Next fall I am participating in a transfer program at the University of Edinburgh, but it is not one affiliated with Dartmouth. The other day, I got a phone call from my program informing me I was missing a needed form and asking to send it in as soon as possible. I apologized and told them I would send it that day. They replied that it was no problem and then asked if I had any questions they could help me with. In addition, this was not the first deadline I had missed but the third. Each time, I simply got a phone call, or a letter informing me about what I was missing and politely asking me to send it in. There was no screaming, yelling, crying, fining or ruining of my life. I was amazed. After two years at Dartmouth, I had forgotten that administrative people could be nice. At first, I rationalized their behavior by the fact I was paying them $9,000 for my term at Edinburgh, but then I remembered that I'm paying well over $100,000 for my years at Dartmouth.
As I thought more about it, I realized there is an interesting pattern to the rudeness we as Dartmouth students face almost every day. It seems to be directly proportional to the amount of time that particular office has to spend dealing with student questions and concerns. For instance, over interim I was working with the reunion office and was told to pick up a check from the non-student payroll office. When I couldn't find the check the woman working there actually stood up and helped me look for it. Then she went and checked her computer records twice and to top it all off, she asked for the office number where I was working, saying she'd call as soon as she found it. I was shocked by her courtesy since impatience and rudeness is typically the norm. Below is my list of the top five meanest institutions on campus.
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DDS -- perfectly nice until you ask for something outrageously demanding like more lettuce in the salad bar or for the rice instead of the roll that comes with your dinner.
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ORL -- this office will fine $100 for double sided tape left on the wall but swears they have absolutely no money to replace my 30 year old carpet with the worrisome "brown" spots, my 30 year old bed with the springs sagging to the floor or my 30 year old desk with a diagram of the male genitalia carved into top.
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Safety and Security -- Motto, "If you do it, we will come."
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The Registrar's office -- if you have ever tried to enter through the exit, show up one minute after four or, god forbid, ask a question, then I'm sure you've learned your lesson. Behavior like that is simply not tolerated in this office.
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Parking Operations -- universally despised. Chances are simply mentioning their name is going to cost me a hundred bucks
