I'm just done.

I'm ALMOST done with classes for the summer: finish a tiny bit in one class and do an exam review today, other class is not meeting. Tomorrow I give an hourly exam in one and do final review in the other; Thursday is final exam day in both. I have the grades nearly calculated.

But I'm just getting DONE. The dude I'm trying to hire didn't call me back despite my call and message requesting a call. I don't know whether to call back AGAIN and say something like, "I'm going to try another service, thanks" or what.

Because now someone who has lived here longer than I have is telling me "They can't be complaining about your back alleyway, you don't own that. Are you SURE they didn't mean the north side of your house? (Which is as narrow as an alley, and which I have cleared out, in fact, I did that Tuesday afternoon). So I don't know whether to be "that woman" and go down to the city hall (because I get sick of playing phone tag with people) and ask them point blank, "Do you mean the paved alley on the East side which is just outside my fence, or did you mean the narrow area on the North side of the house" and get them to draw it out for me. And then tell them the guy THEY recommended is flaking out.


Then again, everyone else on my alleyway has theirs largely cleared out, so maybe that's an expectation, I don't know. And I'm unwilling to fight the city over "you own it, it's your responsibility" because I know they'll find some way to make my life miserable over it.

I wouldn't be so stressed about this except I'm leaving for a short break in about a week and I don't want the "deadbeat" tag applied to me, and further penalties levied. (They couldn't cut off my water over this, could they?)

In the past couple years, every interaction I've had with the city has been negative. Last year there was the month when they lost (or rather, the post office lost) a bunch of people's water payments, and rather than doing anything like giving a benefit of the doubt or even a second notice, they send letters to arrive on the day the payment would have been due, that said, in big red letters, "YOU DID NOT PAY YOUR BILL THIS MONTH. IF YOU DO NOT FIX THIS WITHIN FIVE DAYS, YOUR WATER WILL BE CUT OFF AND IT WILL COST $100 TO RESTART IT" Never mind that I've paid early or on time for the twelve years I've been a city water customer. Never mind that apparently 100 or more people were in that boat. Nope. Banhammer. And yeah, I get that some people are deadbeats but this is apparently how the world works: the rule-followers get slapped and have more rules to follow and the deadbeats go on their merry way.

(This is also partly why I don't do the trash-off days any more. Well, that, and walking multiple miles over rough terrain on a mid-November Saturday is not so good for my bum hip)

You know? Maybe I WILL be "that woman" and go down there and talk at them and let them know I'm doing my danged level best but that a lot of us work full time and then sometimes some, and the work-people you can hire in this town are often unreliable. And also, this is practically the freaking TROPICS, when it rains in the summer you can HEAR the weeds growing.

I also have to call my health insurer. I got the statement for my bloodwork. I had blood drawn, and a CBC, CMP, and fasting lipid panel done. All routine. Not a rush job. I didn't even go in on a weekend for it. According to the accounting my insurer got, that's over $2000 right there. (I am apparently liable for $160 or so of that, but that's not really the issue here). Does bloodwork really cost that much? I'm wondering if someone entered the wrong code somewhere and if that needs to be investigated. (I'm not saying it's fraud on anyone's part, but rather a mistake. But still, I don't want my insurer to be out some $1800 if the bloodwork actually cost $500....)

I'm just TIRED. Really, a person needs a personal secretary to deal with all the paperwork stuff. (I tried calling the insurer last night but their chipper automated voice told me they closed at 6 pm (it was 6:02) and that if it was an emergency, I was to call my primary care doctor.).

All the logistics, all the stupid little stuff you have to take care of as an adult is what gets me down. I can deal with my job just fine. I can deal with some of the big things in life. But little stuff, like a bill that's in error or something breaking that it's not my responsibility to fix, and all the calling and the waiting on hold and the fighting through phone-trees and the having-to-call-back-because-the-person-you-need-to-talk-to-is-on-another-line is what makes me want to run screaming into the night.


And that's why, when stuff happens like the transfer student coming in on short notice yesterday, and wanting advisement into the program my chair is less familiar with, and when the chair sent her to me, I sat down with her and advised her and even called a couple of offices to get a problem fixed. Because I know I hate ping-ponging around and not being able to get help, so if I can use whatever tiny bit of pull I have to make it so a new transfer student can enroll in classes the day she's up on campus to do other paperwork - rather than having to wait until something gets fixed on the office's own schedule - I'm gonna do it.

I just wish that courtesy would get extended to me sometimes.

(And yes, again, this is partly a broom-on-the-roof issue.)