Little moments of odd pettiness:

I went to office depot today because I needed a new printer cartridge for the old home PC and this is a place where I am known. My former job involved a great deal of general upkeep on printers and such because I was the IT guy and the office supply guy etc. (I was the everything guy). I was always at Office Depot for some such thing or another so most of the ongoing staff knows me.

I’m at the checkout today and the woman behind the counter says, “You’re not doing supplies over there anymore are you?” and I say, “No, I’m not with that company anymore.” She replies, “Well your replacement is an idiot. Two years we worked together and I can’t remember ever having a problem or any uncertainty about what you needed. I was on the phone with her three times the other day and she is in and out of here as though she has no idea what is going on.”

Not a good sign. It’s been six months since I left and if they don’t have it figured out yet… If the office depot staff has opinions about your job efficacy then that is also sometimes not a good sign.

In other news ITT Tech may be offering me a job as an online composition instructor. Bizarre. More on that as it develops.

I might as well keep typing since I feel like sharing. It has been a week of administrative hurdles. The social security administration could not verify that I was a citizen so I had to take the school copies of my birth certificate and other documents to verify what our government would not. I got an email last Friday from the feds telling me what I needed to bring in, but the feds did not email the school until Wednesday so I was both ahead of and behind the game when I showed up with my documents on Monday.

Then I discovered today that I have to apply not once but three times to the program in which I am enrolling. My summer application is processed and I’m enrolled, but I cannot be considered a degree-seeking student who is eligible for financial aid until my application for the fall has been processed.

There was a catch-22 moment where I couldn’t get a student number until I was enrolled and I couldn’t enroll until I had a student number. Jessie in registration just held everything until I got consent overrides from two different departments.

So I got my fall application in today (with an essay that I needed the print cartridge to print) only to discover that I still need to submit five copies (three on yellow paper) of a third application to my certification program (seven pages long) ASAP with T.B. test and FBI background check. Bridget thinks I can’t fill it out until after I take my summer courses and Tom wants it yesterday. Oh, for fucks sake.

Then I had to reinstall the printer since it wasn’t up on the new hard drive and my drivers on the CD didn’t match the new operating system. Then I discovered that the printer was not out of ink, but only needed the heads cleaned, so I wasted the money on the ink and can’t return it as I’ve opened it. I also did four loads of laundry and went grocery shopping. The kids are going a concerting tonight down to The City Museum, but I am exhausted and cashless, so I wish them well but shall not be partaking.