101 things I hate (well, three actually) (Room 101)

Member Name: jojoegypt2008

Product:	Room 101
Date:	19/03/09 (189 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Letting off steam

Disadvantages: Ranting...

Ahhhhhh. That's the sigh I'm giving (reproduced in stereo surround-sound for you, the audience at home) as I sink into the comfy Room 101 sofa and start to get it off my chest.

How brilliant is the concept of Room 101? It encapsulates the British desire to complain (without, of course, doing anything so foolhardy and impulsive as try to change things...), and sanctions that oh-so-human need to moan, whilst usually being funny.

I've been having a horrible time recently with all sorts of things, so my Room 101 choices are probably going to be a bit disconnected. Here goes:

1. Council Tax in Islington. Grrrr. We registered for council tax, like good children, when we arrived in our new flat. We sent an email, registering my partner, and me. They sent us a bill, addressed to 'Mr and Mrs'. We politely wrote back and explained that it wasn't Mr and Mrs, but Mr and Miss. And that they needed to change that asap, so we could submit my student status form (because of course, that's in my real name, 'Miss XXX', not my 'married' name 'Mrs YYY') so my partner could claim his single person's discount, before we paid any bill.
So, what did we get yesterday? A Final Notice... you've guessed it - addressed to Mr and Mrs. Tried to call the council and explain. The advice? "Well, since it takes TWO WEEKS (??????? How??????Why?????) to process the student form and issue a new bill with the correct amount (i.e. 25% less than the bill which we have as a final demand), we suggest you pay the full amount and we can send a form for you to claim back a rebate."
It was THEIR mistake in the first place, so we're supposed to pay too much and then have all the faff of claiming it back??? Please please please send these nincompoops to Room 101 for me.

2. University Finance Office - the people who (in theory) pay me for my teaching work. Ha.
Not only do they have ridiculously early deadlines each month - you must submit a claim form (I'm not on Payroll, that would be too easy and convenient) by the eighth of the month so that you can get paid on the last day. Why? What do they do in the interim? Throw together an impromptu carnival, complete with feather headdresses, and conga around the University office buildings, singing "Is this the Way to Amarillo?" ?? Why must I give them three weeks to be able to make a payment they've made nearly thirty times previously? They must have got the hang of it by now?

Then, yesterday, having had a crappy day, I get an email. From THEM. Saying they now have to see your passport each time they process a claim. I live 300 miles from the University and only travel there when I have to. I phoned them straight away (not in a particularly happy frame of mind...) and asked if they wished me to wear a particular costume when I bring them the passport? Superman? WonderWoman? Or would they perhaps like me to learn a special dance? Maybe I should paint my face bright blue and perform a brief mime as well? They don't seem to think we jump through enough hoops to get our hands on the tiny amount of cash we get paid, so I thought I'd try and anticipate the next few hoops for them.
Apparently it's "goverment rules". Why these government rules haven't applied in the first six payments I've had this (academic) year, I can't say. Neither could the cretinous half-wit I spoke to. In fact, I think it's fair to say, she wasn't really sure what day of the week it was, nor why her carer made her put on clean pants that morning. And this moronic excuse for a human being gets to be in charge of whether I get paid or not. She gets access to my bank account. Kill me now. Please put this laughably incompetent institution in Room 101 before I claw out my eyes with a toothpick.

3. Talking of teaching... there's a few students I could chuck down the chute, just as garnish... How many times must you tell a student something before they actually do it? Is there an algorithm, that it's inversely proportional to the amount of beer drunk the night before, or linked somehow to the falling standards in Universities, brought about entirely and absolutely by this half-witted government's policies, meaning that everyone gets in, and if you dare to mark a student down for writing a poor essay, you get done for discriminating against the less intelligent (and of course, the whole point of Higher Education isn't to show who has academic skills and a higher level of intelligence, is it now?)

Okay, that rant went a little off course, but I would like to leave you with a brilliant quote from an Op Ed piece by Libby Purves in last week's Times:
"Ed Balls prefers beautician diplomas to Beowulf discussions, he calls for universities to 'skill' students rather than educate them."


Room 101 isn't big enough. Universe 101 is more like it....

Summary: Join me! Fight them in the trenches!