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adventures in academic bureaucracy
Dec. 18th, 2024 06:15 pmMaybe you knew and maybe you didn't, but I'm an alumna of the University of Washington. The UW Alumni Association has been happy to take my cash for a couple of years. Yes, there are perks like museum ticket discounts, but today I finally got attempting to (Foreshadowing!) get my hands on something really nifty: an account on their library catalog.
So I type in my name & UWAA number. Problem the first: they want my student number. Gosh, I lost it sometime in the thirty-odd years since I last used it. I've changed sex since then. And name. So I call up, prove that I am who I say I am — a Zoom call was involved — to the poor young man fielding the call. He gives me my student number. Great!
But that doesn't suffice. The UW's computers, as a collective, believe that I am two different people. If only. Hours pass, and I don't get the promised email.
So I call again. I get what was apparently a different young man on the phone, and he suggests calling the number for the UWAA. I do, and I have to leave voice mail. Their outgoing message does not inspire confidence. They did not return my call yet. This time of year was probably a poor choice on my part, now that I think about it.
I'm a woman in later middle age, only with a deep voice and above-average height. Don't make me go full Karen on you, young men.
So I type in my name & UWAA number. Problem the first: they want my student number. Gosh, I lost it sometime in the thirty-odd years since I last used it. I've changed sex since then. And name. So I call up, prove that I am who I say I am — a Zoom call was involved — to the poor young man fielding the call. He gives me my student number. Great!
But that doesn't suffice. The UW's computers, as a collective, believe that I am two different people. If only. Hours pass, and I don't get the promised email.
So I call again. I get what was apparently a different young man on the phone, and he suggests calling the number for the UWAA. I do, and I have to leave voice mail. Their outgoing message does not inspire confidence. They did not return my call yet. This time of year was probably a poor choice on my part, now that I think about it.
I'm a woman in later middle age, only with a deep voice and above-average height. Don't make me go full Karen on you, young men.
