Such is the reason the Sept. 11 attacks happened since law enforcement and government agencies failed to work together sharing whatever information they had about the 9/11 hijackers.
If people don’t communicate with each other, everything else is going to fall apart as well.
Let’s take for example the Spanish class I enrolled in this semester.
Everyone on the first day of class assumed they bought the right set of books for the semester. The textbook was the fifth edition that included the workbook and cassettes. Every student who walked into both the campus bookstore and the one off-site was given this set of textbooks to purchase.
Or so that’s what I and the other students thought. Instead, the instructor told us that first day we need the fourth edition of the Spanish textbook, workbook and the cassettes.
“But that’s what the bookstore downstairs gave us,” said one student who also purchased the fifth edition.
“No,” the instructor said. “You need to tell them your instructor wants you to have the fourth edition.”
It did not take me long to figure someone failed to make sure the course had the required class materials, but it would take even longer to figure out who is to blame. This was like dealing with a bunch of little kids pointing fingers at one another saying the other is responsible for the screw-up. When I asked someone at the campus bookstore if they were going to get the fourth edition in stock, the employee curtly and rudely told me, “No. Teacher ordered the wrong book.”Considering the irritable mood I was in that day, I regret I didn’t respond back in kind saying, “Ok, but you don’t have to be an asshole about it.” Then to add to my aggravation, I had to stand in a mile long checkout line for 30 minutes with only the fourth edition of the workbook and cassettes in hand but no textbook.
Standing in that line with people who wait until the last minute to buy their books (I have never understood this. I compare it to waiting until the night of April 14th to file taxes), I felt like I was spending time together with a pack of nerds waiting in line to buy advance tickets for the next Star Wars movie.
At least the employees at the off-campus bookstore were more understanding. An employee there told me their manager was going look into getting some of the fourth edition books from another campus bookstore that day, but they didn’t know how soon they would arrive and what time.
At least I knew someone was trying to fulfill a customer’s needs. You’ll notice I said “customer” and not just student’s needs.
This may come as a shock to the administration here but besides us being students, we’re also customers of this institution. And as customers, if we’re not satisfied with the service, in this case being the classes, the instructors or the way things are managed, we have the option to take our business elsewhere.That’s apparently what one student will do who I ran into the morning of Jan. 17 as I was coming from another class.
She asked me if I was enrolled in the same Spanish course that required the fourth edition.
I said yes and that I haven’t been able to find a fourth edition yet. She said the same thing and added that she is going to drop the class, keep the new books and take the course next semester at another community college.
“A number of students are dropping because they can’t get a hold of the required books,” she told me. “I guess a bunch of us will be in the same class at Richland.”
Sounds logical to me.
As of this writing, both bookstores still have not received the copies of the 4th edition. If you log onto the bookstore’s website to see if the fourth edition is available, you will find they only have the fifth edition. You can, however, order the fourth edition through Amazon.com but it will take a week to receive it.
Perhaps both bookstores will get some by the time this article goes to press Jan. 30th. If they do, what good will it do me or anyone else needing a book between now and then to study for upcoming tests?
I got too many other things on my plate this semester as it is so I’m dropping the class. Like a good customer, I’ll just take my business elsewhere, in this case beginning this September going to a four-year university and taking the classes there.
Granted, I’m not going to enjoy making an hour long drive back and forth five days a week (then again, I don’t like taking these required classes five days a week at the community college either). And to add to that, I’ll be paying higher tuition but at least I won’t have to put up with being caught in the middle of an ongoing battle between a few bookstores who say the teacher ordered the wrong books and an instructor who says just the opposite.
©1/30/02
