Hi Folks! Welcome back!

What was supposed to be a nice slow summer has somehow turned unseasonably stressful. With exams over and two notices that “I’m sorry to inform you that you did not pass,” I calmly requested my booklets back to look over and prepare once more for Fall retakes. But lo and behold, some professors don’t actually want to show me why I “did not pass,” or even tell me which section I did poorly on.

If that wasn’t enough, there came the Roommate Situation. After an incident where my roommate attempted to trap me in the kitchen to scream at me regarding the cleaning of a spotless bathroom, and then threaten the use of a weapon against me, I called the police to protect myself and requested a room change from University Housing. The woman at the housing office stated that there were no rooms available, but she would try to resolve that situation as urgently as possible.

After being ordered to look at a unit yesterday, where I found a bathroom in clear violation of NY State Laws (as paint was peeling from what was left of the ceiling and the bathtub looked as if it had not been used for years), I started to suspect that something might be wrong. Today, I was told that the Business School Housing Liaison wished to speak to me. So obediently, I went to seek him out. He, however, clearly had no intention of having a conversation as he did not even think it necessary to bring me into his office.

So, in the lounge of the admissions office we sat. And within 2 minutes of meeting me for the very first time, he calmly told me that perhaps I was too high maintenance and unfit for university housing. I was so shocked by his comment that I did not have time to tell him how interesting I found his theory since I had been living in dorms since age 13, in shared rooms with 2 or 3 other people, all without incident. After some other insulting, but not particularly useful comments, he told me that the housing office believed that I was “embellishing” (read: lying) and he wanted nothing further to do with this case and would not help me.

Of course, his theory of “embellishment” was also interesting given the number of other, very important things going on in my life, (like trying to pass exams), one might think that I would rather spend my time studying than going to every office on campus to get a housing switch. And since I had spent a large amount of time, energy and money into decorating and furnishing the current apartment, one might have thought it unprofitable to suddenly make up a crazy story and move everything to start over again. But no matter. I have again contacted the original woman in housing to try to find some alternate, livable conditions. It is now one week after that nice first chat, and I am still forced to live out of my cubicle. As I have a ready supply of internet access in my cube, I shall endeavor to keep my loyal readers updated regarding the situation.

Now finally, an amusing tale. About two weeks ago, I finally sent out a carefully prepared $50 rebate form for my Motorola Razr from T-mobile. Today, I checked online to find that my rebate request had been rejected because “No Receipt enclosed.” Since I had checked multiple times before submission, I know that I had included a copy of the sales receipt. Then, to satisfy my curiosity, I did a Google search to see if other people have had difficulties with T-mobile rebates, and look what I found! Something brilliant and inspiring from Consumerist. Read it, you’ll be happy you did.