Bad Management
I am so unbelievably pissed right now - and not just pissed, I am filled with righteous indignation. My fury stems from the outcome for a rather long and slightly twisted story. Let’s start at the beginning shall we?
To begin my story, some background information is needed. Part of my job includes overseeing parking, parking regulations and parking enforcement for a medium sized university. This includes going after students who refuse to register their car so they don’t have to pay for parking or any citations. We go after the worst offenders (more than 5 citations a quarter) and try to find out who they are so we can charge their student accounts. We also tow cars from campus in extreme circumstances.
This year we had one student, I will call him Adam, that not only was at the top of our list for acquiring more than 26 citations this year, but also deliberately avoided our officers as well as tow trucks coming to remove his vehicle from reserved parking spaces going as far to pay people to call him if a tow truck showed up. After some very rigorous detective work from one of my favorite officers we discovered his identity along with his all important ID number which allowed me to place just under $650 worth of parking fines on his account. Let me tell you, that was a great day, until I received an e-mail from the director of Student Accounts stating that Adam had come in to pay his account and to his completely dismay there were charges on his account that weren’t his. Adam requested to speak to the Director and told him a sob story about how Security was out to get him and how he didn’t own a car, let alone drive one on campus. This frustrated me, but not as bad as I am now. With even more detective work Greg and I managed not only to get pictures of Adam driving the car, we got video footage. Along with an a letter detailing his parking habits I sent the Director of Student Accounts copies of the footage and stills. The director was understandable upset about being lied to and chagrined that he had actually fallen for the sob story. A month later we finally towed Adams car from campus – it was parked in the President’s parking space.
The very next day Adam came into our office and asked to speak to me. He gave a pretty bad sob story about how he couldn’t pay and how he didn’t know that the citations had fines (even though the fine schedule is in big bold letters on the citation) associated with them. He said, “I thought they were just warnings.” It really took all of my self control not to sneer at him when he said that. He asked if he could do community services instead of paying the fines. Honestly, I was surprised, after all the pleas and bullshit I have waded through regarding parking petitions this was the first time any had asked if they could do community service. I told him that wasn’t an option but that his two options would be a: pay the fines and park on the street and not in the lots or b: pay for a year’s worth of parking and half of his fines. He told me that he would think about it and e-mail me with his decision.
You can imagine my surprise when an hour later I get an e-mail from my director asking me to speak to him about Adam because he sent the following e-mail: (all personal identifies have been removed or changed)
“Hi my name is Adam and this past year I have made some mistakes that have led to a great amount of parking tickets. I think that someone in the department has contacted you about this, but I just wanted to send you my sincere apology and regret for not taking matters into my own hands and continuing to be oblivious to the situation. Fall quarter I thought my roommate signed us up for a carpool pass and when the pass never arrived in the mail he told me that we could just park anywhere until it came. I never questioned this and went about parking and getting citations, which I thought were only warnings and did not have any ramifications. I continued to do this all year and was unaware that they were fines and that I never even did have a pass. I know that I should have gone to you guys myself but I just didn't think it was that important. Now I have come to realize I have over $600 in parking tickets and I cannot afford this. My parents would be so disappointed in me, even more so than I am in myself right now. If there is anything I can do at all to have these dropped from my account I would be ever so grateful. I really wasn't trying to get away with anything, it was just stupidity and being unaware on my part. I really will do anything and everything possible to take the tickets off. I would suggest community service of some kind in helping you and your department out or whatever you might be able to think of. All I'm asking for is grace and mercy from you. Please understand my situation and how terrible I feel right now about all of this, not because I got caught, but because I had no idea what was happening. I pray that you will find favor in my situation and make an exception for me. You have no idea how thankful and grateful that I would be. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this. God bless.”
I just about choked on the syrup coated BS that was dripping from this e-mail. When my director forwarded me this e-mail I went through and looked at the accounts of his roommates, and e-mailed them if they had ever applied for carpooling. They had not. I included their attached e-mails as well as the e-mail from the Director of Student Accounts as well as the pictures of Adam driving the car and sent it to my director. He agreed with me that we wouldn’t be removing any citations or fines due to the student’s duplicity. I felt extremely validated when I informed Adam that those where his only two options.
This is where the story gets good. Adam came back in today because he couldn’t register for classes with fines on his account. He demanded to speak to the Director; after having him wait I went back and let both the Director and Associate Director know what was going on and they met with him in the front conference room. I was so sure that they were going to tell him that because of his past behavior and the fact that he was lying through his teeth that they were going to pin him down. You can’t imagine how furious I was when I found out that that my director was letting him get away with only paying for one parking pass. That’s right, one parking pass. $650.00 worth of parking tickets reduced down to $57.00. That doesn’t even cover the amount of time my student workers spent writing him tickets! What the hell? What happened to backing your people up? I am supposed to be the final authority on parking citations; how the hell am I supposed to do my job if my authority gets cut out from under me? This sets a precedent; Adam will go out and tell all of his friends that he got off fairly unscathed and now all they have to do is refuse to register their car and not have to pay for parking. Not only does this significantly undercut my budget, but it also makes it extremely difficult for me to do my job. If the money from parking fees and citations funds my budget and the money from my budget gets taken away it means I have a hard time operating under budget. This is so completely ridiculous. This isn’t just a university it’s a business and needs to be treated like one.
Blah.
To begin my story, some background information is needed. Part of my job includes overseeing parking, parking regulations and parking enforcement for a medium sized university. This includes going after students who refuse to register their car so they don’t have to pay for parking or any citations. We go after the worst offenders (more than 5 citations a quarter) and try to find out who they are so we can charge their student accounts. We also tow cars from campus in extreme circumstances.
This year we had one student, I will call him Adam, that not only was at the top of our list for acquiring more than 26 citations this year, but also deliberately avoided our officers as well as tow trucks coming to remove his vehicle from reserved parking spaces going as far to pay people to call him if a tow truck showed up. After some very rigorous detective work from one of my favorite officers we discovered his identity along with his all important ID number which allowed me to place just under $650 worth of parking fines on his account. Let me tell you, that was a great day, until I received an e-mail from the director of Student Accounts stating that Adam had come in to pay his account and to his completely dismay there were charges on his account that weren’t his. Adam requested to speak to the Director and told him a sob story about how Security was out to get him and how he didn’t own a car, let alone drive one on campus. This frustrated me, but not as bad as I am now. With even more detective work Greg and I managed not only to get pictures of Adam driving the car, we got video footage. Along with an a letter detailing his parking habits I sent the Director of Student Accounts copies of the footage and stills. The director was understandable upset about being lied to and chagrined that he had actually fallen for the sob story. A month later we finally towed Adams car from campus – it was parked in the President’s parking space.
The very next day Adam came into our office and asked to speak to me. He gave a pretty bad sob story about how he couldn’t pay and how he didn’t know that the citations had fines (even though the fine schedule is in big bold letters on the citation) associated with them. He said, “I thought they were just warnings.” It really took all of my self control not to sneer at him when he said that. He asked if he could do community services instead of paying the fines. Honestly, I was surprised, after all the pleas and bullshit I have waded through regarding parking petitions this was the first time any had asked if they could do community service. I told him that wasn’t an option but that his two options would be a: pay the fines and park on the street and not in the lots or b: pay for a year’s worth of parking and half of his fines. He told me that he would think about it and e-mail me with his decision.
You can imagine my surprise when an hour later I get an e-mail from my director asking me to speak to him about Adam because he sent the following e-mail: (all personal identifies have been removed or changed)
“Hi my name is Adam and this past year I have made some mistakes that have led to a great amount of parking tickets. I think that someone in the department has contacted you about this, but I just wanted to send you my sincere apology and regret for not taking matters into my own hands and continuing to be oblivious to the situation. Fall quarter I thought my roommate signed us up for a carpool pass and when the pass never arrived in the mail he told me that we could just park anywhere until it came. I never questioned this and went about parking and getting citations, which I thought were only warnings and did not have any ramifications. I continued to do this all year and was unaware that they were fines and that I never even did have a pass. I know that I should have gone to you guys myself but I just didn't think it was that important. Now I have come to realize I have over $600 in parking tickets and I cannot afford this. My parents would be so disappointed in me, even more so than I am in myself right now. If there is anything I can do at all to have these dropped from my account I would be ever so grateful. I really wasn't trying to get away with anything, it was just stupidity and being unaware on my part. I really will do anything and everything possible to take the tickets off. I would suggest community service of some kind in helping you and your department out or whatever you might be able to think of. All I'm asking for is grace and mercy from you. Please understand my situation and how terrible I feel right now about all of this, not because I got caught, but because I had no idea what was happening. I pray that you will find favor in my situation and make an exception for me. You have no idea how thankful and grateful that I would be. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this. God bless.”
I just about choked on the syrup coated BS that was dripping from this e-mail. When my director forwarded me this e-mail I went through and looked at the accounts of his roommates, and e-mailed them if they had ever applied for carpooling. They had not. I included their attached e-mails as well as the e-mail from the Director of Student Accounts as well as the pictures of Adam driving the car and sent it to my director. He agreed with me that we wouldn’t be removing any citations or fines due to the student’s duplicity. I felt extremely validated when I informed Adam that those where his only two options.
This is where the story gets good. Adam came back in today because he couldn’t register for classes with fines on his account. He demanded to speak to the Director; after having him wait I went back and let both the Director and Associate Director know what was going on and they met with him in the front conference room. I was so sure that they were going to tell him that because of his past behavior and the fact that he was lying through his teeth that they were going to pin him down. You can’t imagine how furious I was when I found out that that my director was letting him get away with only paying for one parking pass. That’s right, one parking pass. $650.00 worth of parking tickets reduced down to $57.00. That doesn’t even cover the amount of time my student workers spent writing him tickets! What the hell? What happened to backing your people up? I am supposed to be the final authority on parking citations; how the hell am I supposed to do my job if my authority gets cut out from under me? This sets a precedent; Adam will go out and tell all of his friends that he got off fairly unscathed and now all they have to do is refuse to register their car and not have to pay for parking. Not only does this significantly undercut my budget, but it also makes it extremely difficult for me to do my job. If the money from parking fees and citations funds my budget and the money from my budget gets taken away it means I have a hard time operating under budget. This is so completely ridiculous. This isn’t just a university it’s a business and needs to be treated like one.
Blah.
posted by Rebecca at 4:22 AM
1 Comments:
Ah.... Mercy vs law It takes wisdom to know when to punish and when to give mercy. It helps when you know if a person is contrite. Words are not enough, especially when someone knows Christianese. So if we are to be gracious and mericful as Christ was to us, are we not supposed to be that way to others? Where do you draw the line. This person seems to be playing the system. It sounds like he didn't park in student parking, but reserved parking. It would be interesting to see if now that he has a sticker which parking lots he uses. Maybe instead of towing, you should use a boot instead. This way you don't have to pay towing fees, but rather must go face to face with you.
I'm all for giving a person a chance, but avoiding be walked all over. Good luck with future tickets. Jan
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