*#%&@!

Nothing helps distract you from the daydream of making love to a beautiful green-eyed man than someone really pissing you off.

I work in academia, in higher education. I oversee the faculty's use of alternative delivery methods of instruction. In other words, instruction that is not in the traditional classroom setting. This involves oodles of hand-holding and cajoling, to convince them that, yes indeedy, they can use a computer and the school won't collapse and the students will actually learn something.

It's been a long, hard summer, convincing many of them to put a toe in the waters of technology, and some have actually jumped off the diving board and into the deep end. I've grown the number of instructors using technology, and that's been a major accomplishment in a short time.

Then, our IT (Information Technology) department has to go screw it up. And why? Because of the Man Behind the Curtain Syndrome.

Remember that, from the Wizard of Oz? The old wiz operated the show from behind the curtain, but no one was to look behind the curtain. They were to take what the show had to offer and leave it at that. Ask no questions. You'll know what they want you to know, when they want you to know it.

So, the system that we use for course delivery started having problems. It ceased being compatible with anything. Turns out, IT hasn't installed not one, but TWO upgrades. Ones that should have been done well before I started here. A trainwreck was inevitable. These people are not stupid; they should have seen it coming. But nooooo, they stayed behind the curtain and ignored it until it bit them in the ass.

It bit me in the ass, too. No one had communicated this lurking problem to me. And who do professors come running to when something doesn't work? The person who convinced them it would be all right in the first place. The new kid. Blogget-girl. Dang.

So, when I announce that a new upgrade will be installed (I haven't mentioned there are two of them...panic would ensue.), they rejoice! Huzzah! All our troubles are over! Okay, okay, okay, so it has to be installed during the second week of classes....it will heal all wounds!

Or so IT promised. Which I, in turn, promised. Then, the upgrade failed. Damn square one.

The failure is not IT's fault, but they could have warned me that all the test installs also failed. It was all but doomed, but I had no clue. No one communicated. Do we see a pattern here?

Of course, I start asking when this will be fixed. "We're working with their tech support. They'll figure it out soon." In other words, don't address the man behind the curtain!

Meanwhile, the course in the system are crashing and burning. Students are mad ("Is this what I paid for?"). Professors are pulling their hair out ("Is this what I signed on for?").

I had another meeting with IT yesterday. You can almost see the curtain around them, as they present a united front to say, "We're working on it." That's not communicating anything, fellas!

Well, I'm NOT happy with that answer! And I said so! They are missing the urgency in this situation. This is a program we need to grow in order to be competitive! And they are killing it by putting this on the back burner. This is front burner stuff! We're losing students and faculty support. Where are we without those? This is my job here, people!

I'm soooo frustrated.

Maybe today will be a better day. Maybe something I said got through to them. Maybe they'll finally pull the curtain aside, if only for me. (Trying to be butter-side-up.)

No, I need to rip down a curtain. I need a vacation. Or a horny green-eyed guy....

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