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Phone Rage

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 | 3 Comment(s)

Today at 8:30pm I got a call from a campus number on my cell phone. Worried that it was job related, I answered. "Hello, I'm looking for Mr. Zimbler." "This is he." "Hi Matt, how are you doing tonight?" "fine thanks." "Great, my names James and I'm an undergrad here at UMass, I'm calling from the UMass a*YAWWWN*nnual fund." (Yes. He actually yawned, on the phone, while in the middle of saying the organization he was working for.)
Me: "Wait. You're calling from the Alumni Association"
James: "No, the Annual Fund, we're run by different people (same purpose?)."
Me: "Do you know that I'm still a student here?"
James: "Well, that must mean that you got your Masters on your way to a PhD."
Me: "Bingo."
James: *cough laughs to himself* "Well . . . ah . . . then this is kinda awkward . . . you got any extra money kickin around. . . ?"
Me: BOOMING LAUGHTER
James: "Well . . . I"
Me: "Let me stop you right there James. As a grad student making what I can only say is near the poverty line, I don't really have any extra funds kicking around that I'd like to additionally give to the school."
James: "You'd be amazed how many people are in the position."
Me: "No I wouldn't. Goodbye James."


















Now this is one of those situations much like the one last week, where what I want to say (what I want to unleash) is an unholy tirade about the audacity of a school asking for money from a graduate student while simultaneously arguing to reduce our pay while increasing our fees. Asking for money after raising the price of grad student gym fees from $120 a year to $290. And you are sharing my cell information with campus fund raising organizations? That doesn't make me feel good. That feels like a breech of trust. You can lick my taint Annual fund. Lick. My. Taint.
But that's not James' fault. He's smoking weed and dialing names on a list for his work study money. So I'm not gonna let it out on him. But I swear, I'm one fee increase away from making an office worker cry. I'm not proud of it. But that doesn't make it not true.

3 comments:

  1. They ask me for money, too. As an alumnus, as an employee, and as a faculty member in the department. I give it to the department, because they use it to buy flowers for sick people and to give the secretaries holiday bonuses and shit like that.

    You make taint licking sound like a bad thing!

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  2. Northeastern IS ALWAYS calling me for money, too. I just play dumb and say "That's weird. I haven't graduate yet. I think your records are wrong."

    -Amanda

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  3. Each time i think of this I get more pissed.

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