But...but...the radio saaaaidddd we had no school!

[kaetchen]

I work at a college police department.

So tonight was pretty nasty, weather wise. Lots of rain that turned into ice, high winds, etc etc.

However, we did NOT cancel night classes. Mostly because it didn't get bad until around 7 pm (and classes are usually at 6-9 ish...) Since I work in the police department, we usually are one of the first ones to know about closings and the like. (Plus my boss is one of the people who makes that decision.)

I was getting calls asking about classes being canceled all night, and after awhile it was starting to get old. Then we started getting calls asking if classes were cancelled because they heard on the radio that they were. I corrected them, and they hung up. Not too bad. Then this one girl calls me, and then proceeds to argue with me about it.

"Well, 99.1 said that you guys were. I just want to know for sure, so can you send me to security or something?"
(me) "Well, they are wrong. We are open. I am in the police department, and I haven't heard ANYTHING. My boss would have called, or some other higher up would have informed us."
"Why would they say you were closed then?"
(me) "Well, was it (other college that sounds similar)? Because they are closed, but that's not us."
"No, you dumbass, they said (our college) was!!! God how can you be so stupid?! Get you're shit together and pay attention to your job, GOD! The radio said we were, so I'm going to listen to what THAT said because THEY know."
(me) "Have a nice night."

AaAaah! I deal with dense people on a daily basis, but at this point in the day I'd been covering for 2 people off and on between class and dealing with coworkers who were equally as stressed as I was.

It took a lot of restraint not to straight out start bitching her out.

[Liminality]

Heh, if she continues to believe her class is cancelled she'll get a black mark in her attendance. :]

[CancelMyService]

Yeah that's the kind of problem that usually fixes itself when she loses points for missing a class.

[Shangri-laschild]

God and it's only going to get crazier today what with all the local schools closing....so far no one is arguing with me today.

[South Texan]

Yeah that's the kind of problem that usually fixes itself when she loses points for missing a class.

But of course she still will blame kaetchen for it.

[Shangri-laschild]

But of course she still will blame kaetchen for it.

Which is where having an awesome boss comes in handy.

[retaildrone]

My college had a number to call that was automated. You call, listen to the message and know if classes are closed or not.

[South Texan]

When I worked for a television station many years ago, our news people had the motto "if it bleeds, it leads" and tried to make the most sensational news stories out of anything they could. So whenever it rained heavily or the wind blew strong, they would make it seem like it was some end of the world disaster.

Since snow is so rare down here, any snow flurry or ice on the roads would become the top story of the day and would take up the first ten minutes of the newscast. One night, we happened to have had just over an inch of snow and the roads had some patchy ice. The hilly areas to our north were closing schools and we were quick to report that. Our uneducated but sexy anchorwoman got a a call that one of the largest school districts in our area was canceling classes the next day. Within three minutes, that announcement was on a special crawl at the bottom of the television screen; and within ten minutes, it was breathlessly reported as the lead story on the nightly news. Problem was, the report was a crank call. The superintendent of that district was livid and we had to issue an apology for our resident bimbo not checking the veracity of the statement.

Somehow our news people "overlooked" the report that almost half the students failed to show up the next day for classes. The three other stations, however, picked up on that story and included why the students were not there and which station ran the false story. I was so glad I was not involved in that newscast.

[ktopmil]

I think people have forgotten what it means to be polite and how to treat people with decensy. There is nothing that will set me off more than being cursed at and called stupid for no reason. Unfortunalty, in my job it happens often.

[Chanlin]

You know heaven forbid you call and ask your instructor or anything... because lord knows you don't want to bother them. Or maybe even check your e-mail in case your instructor sent you a notice or *gasp* the college website.

I'm sorry I don't know of many (if any) schools in that don't have a student information page that gets updated daily. Especially in the event of school closings. Many many schools around the area today closed because of high winds causing power outages and very low temps (wind chill of like -10 to -15). So first thing this morning I logged into my Uni's info page to make sure I still had class, no radio, no TV just good old internet.

[mattm04]

My school has a phone number to call, and it has a crawling banner on the top of every webpage that the IT dept controls for any school wide emergency announcements.

[Primer]

My school also has a web site, HOWEVER, we also have multiple campuses. Just because the weather is fine at one campus doesn't mean the parking lot is not a sheet of ice at another. I tell my students to use their best judgement. If they don't feel safe trying to drive in, then stay home.

I live about 45 miles away from work. If *I* don't feel safe, *I* stay home! I, and the majority of my students live in the Texas "Hill Country" where it may be sunny in one spot, but iced over not 10 miles away, or flooded 10 miles beyond that. Yeah, it's an "adventure."

[mariamousie1]

I guess it's going to be your fault when she finds out she missed a class?

Why did she bother to call if she wasn't going to believe you? People are insane.

[Crazeyal]

Uh..

Last I heard, College students were responsible for their actions. You should have asked for her name, and then informed her that she'd be reported. 99% of the over-entitled brats would have caved at that point.

[Broomjockey]

I'm sorry I don't know of many (if any) schools in that don't have a student information page that gets updated daily. Especially in the event of school closings.

Supposedly my school has that on the student portal. However, after looking at every page (there is no search function), I couldn't find it. The only way we have is to turn up and see if there's a note on the door. Because teachers don't have access to our email unless they asked for it at some point, and the phone numbers they give us on the syllabus is for their office. Which if class is cancelled, they won't be in.