Twice Nonsense
So I go with my dad this morning on a couple of errands. Among other things, I need new glasses to replace my broken pair and I need (to have dad--thanks guys) pay tuition for the fall semester 2003.
Although I studied in Austria a full year, somewhere between Study Abroad and one of the floors in Buchanan, OU's administrative building, my fall record was lost and I was only enrolled for the spring 04 semester. As far as the computers are concerned, I wasn't associated with the university at all during 2003's last months.
No problem though, and with a few crisp jumps through the appropriate hoops, I was given a form for the bursar which instructed them to retroactively enroll me--a nice phrase which by its ease of use I'm convinced OU throws around. Bursar enters the info on one computer, prints it out, and then goes to another computer with another person to re-enter the itemized bill in a different system. Included in the $1550 tuition is a late fee of twenty some dollars at an interest rate of %1.5. Late fee? I just received the bill, this instant, and it's being paid right now. The bill hasn't even left your hands.
I was unable to get a new pair of glasses. It could happen another day, and it will, but I was too pissed off with the situation to carry it through this afternoon.
Arriving at the store-optometrist power combo that my family has often frequented, I explain my situation (ass broke glasses, need new ones) and ask if they could just use my old prescription with a new pair of frames I was raring to pick out. "How long ago did you have your last exam?" they inquire. "I dunno, one or two years." Two years and four months to be exact, and on account of a dark covenant between the members of the Brotherhood of Optometrists--"state law" is the pretension, a prescription expires two years after it is issued and no soul may thenceforth forge lenses from its measurements. Summoning all my practicality, I explain that I don't need a new prescription. In fact, I don't even want a new prescription. These lenses of the last two years are perfect, my eyes haven't changed, and the fit between the two is harmonious.
Lousy fifty bucks for an exam I do not need. Must I add bribery to my list of illicit activities?
Although I studied in Austria a full year, somewhere between Study Abroad and one of the floors in Buchanan, OU's administrative building, my fall record was lost and I was only enrolled for the spring 04 semester. As far as the computers are concerned, I wasn't associated with the university at all during 2003's last months.
No problem though, and with a few crisp jumps through the appropriate hoops, I was given a form for the bursar which instructed them to retroactively enroll me--a nice phrase which by its ease of use I'm convinced OU throws around. Bursar enters the info on one computer, prints it out, and then goes to another computer with another person to re-enter the itemized bill in a different system. Included in the $1550 tuition is a late fee of twenty some dollars at an interest rate of %1.5. Late fee? I just received the bill, this instant, and it's being paid right now. The bill hasn't even left your hands.
I was unable to get a new pair of glasses. It could happen another day, and it will, but I was too pissed off with the situation to carry it through this afternoon.
Arriving at the store-optometrist power combo that my family has often frequented, I explain my situation (ass broke glasses, need new ones) and ask if they could just use my old prescription with a new pair of frames I was raring to pick out. "How long ago did you have your last exam?" they inquire. "I dunno, one or two years." Two years and four months to be exact, and on account of a dark covenant between the members of the Brotherhood of Optometrists--"state law" is the pretension, a prescription expires two years after it is issued and no soul may thenceforth forge lenses from its measurements. Summoning all my practicality, I explain that I don't need a new prescription. In fact, I don't even want a new prescription. These lenses of the last two years are perfect, my eyes haven't changed, and the fit between the two is harmonious.
Lousy fifty bucks for an exam I do not need. Must I add bribery to my list of illicit activities?