The Waiting Room

Seriously!

Yesterday snafu began around 10 AM when the adjunct secretary called me at home to tell me that there are no books listed for my courses. I check my school email and find six messages from frightened students.

OK, see, I KNOW I ordered books. I remember the day I sent the form to the on-line books store.

Now, I am thinking all kinds of things like maybe the school is going to reconsider hiring me because I am a total flake.

With my anxiety level peaking at panic level. I send a fury of emails to the on-line books store and my chair. The rep for the bookstore calls me and confirms that I do not have any books listed. I send her the books complete with ISBN numbers and the link that I used to order them in the first place.

Then the chair's secretary calls me. She said that she had been fielding calls from parents wondering why I have no books. I reiterate the entire story to her. She was very sympathetic saying that a few instructors are having the same problem. Seems the local rep for the on-line books store "lost" some of the orders. Turns out there is a local rep who handles the local stuff and then forwards it to another rep in another city. The second rep was the person I spoke to earlier. (I could go on a rant about how the whole on-line bookstore thing is wrong and students should have to go to a physical bookstore on campus and stand in line for two hours to pay for books like I did, but that's for another post.)

The secretary also takes the information to pass on to anyone who calls. I send the information to the students who emailed me and post an announcement on Blackboard with the book information and a suggestion to check other sections of the course because all the instructors are using the same books.

After a good cry on Husband's shoulder, a nap with the Boy and a vigorous workout, I am feeling a little better. I notice that there is a voicemail message on my cell. The message is from the chair of another department.

OK....

He wants to know if I want to teach a law course in his department. Turns out that the person they hired a couple of months ago just quit today. He has been scrambling to find an attorney to teach the course, but most attorneys have day jobs. He was talking to my chair about his situation and my chair mentioned my background. The course is the same course I taught at the old place. Plus, I would get a HUGE increase in salary.

I jumped all over that one.

So, I guess I am not a total flake.

Strange days indeed.