University Office Staff- what was their problem???

Rosie75

The days when academics were amiable eccentrics who couldn't tie their own shoelaces are long gone. There are still some like that, but they are all heading towards retirement. In most fields jobs are now very competitive - you used to be able to walk into a job just having finished a PhD, with virtually no competition 30 years ago. Today you're lucky if you get a job before your 30s, and often are competing with 300 people for a single post. Universities want to make sure that they appoint people who can administrate since dealing with government regulation and grant applications are such a major part of the job now. I work in a department that has some formidably efficient administrators, but these are all academics below 40, whilst older colleagues can't be trusted to do anything (I actually think they pretend to be incompetent so that they don't get asked to do anything). Apart from two older colleagues in my dept, I can't relate to anything teabelly describes. In fact, unless you are head of department, you can't rely on any kind of administrative / secretarial / technical support and have to do all this yourself as well as teaching and researching.
I have to agree that I have seen office staff (usually departmental secretaries) treat students appallingly. I worked at one university where the academic staff were too scared of the dept secretary to go into the general office. We all used to go in at 7am to do our photocopying because we knew she wouldn't be there!

duchy

Wicked_witch wrote: »

Students paying fees has caused a huge shift in Uni culture imo, with students now feeling (rightly or wrongly- I can't decide) that they are buying a service and so having sometimes unrealistic expectations of staff, especially office staff.

My expectations weren't that high. I expected decent tutors and a support system that worked and was civil. Whether I'm "paying" for these services via taxes or fees it doesn't seem unreasonable.
I agree some students are difficult and think the world revolves entirely for their existance -but usually these are the traditional entry age students and a minority of these.

bestpud

The system seems similar to the one at my uni!

There are at least a dozen of them sharing the office behind the desk and they take it in turns to 'man' the reception desk.

The daft thing is the one that comes to the desk is rarely the person you need, so they trot over to the person's desk and repeat your question to them. Then they come back and repeat the answer they were given, and if you have another query, off they trot again! This can happen several times if it is a complicated query!

If that were me, it would drive me so bloody potty, I'd either get up and see to the query, or when asked, I'd answer from my desk if it were one of the closer ones to the reception desk.

They can't get on with work anyway so end up keeping two of them from doing anything at their desk! What is the point in that?

I'm afraid there is no need for bad manners and keeing people stood at the front desk at all. If she was busy, she should have said so!

It makes not a jot of difference whether students pay fees or not; we are human beings and they are paid to offer a service FGS.

I get so annoyed by people who think certain sectors are immune from manners, as though the people they support are not worthy of it somehow!! :mad:

I very much doubt a cashier in Tesco would be forgiven for acting like this, irregardless of whether a customer had just died :rolleyes: or they thought the customer could have bought the item online! :rolleyes:

OP: you do need to speak up if it happens again but I understand why you are annoyed with the 'service' you received; it was unnaceptable, end of!

I had a similar type of experience with one of the support staff at my uni and emailed her later about it. I had an appt but she spent most of it talking on the phone - one or two uni calls, and several personal calls (she actually hung up on a mobile call and rang the person back using the office phone)!! At one stage she was discussing the name a new baby had been given as I was trying to sort out my academic pathway! :mad::mad::mad:

I couldn't say at the time as she was on the phone as I left. She indicated to me to retrieve my print out from the printer and mouthed goodbye while discussing the best coffee shop to meet the other person in!!

I have had appts with the two others in the department and have only ever had one answer a very brief internal call and she apologised for doing so. I see no need for it when they set aside two hour slots for appts - they can make their calls during the rest of the working day. What is wrong with an answer phone, or email?

The idiot above is the exception at my uni though, thank goodness. I never deal with her now as I've found one of the others to be a gem tbh. She knows what she is talking about and, if not, she finds out who can, and there is no faffing about at all with her.

Wicked_witch

Kunekune you sound like my (exellent) Youth Studies tutor. She is great at balancing teaching with a large number of research and publishing projects and we are all in awe :-)

lol, we do still have a few very vague academic staff in the schools where I am studying but I don't see that as being a problem- firstly because I know teaching isn't their only job and secondly because one of the important parts of uni is learning to take responsibility for your own learning and general organization. If I want an appointment, advice etc I will chase the person up as neccessary. I have huge respect for anyone who values learning for its own sake :-)

There is a difference between being pre-occupied and being dismissive of student's need's though, as exemplified by my husband's current dilemma (shared by the rest of his class) of a tutor who doesn't show up for lectures, doesn't trouble to bring the right equipment for important coursework experiments and changes the dates for tests arbitrarily- all without ever contacting anyone to let them know. That's a whole different thread though and thankfully hasn't ever been my experience!

teabelly

It was generally the older ones that were the worst. The younger ones that had grown up with the culture shift were much better. They were much harder working and with it. The older ones tended to get titles then suddenly stop doing much. As the elders were replaced then things improved.

I don't see teaching only as being a problem as some people just want to teach and are very good at. Some are great at research but not as good at teaching so I think there should be more of a mix of trad academics (with technical skills ) with those that are research or teaching only rather than forcing everyone into being both.

Atermis

demand compensation.

MrC_Beds

kunekune wrote: »

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.quote]

You say you work most weekends and also don't assert your contractual right to 7 weeks leave because your contractual obligations get in the way?! There's something wrong with your contract then!

Horace

Rudeness in endemic amongst clerical staff in Universities - I worked for a University for 12 years and always tried to be polite to students, sometimes it was mighty difficult so I would just grit my teeth and get on with it.

It may be that within your University that the clerical staff are in dispute with management (it happens all the time because their pay bears no relation to what similar staff earn in the 'real' world). It could be that the staff were working to rule and had collectively decided that if they noticed that the reception was unmanned and it was not in their job description to go and assist then they just wouldn't. I don't think it will be of any great surprise to know that clerical staff actually loathe students - the campus is a far better place during vacations when the students aren't around:rolleyes:

Nothing excuses bad behaviour though so OP, you need to loudly clear your throat and say excuse me...can anybody help? or words to that effect. It is also not unusual for a department manager to be located in a different building its the same as your lectures they don't take place in the same building as your department, they can be spread all over campus. Staff go where they can be shoehorned in. If you need to make a complaint about being ignored, then get the office manager's name and his/her email address (this can be found in the university telephone directory or is available from the university switchboard) and drop him/her a line.

I hope that things improve for you in the future and don't ever be afraid to speak up and stick up for yourself.

Rosie75

MrC_Beds wrote: »

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.quote]

You say you work most weekends and also don't assert your contractual right to 7 weeks leave because your contractual obligations get in the way?! There's something wrong with your contract then!

This is the norm with academic posts. I don't know anyone who even takes half their leave. My contract states that I am required to work as many hours as are needed to get the job done. Admittedly this is a rather subjective requirement since we do not literally have someone standing over us making sure we do the job. However the requirement to teach, adminstrate, research and publish (all audited or assessed by various means) means that working hours are long. We are not subject to the European Working Time Directive, ostensibly because we have flexible working, but in reality most academics work well in excess of 48-hour weeks on average.

starsinmycrown

I'm really impressed that you complained- i think that was really big of you! A teaching assistant was outrageously rude to me once on my undergrad course- so much so that i was staggered, but i daren't complain.

We had to go and collect some videos and return them within 24 hours to the office and were told to drop in and see if there were any there and sign them out. I lived 15 miles away from the uni, so i sent a tutor an email just saying "are there any in now? if so, i'll drop by in the next hour, because I live 15 miles away and it'd be just my luck to go all that way and make a wasted journey!"

She replied with "If you are trying to imply that you want me to reserve one for you ( it wasn't what i was asking and didn't think that would be possible!) then why not just ask outright? I don't like your sarcastic tone and would thank you not to be so rude again."

:S !!!!

I was really upset and I was the one who ended up apologising, despite showing my sent email to friends and asking them if they felt there was anything remotely rude or sarcastic about it, to which they replied no. I just wish i'd had the balls to complain about it but she was my tutor and i didn't want the trouble. worst thing was i was a mature student too! good on you for complaining!