University Office Staff- what was their problem???

top_drawer_2

teabelly wrote: »

Having worked in a uni environment admin staff invariably have a vindictive streak

yes this strikes me as quite vindictive thing to say .... making it the OP's problem when no doubt this is something which shows itself in other ways too in that office but she's the only one who has had the guts to do something about it.

Maybe (hopefully!) they will recognise the problem and deal with it in a positive way. There are many jobs which involve working with challanges (nurses for one!) and I cant say that makes the behavior anymore excusable.

Jen

beaujolais-nouveau

Wicked_witch wrote: »

Mine begins with a G and ends with a H... It's more SE london tho I think.

If I guess right, I worked there in the administration for two years. In that place, there is, in my view, a institutionalised ignorance of and carelessness about what "service" and "professionalism" is.

piggeh

I initially thought the OP was at my old Uni - same layout, same ignorance and rude behaviour - 50 miles difference however!

Must be a University 'thing' - I also got annoyed and didn't really want to raise my voice as it would no doubt get someone's back up.

somabc

They have no excuses, they should have told you that they were sorry they could not help you straight away and if you would mind waiting (and hopefully given you a rough idea of how long that would take).

However, you need to show more self confidence and should simply of asked them to help you. Next time just say 'excuse me' and you won't have to wait so long. I would say its extremely unlikely they would deliberately make you wait.

Wicked_witch

Thanks for the replies everyone!

I was annoyed with myself, yes, but I can promise that I was infinitely more annoyed with them.

Interestingly, I went in there yesterday to hand in another essay (crikey, only 3 more to go til graduation!) and they couldn't do enough to help. I asked to speak to the office manager and someone even offered to go over to the building she is based in! I told them not to worry as I had a rotten headache (and also knew they were very busy- i do have a heart!).

One thing that struck me though- this manager not only doesn't work in the office she manages, she isn't even based in the same vast building as it. Perhaps this is normal for uni's and other large bodies, but it must make it all the more difficult for problems within the office to be sorted out before they escalate into the dreaded politics...

Anyway, I won't be going in there again, as my degree is based in two schools and all the work connected with this one is done. So not too worried about any vindictiveness, teabelly!

kunekune

"it is essential to remain sane while working with academic staff who are generally unable to do the simplest task unaided!"

I typed a long and angry response to that very common and insulting generalisation but decided there was no point. I bet you also think we have summers off and don't do anything during non-teaching periods.

JoJoB

My husband used to have a lot of problems with admin staff at his uni - just general rudeness and on one occasion very insulting! He realised this was because they thought he was a student. When they realised he was academic staff suddenly their attitude changed. He kicked up a right fuss when he realised that this was how students were being treated - the admin staff seemed to regard them as a nuisance, rather than the people who ultimately pay their wages!

angelamc_2

I dont think this type of experience is limited to uni staff receptions. I regularly undergo this type of rudeness every time I miss a recorded letter being delivered to my home. I have to go to the local sorting office to collect it and I know I will stand for at least 1/2 an hour before anyone acknowledges my presence. I will be stood infront of at least 8 people, who will ignore the fact they can see me standing there holding my red card. They ignore me when I enter the room and press the bell. On one occasion I did call out, but was abruptly told I would have to wait.

My answer to this infuriating situation was to phone the office and ask for the letters to be redelivered, but lo and behold nobody ever answers the phone!

teabelly

kunekune wrote: »

"it is essential to remain sane while working with academic staff who are generally unable to do the simplest task unaided!"

I typed a long and angry response to that very common and insulting generalisation but decided there was no point. I bet you also think we have summers off and don't do anything during non-teaching periods.

I worked in a university for many years closely with academic staff. I know what they are like. Most of them can't even cope with a projector. Telling them to press the on button and wait was beyond many of them. Some are hard working and genuinely great people. Some are masters in their fields but when it comes to simple jobs like getting exam questions in on time and doing admin they're hopeless. Same situation with a good friend of mine who also works in a uni and is an academic himself. It is the nature of the job that you have your head in the sky filled with all sorts of theoretical notions so being down on earth doing admin is not what they're best at. It was better before when admin staff did admin and academic staff did their own work and had admin staff to do the grunt work of letter writing and keeping tabs on students.

Those on old poly contracts do actually have the same holidays as the students pretty much. Not many of them around still.

kunekune

I AM an academic. I can operate the equipment. I type all my own course materials. I write letters. I make my own bookings for travel. I meet deadlines, provided they are sensible (it is not reasonable to expect someone who isn't paid overtime to work 80 hours a week to meet a marking deadline). When not talking about my own subject, I am a very down to earth person as are the people I work with. It would be nice to have admin support, but it isn't there. Come on, that's a really out of date generalisation.

So far as your old poly contracts are concerned, I don't WANT that kind of job. I'm a researcher, not just a teacher. At the risk of offending anyone who has a teaching-only job, or would like a teaching-only job, that isn't my idea of what being an academic is about. One of the reasons I rarely have weekends off and only took 3 of my 7 weeks leave last year was because otherwise I couldn't meet my contractual obligation to research, write and publish.

Having said that, and thinking back to OP's experience, I do think that some admin staff treat students quite badly. It's good you complained.