So, so annoyed

So, remember that joyous post I made about my wonderful experiences with the University placements office? Well they've been annoying me even further recently and I'm trying my very best not to rip into them - I deleted six emails today before sending one back that tried to be nice.


_{[tutor's name edited out as requested]}

The tutor has, under the rules of my placement, to come and pay me a visit before the end of November. Therefore, he thoughtfully planned ahead and emailed me on the 10th of October to let me know what timeslots were good for him. I suggested a date a couple of weeks away, and he said he'd get back to me, after he'd contacted some other guys nearby, who he wanted to visit on the same day. Now, how he does his personal timetabling is none of my regard, and so I simply waited for him to get back to me.

He did indeed get back to me, at 12pm on the day I'd been expecting him, to tell me that as the other two people hadn't bothered to reply to him (or even give a real email address in one case), he wouldn't be coming. Oh, and would I therefore co-ordinate with these two guys who can go 15 days without checking email, because he couldn't be bothered doing his own timetabling.


_{Aston Placements Office}

At this point, I was clearly in a good mood, as instead of ranting at him for his unprofessionalism in both not replying to me, and expecting me to do his work for him, I simply listed the dates that I definitely couldn't make (those I wasn't in the office or was doing all day events), and asked for two weeks notice for any other dates so that I could re-arrange my meetings. Seemed reasonable enough to me.

Instead, the two clever folks over at Oracle sent me a lovely email a few days later. They didn't say they were suggesting a time two weeks away, and asking if that was ok for me, but that they'd booked some time 72 hours away.

Now, once I'd finished with their grammar, I let them know that I'd be in London that day, so...no. The tutor then proceeded to send me a very bitchy email, in which he suggested:

"Perhaps, smooth organization and "prioritization" are part of the skills that you should also consider for your future career."

He also claimed:

"I have almost given you three-days slots for every week for both Oct and Nov to choose from. I need your further coopertaion in this regard."

And then, even more cheekily, he went on to imply that I was some kind of code-monkey whose hand was held daily and had every minute timetabled by his manager:

"I am sure that your supervisors [...] are prepared to free you for an hour or even less during any of the my 2 months slots!"

Now, I'd hardly say that emailing me on the 10th of October, and then not getting back to me about my suggestion of the 23rd until midday on...the 23rd was giving me two months of dates with ample notice. Also, I doubt my manager could even tell you where I am or what I'm doing on an average day - I'm not saying he's not doing a good job or anything, just that I work very independently.


_{Oracle's training department}

I relatively politely replied, letting him know my displeasure, without ranting, saying:

"Dear [name edited out],

It is your responsibility to organise your visits (plural), and my responsibility to organise my visit (singular).

I don't feel it's acceptable to ask us to co-ordinate your time.

In future, I ask that you, and you alone contact me to suggest dates (I have provided you with my free times) and I will do my utmost to ensure they work.

Yours,
Ian."

Right, enough ranting here for now, I think this has done enough to ensure I don't ring him up and scream obscenities down the phone at him for a while. I don't even see why the guy needs to visit me, except for a free lunch. Couldn't we just do all this via a webcam link? I could even give him a full tour of the campus by carrying the cam around, he could talk to the folks in my office...

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Update (11/11/2007): Meant to pop this in here earlier but never got around to it. As the post's recently come to light though, I was going to give you the University's response to my above paragraph (phrased more thoroughly in my email to them):

"I see the logic of video conferencing, but we are always concerned that while some people are quite happy in the video environment, many are uncomfortable and restricted in that environment, and hesitate to talk freely. We (the University) feel that in many cases we gather fuller information with a physical visit - for example the atmosphere of a workplace is only evident on a physical visit.

The visit is also a chance for an academic to see briefly a little of the world of industry, to keep a little more up-to-date by talking to people in industry, so in that sense benefits the University and its students."

Very, very nicely put. He should be a politician :)
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What a pointless waste of resources. I'll let you decide if I mean the tutor, the placements office or the fact that I 'need' a physical visit by that.

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w00t :) Just learned the tutor's leaving the University soon enough. Let's hope we can get someone a bit more professional in to replace him...