are recognized.)

The bottom line is that we didnt know the gains, and forgot the unemployment, and combined, we overcontributed to the Roth IRAs.  Before taxes can be filed, we have to take out some of the contributions.  So I m not sure if it can be done tomorrow, or if we will file an extension (for the first time in my life!!)

[ab_grp]

We turned all our materials in by the 3/15 due date and had not heard anything, so my husband called on Friday and was told that our accountant is filing an extension.  We have never had an extension filed, either, and I am not sure why that had to happen.  But, at least I don't have to be ready to download the returns on Monday and check and sign them super fast.  Ugh.  Harlow2, sounds like you are in a similar boat.  I hope you at least get an update soon.