The Venting Thread

[science.expat]

Look for practice tests on online.

I had to take a citizenship test here in Aus and it was full of random stuff but I knew what to memorise from the practice tests and aced it.

Also, as a professional educator you'll see that multiple choice tests from bureaucratic agencies are often poorly composed and it's not too hard to guess the correct answer. Or at least eliminate some of the wrong ones.

Good luck.

[AmLitHist]

You're absolutely right, science.expat.  I'm just grumpy over the idea of having to take it.  :-)

[apl68]

That effort to secure several thousand dollars worth of federal grant funding for outreach to our patrons to help them with their information needs is now over.  We were told that it would be a very simple, straightforward grant process.  Instead we were made to jump through a truly ridiculous series of hoops.  No real problem for million-dollar entities with their own federal compliance officers on staff, but for a small-town library it's just too much.  That latest ludicrous question--which the reviewer could have answered with a simple Google search, without us having to jump through yet more hoops to prove it--was only the final straw.  I know you have to take precautions to keep the Russian, Nigerian, etc. etc. hackers from stealing all the money, but this goes far above and beyond anything that's necessary.  I'm done pulling my hair out trying to make this thing work.  Obviously the agency doesn't truly want to give us the funds.  So please cancel our request and forget we ever made it.  We'll find other ways to serve our patrons.

[ciao_yall]

I know you mean to be all leadershippy, but calling a meeting for the express purpose of "communication" without actually having anything to communicate, just making sure we know you know we are also wondering what is going on, is kinda pointless.

[Harlow2]

That effort to secure several thousand dollars worth of federal grant funding for outreach to our patrons to help them with their information needs is now over.  We were told that it would be a very simple, straightforward grant process.  Instead we were made to jump through a truly ridiculous series of hoops.  No real problem for million-dollar entities with their own federal compliance officers on staff, but for a small-town library it's just too much.  That latest ludicrous question--which the reviewer could have answered with a simple Google search, without us having to jump through yet more hoops to prove it--was only the final straw.  I know you have to take precautions to keep the Russian, Nigerian, etc. etc. hackers from stealing all the money, but this goes far above and beyond anything that's necessary.  I'm done pulling my hair out trying to make this thing work.  Obviously the agency doesn't truly want to give us the funds.  So please cancel our request and forget we ever made it.  We'll find other ways to serve our patrons.

What a shame. I hope at least some of the prep work can be useful with another grant if you decide to go that direction.

[memyself]

That effort to secure several thousand dollars worth of federal grant funding for outreach to our patrons to help them with their information needs is now over.  We were told that it would be a very simple, straightforward grant process.  Instead we were made to jump through a truly ridiculous series of hoops.  No real problem for million-dollar entities with their own federal compliance officers on staff, but for a small-town library it's just too much.  That latest ludicrous question--which the reviewer could have answered with a simple Google search, without us having to jump through yet more hoops to prove it--was only the final straw.  I know you have to take precautions to keep the Russian, Nigerian, etc. etc. hackers from stealing all the money, but this goes far above and beyond anything that's necessary.  I'm done pulling my hair out trying to make this thing work.  Obviously the agency doesn't truly want to give us the funds.  So please cancel our request and forget we ever made it.  We'll find other ways to serve our patrons.

What a shame. I hope at least some of the prep work can be useful with another grant if you decide to go that direction.

Worth relaying to your local congresspeople, perhaps? They might want to hear that the process is too cumbersome for smaller structures that would need the funds the most...

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I hate this state.

[mamselle]

I hate this state.

Oops.

I think I'll mosey over to the First World Problems thread....

Sounds like my problem is nothing compared to what I suspect yours is right now....

M.

[downer]

I used the Outlook app for Android for a long time, and I still have it on my phone. But basically on my phone I read messages and write one word replies.

Now on my laptop I have to use Outlook webbased service. I can report with several week's experience that it also sucks. I still haven't found a way to change the font size.

[mamselle]

I hate this state.

Oops.

I think I'll mosey over to the First World Problems thread....

Sounds like my problem is nothing compared to what I suspect yours is right now....

M.

Mostly, the origin of the problem was small potatoes--to Google.

They just had to download all the photos on my phone and hold them captive, then demand ransom in the form of storage fees, which I didn't ask to have to pay to begin with.

So I've spent my whole working day (6 hrs so far; student upcoming, then a couple more hours after that) downloading photos from the phone (which, OK, I needed to do anyway) THEN going into the un-asked-for Google Photos app and deleting them there as well.

Because even though I went in and opted out of being party to any further kidnapping schemes in future, they don't drop all the ones they already took.

And I had a LOT of photos.

Because, you know, swans, and cathedrals, and manuscripts, and...good stuff like that.

So, NO, I don't want your grubby hands on my pictures!!!!

I knew there was something off when they started showing me nonsense "Themes" and "Slide Shows" (believe me, I can do my own) and so on...the nannying and the harassment are just insane.

And then to want to be paid more than I'm already paying for regular storage....

Grrrrrrrrrr........

M. 

[Parasaurolophus]

If HR were correct in its interpretation of the parental leave policies, it should be possible for faculty who time the birth of their children appropriately to earn as much as a 28% increase in salary when they take parental leave. But even those whose timing is off should be able to earn a higher salary, provided they teach a full load that year (e.g. by teaching 4 in the fall and summer, or 4 in the fall and winter).

That can't be right. (Indeed, it sounds kind of borderline fraudulent to me.)

[mamselle]

I always knew I wanted nothing to do with Facebook.

Now I know why. It just chewed up an hour of my time when, tired from teaching all week, I just wanted to watch the otters and make dinner and read.

The N/P I once worked for wants to revive the account (I think it's a stupid idea, but it's theirs to decide).

It was opened in 2014 and apart from some autofeeds from our Constant Contact account and website, we never used it after 2019.

So, of course, showing up now and wanting--the horror--to use a different computer (people DO do that, don't they?) after all this time, it has constructed an elaborate beehive of hoops through which one must jump, just to get in and re-assign the admin to the new directors.

it sends verification codes, I return them.

It asks for a picture of a photo ID to be sent to them, I procure one and then look everywhere to find out how to send it.

No info, and going back puts me in the loop of needing another round of confirmation codes.

I re-assigned the login and it took that but won't let me onto the account site.

It's a stupid, dumb system and I always knew it was a time-waster and I wanted nothing to do with it and I'm giving up.

If they answer tomorrow with a reasonable way to send the photo ID, fine. If not, I'm recommending to the new folks that they forget it.

OK, dinner and the otters now.

M.

[fishbrains]

To the guy at church and, hopefully, most of the restaurant owners who employed me for 20 years before I began teaching:

Of course you can't find people to work for you now. They can go bread chicken at the Chick-fil-a for better money and less hassle. Maybe you all should climb into your time machines and go back and consider the following:

• Maybe don't point out that minimum wage is actually the maximum wage you'll ever pay your people--and it's too much to pay them at that.
• Maybe don't make people work when they are sick--as in work next to a garbage can to catch the vomit. And don't require a doctor's note from people who don't have health insurance when they miss one or two days--or when their kid is sick. All this might currently include forcing your employees to expose themselves to unmasked customers in very cramped spaces because you have some dumba$$ opinion about masks. People have noticed that you've never given a $hit about their health.
• Maybe don't complain about replacing unsafe equipment after just buying your bratty kid a new Mercedes.
• Maybe don't put bullying signs like "You're welcome!" over the time-clock or "I don't pay you to pee or poop [paraphrased], I pay you to work!" in the employee bathroom. That really isn't funny or clever.
• Maybe don't refer to employees as "lazy" when they can clearly hear you. And in the current climate, don't say all workers are lazy just because you can't attract them to your $hitty jobs due to your own incompetence.
• And on and on . . .

It's not that people don't want to work. It's just that they now have some options, and they don't want to work for a total c*nt like YOU!

[downer]

I have to say that I'm rather surprised that the IT dept has the time to go over every online course and make a new version of it, with their suggestions for improvement built in. That could be very helpful if done thoughtfully.

Unfortunately, the new version they made of my course was full of innane and inappropriate changes, which I will ignore. Someone wasted several hours of their time on that, and also wasted my time having to look at the new version.

[the_geneticist]

I have to say that I'm rather surprised that the IT dept has the time to go over every online course and make a new version of it, with their suggestions for improvement built in. That could be very helpful if done thoughtfully.

Unfortunately, the new version they made of my course was full of innane and inappropriate changes, which I will ignore. Someone wasted several hours of their time on that, and also wasted my time having to look at the new version.

Our IT folks have added a bunch of "suggested templates and content" for our class websites.  I spent most of a day tracking down and deleting ALL of it.  Waste of my time.