Affirming my Right to Rant in 2022

I have a somewhat positive update on my brother. He’s still alive and not in any immediate danger of harming himself. I may save that topic for my next entry because I desperately need to relieve some frustration.

2021 was supposed to be a good year. I was going to get some relief of my workload by my new faculty instructor. I was going to level up to purple belt in Jiu Jitsu. I was…I don’t really have anything else. That makes things even more depressing. Two measly, stinkin’ goals I couldn’t bring to fruition. I also feel more than a little guilty complaining about the following considering what my brother is going through at the moment, but if I don’t vent this steam, I’m going to pop a blood vessel.

Things started downhill fast, then spiraled out of control, mostly into a giant, (mostly) pointless money hemorrhage. For starters, my shoulder decided to stop working. I spent a bunch of money on some physical therapy, then a CT scan, to find out I arthritis, tendonitis, and osteolysis, which probably can’t be fixed unless they miraculously heal on their own. Also, around this time, that instructor we hired with the bachelor’s degree, the master’s degree, a PhD, and a CPA license turned out to be as dense as a bag of hammers. Certainly, she’d get better over time, right?

Then a spring storm knocked down parts of my fence. I had to pay for a brand new one, so that was $11k gone. I had the money in savings. Granted, there’s a whole lot more I had rather do with that then erect a new fence. Then I realized I needed to have it painted; otherwise, the elements would knock down the new fence in not much time. Down $2,500.

At this point, the water line for my sprinkler system broke, and the idiot city employees and local plumbers couldn’t figure out what the leak was. They assured me that since my meter wasn’t running, I wasn’t being charged, then I discovered I had a $600 water bill.

Then that damn deer side swiped my car. Minus another $2,500. My car wasn’t ready for my after I got back from my sister’s place over Thanksgiving, so that was a week of Uber.

At this point, I was in December, and certainly, everything was over. There was nothing more 2021 could throw at me, but nope. 2021 had a grand finale saved up. My brother lost his life savings in a crypto-rom scam and tried to kill himself. That’s an impromptu trip to Naples, FL combined with another week of Ubering.

2022 can only be better, right? The wind is at my back, yes? I woke up Sunday with flu. I’m recovered enough to start back to work on Wednesday. My coworker, Dr. Dumb Dumb, started back on Thursday, and wasted no time testing my patience. I set my classes up over the break. She waits to start until two workdays before the start of semester. It wouldn’t be so bad if she had even the most remedial ability to figure things out on her own or retain instructions. This is her fourth semester, and I’m still having to show her how to set up her courses. I had to show her how to move items from one folder to another within Blackboard. I then found out that the vapid airhead didn’t give a final exam for ACCT 1100 last semester. The course has 4 tests and a final, and she decided to nix the final and declare exam 4 to be the final. Her reasoning was that “accounting is accumulative,” so technically exam 4 over chapters 8 and 9 was a cumulative final. I snapped at her at this point. We were both talking at the same time, me trying to say this is the state requirement and her saying that it was a cumulative exam. I guess this moment was my breaking point. Here is this idiot, who consistently cannot figure out anything on her own, who needs her own basic course materials explained to her, who had everything set up to go automatically and only needed to go through the motions I had prepped for her, who procrastinates until the last minute instead doing what needs to be done ahead of time, trying to explain to me, over me, that a two chapter exam is “accumulative.” I felt bad and awkward immediately after the fact, but I’m not in the wrong.

Of course, today I had to help her set up her financial accounting course modules in Blackboard. I showed her the process yesterday, so she should have been able to just repeat the motions, but no. I had to guide her hands through the exact same motions once again. As soon as I start to wonder if maybe I’m being a little unfair, she’ll say something idiotic reaffirming my position.

She asked me what she should be doing for Tax Accounting. I instructed her:

“The tax accounting text updates every year, so you’ll have to create that material anew. You can’t copy it over from last semester.”

Her response, “I…still don’t know what I should be doing.”

Are. You. JOKING?!?! You need to set up your homework assignments from the new textbook, just like the homework assignments from last year. How can she not realize that she needs to set up the class’s homework assignments before the semester starts? How is that not as obvious as the nose on her face, especially to a PhD holding, actively licensed CPA? She’s 68 years old! She should have outgrown this laziness when she was a child. I’m starting to wonder if she’s suffering from some age-related mental decline.

I’ve decided to have her fired. I notice that she’s randomly cancelled class, which we’re not supposed to do. I remember one time, I walked past her evening class, to see one of her students talking at the podium while she was absent. She was in her office doing who knows what. She was letting a student teach class while she was elsewhere. On the plus side, that student probably at an infinitely stronger command of the material than she did. I’m going to start documenting these infractions. I’m sure if I get enough to show the dean; she’ll be gone.