back to school

i voluntarily signed myself up for school again.

today i went to the campus for a simple prerequisite override and to talk to the VA representative about the GI Bill.

i signed in with advising at 3:50. since there was a whole slew of people in front of me, i walked over to the admissions office to talk to the VA rep. she had left early. what luck.

i went back to advising to wait for my turn. here are some things i witnessed during my two hour wait:

-people (plural) dancing in their chairs when no music was playing,
-people (plural) playing mp3s on their phones aloud as if everyone wanted to hear "because i got high" by afroman,
-a female security guard who walked like she had balls between her legs,
-an old man security guard with a revolver as old as him in his holster,

James Earl Jones, King of Zamunda

-a woman who resembled a frumpy James Earl Jones saying things to the crowd like "let me know if you are still here", as if her speaking to me wasn't enough to let her know i was there?....
-a toddler who was repeatedly hit over the head with a rolled up ad sheet,
-a kid with a bright red mao t-shirt,
-some guy who was so huge i wasn't even as tall as his 'UMC' shoulder tattoo,
-a neon sign above admissions that said "open from 8:00PM til 4:30PM" (i'm not sure what 'til' means, but whatever),
-and many examples of how crack cocaine is one hell of a drug.

the adviser guy stuttered past my first name, as if it gets any more phonetically concise than 'steffany', and just called my last name. this is what happened once i got up there:

"hi, i'm steffany, i just need a prerequisite override done for the "reading proficiency" requirement."
"ok, do you have your paperwork?"
"yep, here's my college diploma."
"um, no, we need proof of at minimum six college credit hours."
"...yep, here's my college diploma."

--awkward silence--

he told me he needed to see my transcripts. i said it stated on the website to just bring in "proof of previous college work, such as a transcript or degree," and that i didn't understand why a "college degree" didn't prove "reading proficiency."

this is where six years of experience came into play. if there's one thing i DID learn in college, it's that when you have an interaction with a neurotic customer service representative who controls your fate in a given situation, you must:

1. be super friendly and cooperative since you are so lucky to have their help,
2. admit fault since you don't know what you're talking about,
3. apologize multiple times for being such a dumb problem for them, and
4. thank them for being so right and for all their time that they wasted on you.

from there, i was done and gone in five minutes. two hours of wait time for a five minute interaction.

i really took having online classes at a Christian university for granted.