Babbling
Awoke at 4 to a random sound that my brain processed as something hitting the house. It was probably just someone closing a door in the house somewhere -- it's a big house. I also had the beginnings of a migraine, so it could've been exploding head syndrome, which I do get sometimes, and which is one of the coolest-named benign pschophysiological things ever (if you know of others, tell me -- cool names for shit are my lifeblood).
Anyway. Four in the morning.
Because of the impending migraine, I took aspirin and caffeine, and if I go back to sleep, I will doom myself to a full-blown migraine, so instead I have turned down the brightness on my monitor and settled in with DW/LJ and my "Right-hand Man" earworm to do a nice long update, which I haven't done in some time, and which will be under a series of cuts.
Work is such an odd duck lately. I am working harder than I have since The Best Boss Ever left The Best Job Ever a couple years ago. In this job, which is not Best but not bad--the pay is shitty but I like the work and the students and most of my co-workers--I had a boss who (until she retired in December) was always good to me, but whose management style with others was the source of some stress for me (that's all I'll say on the internet). She left as part of a mass golden-handshake exodus, which also claimed a co-worker in my area, whom I'll call La Diva (she doesn't mind being called that) and who was the primary person who did residency determinations. I'll talk more about residency in a bit, but basically, it's a time-consuming job with high stakes, so it can be stressful. The rest of the people at my level and I split up La Diva's workload, which was considerable, but I (a) sit next to where she sat; and (b) monitor the department inbox, so I am doing a large percentage of the residency stuff. I am also doing some of the ex-boss's tasks, which I signed on for when she was preparing to leave, and one task that another co-worker passed on to me when we re-divvied things, because it made sense in context.
So I'm doing roughly twice the work I was doing before. I don't actually mind. It means there are no lulls--I work hard every day to keep from falling behind, but I like being busy, and I like working hard, and ohmigosh I cannot overstate how much the interpersonal stuff has improved since the shift, so I am actually under less stress than I was before the mass retirements happened.
Residency is fascinating. Basically, if you are considered a California resident by the California Community College system, you pay one rate for your classes, and if you're not, you pay a much higher rate (currently, it's $46 vs. $239 per unit, or roughly $550 vs. $2800 per semester). Our school is in a low-income area with lots and lots of people who aren't from here (either not from California--it's a military town--or not from the U.S., as we're a few freeway exits from the Mexican border). So as you can imagine, being classified as a California resident can mean the difference between being able to scrape together tuition and No Freaking Way.
This is very stressful for our students. And seeing as how I (1) believe in free public education, (2) have a lot invested in wanting to help people, and (3) have empathy for people who are frustrated by bureaucracies, the stress can rub off on me sometimes.
One problem is that if the system thinks you may not be a resident, you have to prove you are, and that you have been for a year and a day, and that proof can sometimes be stuff it's hard to get your hands on if you're a recent immigrant, or a young person, or anyone who doesn't prioritize having lots of documentation of transactions lying around. Another is that it's not general knowledge that it takes a year to establish residency, so some people are not prepared for the news that their tuition will be a lot higher than they expected, and even if they're going to get federal aid, that generally won't arrive before they have to pay their tuition, so they're stuck having to either pay this large amount of money and get reimbursed if federal aid comes in later, or drop their classes.
But again, the interpersonal stuff that shifted when things changed in December means that despite all this, I'm really happy to be doing this work, because the remaining co-workers work together really well to get the residency stuff done in a helpful and cooperative way, and the students really appreciate being treated in a helpful and respectful way, which was... sometimes an issue before. I hate and despise having to say no to the occasional student who can't prove residency, but I know it's clear to them that I'm working really hard to try to find them a legal way to get in under the residency rules, and it's plain to see that they appreciate the effort. That's worth the stress of the job, and it's one of those "I'm doing some good here" factors that keeps me from looking for work elsewhere.
Starting to get the migraine nausea, so I'm having trouble concentrating. I think I'll cut this short for now and pick it up later. Have a good weekend, my lovelies!
This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth (DW). I welcome comments here or at the original post, where there are currently
comments. If you don't have a DW account, you can post using your LJ name as an OpenID account, or feel free to comment anonymously and I'll unscreen.
Anyway. Four in the morning.
Because of the impending migraine, I took aspirin and caffeine, and if I go back to sleep, I will doom myself to a full-blown migraine, so instead I have turned down the brightness on my monitor and settled in with DW/LJ and my "Right-hand Man" earworm to do a nice long update, which I haven't done in some time, and which will be under a series of cuts.
Work is such an odd duck lately. I am working harder than I have since The Best Boss Ever left The Best Job Ever a couple years ago. In this job, which is not Best but not bad--the pay is shitty but I like the work and the students and most of my co-workers--I had a boss who (until she retired in December) was always good to me, but whose management style with others was the source of some stress for me (that's all I'll say on the internet). She left as part of a mass golden-handshake exodus, which also claimed a co-worker in my area, whom I'll call La Diva (she doesn't mind being called that) and who was the primary person who did residency determinations. I'll talk more about residency in a bit, but basically, it's a time-consuming job with high stakes, so it can be stressful. The rest of the people at my level and I split up La Diva's workload, which was considerable, but I (a) sit next to where she sat; and (b) monitor the department inbox, so I am doing a large percentage of the residency stuff. I am also doing some of the ex-boss's tasks, which I signed on for when she was preparing to leave, and one task that another co-worker passed on to me when we re-divvied things, because it made sense in context.
So I'm doing roughly twice the work I was doing before. I don't actually mind. It means there are no lulls--I work hard every day to keep from falling behind, but I like being busy, and I like working hard, and ohmigosh I cannot overstate how much the interpersonal stuff has improved since the shift, so I am actually under less stress than I was before the mass retirements happened.
Residency is fascinating. Basically, if you are considered a California resident by the California Community College system, you pay one rate for your classes, and if you're not, you pay a much higher rate (currently, it's $46 vs. $239 per unit, or roughly $550 vs. $2800 per semester). Our school is in a low-income area with lots and lots of people who aren't from here (either not from California--it's a military town--or not from the U.S., as we're a few freeway exits from the Mexican border). So as you can imagine, being classified as a California resident can mean the difference between being able to scrape together tuition and No Freaking Way.
This is very stressful for our students. And seeing as how I (1) believe in free public education, (2) have a lot invested in wanting to help people, and (3) have empathy for people who are frustrated by bureaucracies, the stress can rub off on me sometimes.
One problem is that if the system thinks you may not be a resident, you have to prove you are, and that you have been for a year and a day, and that proof can sometimes be stuff it's hard to get your hands on if you're a recent immigrant, or a young person, or anyone who doesn't prioritize having lots of documentation of transactions lying around. Another is that it's not general knowledge that it takes a year to establish residency, so some people are not prepared for the news that their tuition will be a lot higher than they expected, and even if they're going to get federal aid, that generally won't arrive before they have to pay their tuition, so they're stuck having to either pay this large amount of money and get reimbursed if federal aid comes in later, or drop their classes.
But again, the interpersonal stuff that shifted when things changed in December means that despite all this, I'm really happy to be doing this work, because the remaining co-workers work together really well to get the residency stuff done in a helpful and cooperative way, and the students really appreciate being treated in a helpful and respectful way, which was... sometimes an issue before. I hate and despise having to say no to the occasional student who can't prove residency, but I know it's clear to them that I'm working really hard to try to find them a legal way to get in under the residency rules, and it's plain to see that they appreciate the effort. That's worth the stress of the job, and it's one of those "I'm doing some good here" factors that keeps me from looking for work elsewhere.
Starting to get the migraine nausea, so I'm having trouble concentrating. I think I'll cut this short for now and pick it up later. Have a good weekend, my lovelies!
This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth (DW). I welcome comments here or at the original post, where there are currently
comments. If you don't have a DW account, you can post using your LJ name as an OpenID account, or feel free to comment anonymously and I'll unscreen.