Can I get a high five?

Today I should probably request combat pay. I spent most of my day in a conference to learn about VA payments for students and families, and it exhausted me. My butt was so tired by the end of the conference, I could barely sit in the hard, uncomfortable chair. I did not put my head down and close my eyes, but I thought about it. It was a good conference, but it was long and a portion of it went over my head because it was all acronyms and military speak.

I got back to my desk a little after 3:00 and had a note about a student waiting on a refund. Turns out it wasn't a refund I could force through because it isn't on the student's university account but rather is for a continuing ed course at the technical school. The tech school has to request a refund be paid, channel it to our Finance Office, and then the check will be cut.

I wrote notes to that effect to give it back to the person who gave me the message when I found out this student had called everyone in the office, yelling, threatening, and causing one cashier to alert the campus police. I inquired further and found that she had called half the university with threats and loud complaints. She said she was going to come in and demand payment. Yikes.

I told the cashiers I was going to call her and see what I could do. It is really outside of my duties, but I have to work closely with the people at the technical school to get things done, and had recently got them to create a payment voucher for another student in a similar situation.

I called her and she answered the phone, "What!" which wasn't a good sign although it did indicate to me she has caller ID. I explained who I was and why I was calling and that I had been out of the office all day so I was delayed in responding to her request. (She had left me a voice mail earlier and of course I had the written message and all of the witness reports.)

I told her I understood she was inquiring about a refund for a class over at the technical school and she interrupted me saying she was done with this and she was going to go to the Better Business Bureau and lodge a complaint about us. I assured her I understood her frustration but if she would just give me an opportunity I would check into it and see what I could find out. I told her I would get back to her as soon as I knew anything.

I went to our Finance Office and asked if they had received the refund request. They hadn't. We have had a number of problems with getting things from the accountant at the technical school (who isn't an accountant at all -- don't get me started) so our immediate assumption is that she just hadn't done her job. But just to make sure, I tried to call the "accountant" to see if she had sent it yet. Voicemail. I called the clerk there who prepares the refund requests. Voicemail. I called the director of the program over there who told the student she would get a refund, and he picked up. He's the brother of an old friend, so he knows me and has always been helpful. He indicated the student had called him and he had to hang up on her when she began swearing. He also told me she only dropped the class on Feb 4 and was actually outside of the refund period. She was only being given a refund because she had extenuating circumstances. Truthfully, five days isn't a long time to get a refund processed and cut, especially when two of those days were over the weekend!

Okay, so armed with this extra knowledge, I called her back. "Yeah!" was her cheery hello. I told her what I discovered and I asked for her patience while the refunding process had a chance to work through our system. She advised she was out of patience. I told her I know it is difficult to understand, but there are procedures that must be followed and this is not an instantaneous process. I told her that I had only been made aware of the situation a half an hour earlier, and that if she would allow me to do my job, I would make sure it would get done. I told her I would also keep her advised and let her know when the refund was ready. But she could not call our cashiers and yell at them and she would have to let me do what I need to do. We went on in this vein for a while and eventually she told me I had a one day to solve it. I told her I would contact her again and let her know where we were. She then told me she appreciated that I spoke softly to her and she would let me try.

What the hell? There may be a little psychosis going on there, but I thanked her and told her I'd be in touch.

When I hung up, the cashiers were waiting to hear if she was going to come in and gun them down. I told them it wouldn't be today. Then I had to update the Finance Office, where our Director had also been alerted to the situation. When I told them I had appeased her for the moment, he came out of his office and gave me a high five. That pretty much made it all worthwhile.

And to think I get to do it all again tomorrow!