[Ender's Mom]

to do my job properly anymore.

None.

Part of my responsibilities include monitoring our budget and ordering supplies and other things we might need... finding the best "deal" etc.

As you can imagine... in this economy... our university is making cuts all over the place. My tuition reimbursement got rejected a few weeks ago (and the situation surrounding that still has me steamed).

Anyways... I have done a lot over the years to save money for our office. When I order supplies I find the cheapest option, buy in bulk the things we actually use a lot of. Under my suggestion... we purchased our own dvd/vcr combo and video projector to save costs when we conduct training (instead of constantly having to rent these). When the last director left and my boss stepped up to be acting director, she had no use for the "director" laptop... so under MY suggestion we had the laptop rebuilt and taken off our service agreement (which costs us $250 per computer per year) so that we could use it JUST for putting powerpoint presentations and carting it around for training (again to avoid renting costs... but also to make something useful out of it).

Yesterday I get an invoice, for a training we did in May. On the invoice are charges for ...

a laptop
a video projector
and a dvd/vr flat panel combo...

$600

!(*U$(*&@#[email protected]*#[email protected]#*$(#*&[email protected]#@#[email protected]#

Then I'm going back and looking at our other transactions this year... over $1100 in fees for moving chairs around. (my boss has a committee that she is in charge of... and she doesn't like the way they set up the rooms where she has the meeting so she asks them to rearrange it... and they do... for a fee... EVERY MEETING costs between $100-$140... for a one hour meeting)

My tuition reimbursement was for $1000.

 

[joflake]

Can't say as I blame you!

 

[MidwestGirl]

That is wrong!!

 

[Clanceycanuck]

Sorry Linds - some people just don't get it.

 

[AbbyandMolly]

That definitely sucks!

 

[Garth]

Bureaucratic stuff ups at their finest. Next thing they'll be paying consultants a huge fee to find out where they can cut costs.

 

[dweck]

I didn't realize you were denied your tuition reimbursement. AFTER ALL THE WRITING ASSITANCE I GAVE YOU...

You'll get my bill.

----

Seriously. That sux. They clearly can't see the forest from the trees. But it's happening all over. ALL our raises were nixed, starting with 3Q08, just before mine, thankyouverymuch. No bonuses, either (and I was due one). No more 401(k) contributions. And we just learned that our heathcare is going up and our company-provided insurance coverage is going down.

And our President and our CEO continue to tool around in their company Lexuses.....

 

[Ender's Mom]

We haven't had a "real" director in 4 years. They have had our "assistant director" serve as "acting director" during that time... paying her some portion of the director position but not full. In her place, we have another temporary employee getting paid no where near what "assistant director" is supposed to earn. Between those two we save $43K per year. (Our budget is $266K)

The university is cutting all budgets by 5%, but, for our office... we are going to take a 20% budget cut. (they are taking all of our salary savings)

Meanwhile... we have no real director... which hurts our acting director, our office, and the entire campus (as our office serves the rest of the campus).

And at the very least she is going to be acting for another year.

(don't even get me started on the bullshit that that is)

 

[Labs4life]

You have my sympathy. I honestly and truly see what you are facing. As a field service engineer I have to come up with the most cost effective viable solutions to field issues. I hate watching the money saved being spent on frivolous activities just because they can. I can't recall all the occasions, where we as a company, have stepped over a stack of 100s to pick up a shiny dime.

 

[Golfgirlrobin]

I can't recall all the occasions, where we as a company, have stepped over a stack of 100s to pick up a shiny dime.

That's such a great saying. As a private contractor I spend my life dealing with govt. worker bees who will let a $100,000 problem go completely unaddressed while throwing a hissy fit over whether you charged them for four dumpsters or three.

Anybody with a job who hasn't read The Peter Principle needs to. Somehow it makes you feel better when you realize they just can't help it.

 

[BigBrownDog]

I'm a little shocked that you're paying tuition in the first place. At all the Universities and College accounts I work with the employees (and often their offspring under 25) have free tuition - and sometimes text discounts.

What is the rationale behind them not providing this as a benefit for employees? It costs them nothing to have you fill a seat.

 

[CoCosMom]

I'm a little shocked that you're paying tuition in the first place. At all the Universities and College accounts I work with the employees (and often their offspring under 25) have free tuition - and sometimes text discounts.

What is the rationale behind them not providing this as a benefit for employees? It costs them nothing to have you fill a seat.

This surprises me as well. My tuition fees were all waived as part of my benefits. All I had to pay were the additional fees and books. Which still cost about $600 a semester for 2 courses, but better than the alternative!