Customer Service, and other not so great things

This has just been one of those weeks that can't seem to go right. It's finals, for starters, and that's never a good thing. I had one last night - a 2 hour essay that was essentially "repeat everything you've learned since the midterm." That's not what the questions said literally, of course, but it might as well have. I filled my bluebook till my hand wouldn't work any more and my brain was out of details, and it should be good enough for an A in the class, regardless of the misery of the testing. I'm pretty good with working spare details into the flow of my answer to get extra points, and I remembered all the major details of each theorist's assumptions and models and propositions. The next exam is Friday morning - math stats - and will not be as pretty. Still, I'm locked into a B, unless I absolutely bomb the test. No way to get to an A, only need 42% to keep the B, and this one (finally) has more applied material than theoretical stuff. The good news is that I only have one more class I have to take, plus dissertation hours. They're offering a couple of cool new things next year, though, so I might take a couple of soc classes to round out my knowledge.

My classes I teach have their final tomorrow, and I'm bracing for the onslaught of anxious emails (most likely beginning about 20 minutes post-final) asking about grades - even though I've already told them, and will remind them again at the exam, that grades will not be up until next Monday. I'm already sick of emails! I don't mind the ones from students that have a question as they study at all. I'm getting really irritated with all the ones wanting to know exactly what they need to make on the final to get an A (or B, etc.) in the class. For one thing, I keep the grades in an online classroom tech program OSU uses (similar to Blackboard), so they have access to their grades all the time and could just look it up themselves. For another, invariably students will aim for that score, as opposed to just trying to do well, and a good chunk of them will miss low. And then they'll be upset with me, and send a mess of emails begging for a chance to do some extra credit, and wondering how I can be so cruel as to not pretend that their 446 points are actually 450 (and an A). HOW CAN I RUIN THEIR LIFE OVER 4 MEASLEY POINTS? (I really do enjoy teaching though, in case you can't tell!)

Aside from finals, and of much greater significance, one of my fellow soc grad students was killed in a car accident this past weekend, and another of us was the driver. The one killed was new to the program this year, so I didn't know her well, but we're a small enough program that everyone knows everyone to some extent. And I do know the driver well. I also got my masters with her mom, and Sarah was her mother's pride and joy. Where you can usually feel the stress level in the department during finals week, this week has just been sad - exams, and school in general, just don't seem very significant in the wake of a tragedy. In a way, it's business as usual, but at the same time everything just feels very muted.

We are having a YW Recognition Night for one of the girls who recently finished up personal progress. I do think it will be a lovely evening when all is said and done, but meanwhile it's making me a little crazy. "Events" should not be scheduled in the middle of exam week, if you ask me, but I'd already offended her mother by not having the bishop immediately present her with her certificate and necklace during sacrament meeting. Traditionally, our bishop has always announced it when a YW has completed a value, and we have little certificates we made up for that, then everything else is part of their big night - since she was done, I just asked the bishop to mention when he gave her the last value certificate that she had completed everything and we were very proud of her. Of course, she also can invite anyone she wants to come to the whole shebang. Anyway, since her mom was upset there wasnt' more hoopla to celebrate this big achievement, I didn't object when she wanted tomorrow for her night. I probably wouldn't have anyway, honestly - but as I've been caligraphying a certificate (which I'm not so good at) and decorating the mat for the frame (which I'm wondering why I ever started with the first one, so now feel I have to do everytime), and preparing the talk I was asked to give, and reminding myself 20 times to not forget the balloons tomorrow (yet another tradition I'm kicking myself over), I'm wondering why I always think I can get more things done than I can acutally humanly accomplish. The good thing is I'll forget all about how stressful it was when we actually make it to tomorrow night, and it is a big accomplishment for this girl that I do very much want to honor. Hopefully it will kick start some of our personal progress stragglers, too.

And as I worked on the mat and certificate today, I was also sitting on hold with customer service at Dish Network. In today's world of "next available representative," I drew a very nice lady with a very thick accent. My problem was an extra $99 charge on my account, and I knew what the problem was, but couldn't seem to convey it to the CSR. Essentially, way back in October of last year, I decided to spring for NBA League Pass this year so I could catch more Bulls' and Blazers' games. It was my one big entertainment splurge. Anyway, in February I upgraded to DVR, which required getting a new receiver. Once it was installed, I discovered that I could no longer access NBALP - when I flipped to it, it told me it was a subscription service and call to buy it (which, of course, I already had!) - so I spent forever on the phone with them back then while everyone told me this just didn't make sense. To be honest, I didn't care if it made sense to them, I just wanted my basketball games back. Finally, a technician told me he had no idea what the problem was, but at least he could re-subscribe (is that a word?) me at no charge. I was OK with that - and he told me if a $99 charge showed up (the midseason cost) to call customer service with some code that would take them directly to some entry in some log he made explaining that their should be no charge. Unfortunately, when there was no charge on the next bill I tossed that note. I should know better, I suppose. Anyway, when the lady today finally understood what the problem was, it took roughly 1o minutes of holding while she went back to verify that I had already been charged once for the service, and then she had to get someone to approve the credit apparently. So now my bill this month is huge, but the credit should mean no bill for most of the summer. Good thing I don't (quite) live paycheck to paycheck! And that this auto-pay goes to a credit card instead of coming out of my checking account, so nothing bounced.

So now that I've griped, I feel much better. It's a gorgeous day - sunny and 75 - so maybe I'll go enjoy the sunset in my hammock chair while studying for stats. :)