Aaargh! Spanish class.

[kyrielle]

It's good news, sort of. I've signed up for the Spanish class.

But I'm still grouchy about the steps involved in getting there.

I mean, what, about two weeks ago, I called wanting to confirm the instructor wouldn't mind having someone who might have to leave in her class, as I'll have the pager every other week. First, I got the voice mail for someone other than the instructor, so I called an information desk - oh, most of those instructors, they said, can't be called directly. I'll put you through to the manager for the area.

They put me through to someone who promptly told me she was the wrong person. Call her 'J'. I got her phone number, she put me through to 'S' whose number was not given to me. 'S' said she would check with the instructor and get back to me.

A week later, still not having heard from S, I called J back (remember that part about not getting 'S's number?). I had her transfer me to S, and left S a voice mail reminding her of the issue and asking for information.

I got nothing. A week and a half to two weeks after the first call,, I called J back again, this time talking to and dealing with her, and saying if I couldn't get an answer, I'd like a status. She promised to call me back that same day (yesterday).

I got no call. By the time I was sure she wasn't going to call, of course, they would be closed. :) So today I called her back to ask what was up, and she was ever-so-surprised, because she'd told S about it (what happened to "I'll call you back today"???). But she did know S hadn't heard back from the instructor yet as of yesterday, though she'd asked when I called two weeks before.

J. put me on hold, then put me through to C., who is apparently the person who "should" do this but has been on vacation in Mexico for two weeks. She was all, "I only heard about this today" ("how could you be impatient" implication). I don't give a shit. It's a really simple question: Will the professor object to this or not? It's not hard to say "I don't know; the professor isn't returning my calls yet." It's not hard to let me know someone is on vacation, either.

She told me she'd call the professor and get back to me, and to her credit, she called me back within ten minutes, telling me that the professor doesn't mind. And that the professor said she had already been asked that.

Grrrrr. Why do I get the impression the "and tell me the answer" part was forgotten by the flutter-brain I spoke to two weeks ago?

So I went onto the web site, and registered for the class. Which worked, blessedly, without a hitch.

Then I tried to pay it. They said my payment was denied, call my bank. The Visa folks say they never received such a request, let alone denied it (which is good, because I couldn't figure out why they would).

Then I called the payment helpline at the community college. Their answering machine message happily told me their business hours were 8 am to 5 pm Monday thru Friday, but apparently that does not include, like, answernig the damn phone, or setting up a hold queue, or anything.

Wanna bet it's one overworked teenybopper in a tiny cubicle?

I'm doomed. On the other hand, if they want me to pay, they can bleedin' well make it work....