Look on the bright side: at least he didn’t spell it out that many times using a smiley mosaic.
Sometimes, though, you need the university staff to sign the form, and some dickhead advisors won’t do that unless you’ve gotten their advice.
Same thing happened to me when I tried to register this summer. My advisor refused to believe that I had some my requisite classes covered (they’re called AP credits, dear, and I have 44 of them), and then refused to put me in creative writing on the basis that “a freshman in college couldn’t handle that class.” Nevermind that she hadn’t seen my work. Nevermind that, technically, according to my AP credits, I’m not a freshman.
And they wonder why we students bitch so much.
Good luck!
Best goddamned stereogram I’ve seen in days, though I doubt Kitten Natividad ever actually did that on-camera. The ASPCA and the FAA would both have sued her ass off.
The Zapruder footage was a nice touch, though.
I get your general drift, but I am dying to know what the Danny Thomas/glass coffee table/corprophage(sic) tie-in is…are you telling me that Danny Thomas was into what is euphemistically referred to as a “plate job?”
Well put!
Heh… in this case, I would say kissing up to an advisor who’s willing to ingore the fact that they aren’t your ‘assigned advisor’, and get them to toss the PIN your way. Something along the lines of: I’m taking W, X, Y, Z since I know I need W, Y for GenEd, and X, Z as prereq’s for Q and F, if you could give me my PIN so that I won’t have to waste your and my time on going over stuff the two of us already know. (If the people there are like the people here, if you can promise that you won’t darken their doorstep and take time away from their research/life/etc., they’ll be very happy and willing to accomodate reasonable requests like this.)
(Too bad you can’t do what I can here, and bribe the department secretaries with chocolate to clear the registration flag.) 
<< If debugging is the art of removing bugs, programming is the art of putting them in. >>
The title of this thread alone should win ‘most cryptically intriguing’ for 2001
2.0, but only ‘cause it made me look. Cut n’ pasting is never original nor advisable.
Esprix
Don’t hold back, tell us how you really feel. 
And please, do not do this again. Anybody.
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
Gad! Just the suggestion will have ChiefScott in here with a flamethrower and a needle gun!
Still, Tuba it was pretty funny - Once.
[sub]I’m laughing so hard, my cats are looking at me funny.[/sub]
But how do you really feel?
No, seriously. Take it from someone who has spent the last nine years of her life in the clutches of a large bureaucratic university system. The #1 lesson I have learned (at least HERE) is that No never means No. You just keep asking until someone gives you the answer you wanted. Seriously.
When they tell you what the “policy” or rule is, you say “That’s a fine rule, but you can see why that shouldn’t apply to me because I wasn’t responsible for not knowing who my advisor was.” Rinse, lather, repeat, with whomever you can try it with.
Rant Review:
Chickenhead seems steadfast and resolute in his/her anger as is reflected in this passage:
As the rant progresses, he back up his position thusly:
Somewhere around line 54, we see this:
a clear indication that he is not to be swayed.
Several instances after that, here:
here:
and once more here:
I interpret as statements of disgust which, while flirting with offensiveness, are direct and too the point.
Finally, I believe the entire rant is tied together nicely by it’s succinct conlusive statement:
I have to give it a thumbs up. It’s the kind of rant this summer has been waiting for. Read it with your kids.
I think I would have really understood much better had you added a few more fuck you’s. :rolleyes:
And I’ve been looking at this thread for two days now and I still don’t get it.
What’s Danny Thomas doing under the coffee table?
Jack Batty, you owe me a keyboard and a replacement can of A&W diet cream soda.
Apparently, the two do not mix.
Jack, you incorrigable bastard. I was already laughing my ass off at the OP when I hit yours.
Not only is this post scathing but it is damn funny, few posters are able to so seamlessly merge the two but Chickenhead made it look easy when he said:
Comic brilliance I tell you.
I agree that his summation of “fuck you.” was highly imaginative and succint. If I worked on a rant all day I wouldn’t have come up with that, really.
This guy is brilliant, I am but a mere shadow of the poster that is Chickenhead.
Hey, Chickenhead - threaten to sue.
I’m not being funny here. These people may, by failing to pass on vital information, have denied you the ability to take the classes you require, thus wasting a year of your academic life. That must be actionable.
We have a case here in the UK of a girl suing her private school, because she failed to get the Latin grade she was expected, and able, to get, as the school had hired a teacher who was not up to the job (so she claims).
Her claim is arguable, yours is more clear cut.
I’m not suggesting that you get a lawyer right now, but drops hints (and if necessary escalate to outright threats) that you see this as being your only way forward if they will not let you register for the classes you require.
I would try Nightsong’s suggestion first, however. People usually get further in situations like this by being nice, but don’t be afraid to make a noise* if they don’t relent.
*not the noise you made in your OP!
I think there’s a Pinky and the Brain joke in there somewhere but my mind is still too sleep addled to find it.
If I might add my own “how to deal with a university” story…
A friend of mine once found that drainage from the shower above his room was leaking down the walls. He called the Residential Life office and asked that they fix it immediately, and they said it would take a week or two. He then asked to be transferred to a different room, and they said that that was impossible, because there simply weren’t any rooms available. He then said, “You have one hour to put me in another room, or I call the Public Health Department. Goodbye.” Fifteen minutes later, a room was available.
I could provide more examples, but you get the idea. My university was constantly stonewalling, constantly making declarations of how such-and-such was impossible or how they were sticking to the principle of the thing and refusing to budge, but they only do this because they know most students will just complain. The minute someone threatened any real action, they folded like a house of cards.
Here’s another story from the same friend. For a while, when he wanted to check more than two bags at an airport, he’d say, “Uh, I have three bags- is that ok?” Invariably, of course, they’d tell him no, it’s simply impossible to check three bags. Then he changed strategy: as he filled out his paperwork, he’d say, without even looking up, “By the way, I’m checking three bags.” Without batting an eye, they’d check three bags. Why? He spoke with a tone of authority, and people reflexively respect that. At the very least, they knew he’d create trouble if they told him he couldn’t check three bags. But if someone asks if they can check three bags? Ha!
I would suggest a strategy something like this: just show up at registration with everything but the PIN, fully expecting that there will be no problem. If they ask you for your PIN, tell them- with a tone of voice that indicates that clearly the lack of a PIN presents no problem- that the university didn’t give you a PIN due to a scheduling error, so they’ll just have to go ahead and process your paperwork without the PIN. If they give you the runaround, tell them no, no, this is registration day, it must be done today, and the PIN will have to wait. You may find that they will scowl at their computer screens, do a lot of typing, and ultimately find a way to let you register.
If you find that registration has passed and you haven’t been able to register for lack of a PIN, talk to a dean and tell him that you will- but of course- be taking classes X, Y, and Z, and that unfortunately the folks at registration were unwilling to let you register because of this whole PIN nonsense. He will then tell you that it’s impossible- simply impossible!- for you to take classes X, Y, and Z, and it’s a good thing your PIN was screwed up, because it will force you to take classes you don’t like and broaden your intellectual horizons. (I can’t tell you how many times my friends and I heard this from deans…) At this point, let him know that clearly the classes can accomodate one extra student, and that your academic career will be planned on the basis of responsible choices, not bureaucratic snafus. Drop hints about how you were hoping that such a trivially simple issue as adding one extra student to a few classes could be solved without legal action.
Remember, when they tell you it’s impossible, they are always lying. When they stonewall, it’s only because they fully expect no resistance from you. If veiled hints of legal action ultimately don’t make them move, it’s only because they think that you, as a student, have no ability to hire a lawyer. At that point, a call from your parents will set them straight.
-Ben
I agree completely.