Items for the Christopher Guest File

One of my friends who is also a colleague at work is keeping a file of sorts, a file of the kind of moments that Christopher Guest would use if he ever decided to set one of his mock-documentary movies on a college campus.  But not an ivy league or a southern land-grant university--no, a much smaller campus, one without a quad.

The day began when I realized that several of us couldn't access Bamboo, which is an HR management site, the way that we request leave under the new ownership of my school.  So I wrote to the HR leadership to let them know.  Thus ensued 6 hours of working on this issue.

We got password resets and tried to use them.  Mine was successful.  I tried to help the other 2 with theirs, which weren't successful.  I sent an e-mail to the HR folks to let them know the difference between the attempts.  Back and forth we went.  In between times, I worked on other issues that come with a campus.  

The ultimate solution?  Changing browsers, of course, from Chrome to Firefox.  Ugh.  In a way I'm happy that the solution was easy--easy after 6 hours of troubleshooting and effort making.  Plus, it makes no sense to me.  Why could I change my password to access the system on Chrome, but not the other 2?

When we finally could call the technology question solved, at least for the day, I looked at my watch, astonished at how much time we spent on this.  Ugh.  Double ugh.

And finally, after I was able to approve the sick leave that my only direct report requested, I got the e-mail from HR that asked me in the future, to approve leave in advance.  But how would one do that, for unscheduled sickness?  I left that e-mail unwritten, unsent.

At the end of the day, I sent this e-mail to the person in charge of facilities and office supply orders:

"In the women’s restroom, the first toilet is still clogged, the second toilet is completely broken, and now the third toilet is not flushing correctly—it swirls, but it never really empties out. I’ve gotten it to empty out by holding the handle down for longer than I should have to, but that’s been working less and less well as the day has progressed.

If possible, could you please schedule a plumber or R____ to come to campus tomorrow? We are a campus of mostly females, and we need as many toilets working as possible."

Another item for the Christopher Guest file!