Where the money goes
Bookworm on Mar 01 2011 at 1:16 pm | Filed under: Uncategorized
Sorry I haven’t written today, but I’ve spent the morning working on family finances. One of the reasons those finances matter, aside from day-to-day expenses and the hope of a comfortable retirement, is making sure we can fund the kids’ education. Although, honestly, I’m increasingly unsure whether it’s worth it. Colleges that used to teach “great thoughts” now teach pornography. I know that not all have sunk so low, and that there’s still a lot of wheat in a college catalog’s chaff, so my kids can get educated. The problem is that the chaff is as costly as the wheat. Since college is a package price, rather than pay as you go, that chaff adds to the obscene total bill.
I’m also feeling a little down because I got scolded by a client today. That always depresses me, but never more so than when I think I didn’t deserve it. The client explicitly asked me to do research based upon a certain assumption. I did. It turned out her assumption was wrong, and she’s now unhappy with the fact that the resultant research was bass ackward wrong. I erred in accepting her assumption at face value (that’s the problem with being a literalist), but I do feel that the blame is not entirely mine here.
Grumble, grumble, grumble.
Not a great day here, but perhaps it will turn into a great afternoon. Fortunately, I’m having lunch with Don Quixote, and he has promised not to scold me, harangue me, harass me, hector me, or otherwise rain negative energy on my poor, bowed head.
Related posts:
Email This Post To A Friend
12 Responses to “Where the money goes”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Dennis Prager’s advice is to send kids to the cheapest college you can find.
This will often be a smaller college, with the advantage that students will actually meet their teachers, as opposed to their graduate assistants.
To be sure, at Cal State Los Angeles, I not only met, but often socialized with my professors in my major subject.
Hang in there Book. Look upon the donut and not upon the hole. It sucks to get reamed for somwthing like this but I am sure that you have a donut load of good work and happy clients to reflect on. I have missed the winks given in instructions given to me and gone literal resulting in unexpected results. Once the shock wears off I bet you’ll have a chance to make it right.
Have a great lunch but not too much caloric therapy
You did what you could. Even if you had suspected her error and interrogated her to get the correct parameters, she would have been annoyed.
Do you keep all your communications with clients in writing?
I agree with Book that Don Quixote is a sweetheart, but he is not a man you want to cross.
Here in Marin we still remember what he did to the municipal windmill in some fit of temper back in ’93. We eventually repaired it, but there are still gaping lance holes on its north side.
If she wants you to correct her, demand more money.
Y has a point. Ignorance requires education, and as we all know…education is expensive. If she asked you for ABC, and you _gave_ her ABC only to learn in giving her those specifics that she really wanted GHI, then it’s her ignorance at fault, not your efforts. If you dealt in physical products like we do, it’s easy when the customer orders the wrong product. Customer returns item and we replace it with right item. If, however, customer orders the wrong special order item, sollee Chollie…it’s yours!!
In this case, customer has ordered a period of your time. Non-returnable. If customer wants another slice of time, customer should pay for same. The problem is one of whether it’s a probable repeat customer or a one-time customer. Customer should understand that h/she has to pay for a double dose – but that may be where education comes in. If there’s no reason why customer should have known, and there _is_ reason for you to have known…then the whole equation changes.
My mistake was accepting her underlying assumption, which was wrong. That led me in precisely the wrong direction, so I got the wrong answer. She relayed that wrong information to a client, and is now in the humiliating position of having to walk backwards. She lost face in front of her client, and needs someone to blame. That’s me.
I do have things in writing, but I don’t think I get any mileage out of turning this back on her. It’s a customer is always right scenario, especially since she’s already had to grovel to her client. Now it’s my turn to grovel.
Crow is not one of my favorite foods. It’s not even on the list.
>>Crow is not one of my favorite foods. >>
Too bad… Lots of crows to go around…!
So, Book, did I keep my promise?
Don Quixote:
Not only did you not scold, harangue, harass, blame, etc., you were charming and supportive, and I left lunch much happier than when I arrived.
When it’s time to consider sending your babies off to college, check out the ISI guides to the major disciplines:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=isi+guides+to+the+major+disciplines&x=0&y=0
They give a great, brief overview of what a good education in each subject should entail. They support the idea that a student is in charge of making the most of his or her college education, and that time and money spend on classes in porn or grievance studies is time and money wasted. College, like every other school, is merely a resource along the road to education, with self-discipline and well-reasoned choices essential.
I agree with Karl on the point that students are better off attending colleges where they will have close contact with their professors rather than TAs. That generally means small colleges. How ironic that the business model of the small liberal arts college now seems to be questioned in today’s economy.
My son is now a freshman at one of the top ranked liberal arts colleges in the country, often considered the Swarthmore of the Midwest. He had wanted to attend one of the Ivy League colleges, but didn’t get in. My son was one of only two top students at his high school who went to a liberal arts college. All of the rest went to a university because students and parents think that universities will provide better job prospects upon graduation.
My son is thriving at his college. He tried out for and got into the college’s sketch comedy group. He found an excellent professor who teaches great courses in a subject my son absolutely loves. My son is already taking upper level courses with this professor, getting top grades in a school known for grade deflation, and will probably major in that subject.
My son thinks he is getting a great education. I believe he is getting a much better education than he would be receiving at that Ivy League school where he wanted to go. My guess is that my son will end up going to an Ivy League or equivalent graduate school.