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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 4, 1998)
iiirsday • June 4,1998 The Battalion PINION R-E-S-P-E-C-T Oust a little bit) 'acuity, staff and students should be polite, take each other seriously s students make their daily rounds at Texas A&M, they also are faced with andai i can itra ro cat-stti: |h n g it e immense and infa- fhursto ous Aggie bureaucracy tordonB s y stem support I avuiff pnd GiBie end of last semes- CocoHnd the recent regis- Iklee SciBon process have not pr to dK much to improve l' batt et iews of the support Cob, jff at A&M, but it ap- r-than-iBs as if the time has kith He for a reconciliation plfenulHirts between the bu- /: l-i;:H cra ti c support staff t a pra^Hthe A&M student body. conrMver the course of the past several se- I'on f Hters, numerous horror stories have irf.iced about student involvement with Len Callaway columnist deasec, ebnk and file of the beloved adminis- ation and the "attitudes" to be encoun- red when dealing with certain depart- ents. Personal experiences have left some- pg to be desired from time to time, and s time for a new approach to customer lects !rvice ‘ . jin all fairness, there also are stories fly- r ,. jg. round certain faculty chain-smoking .. lunges regarding students "demanding" t tis, that or the other thing and not un- erstanding why they did not have it 10 linutes ago. Both sides have a relatively convincing H overly dogmatic manner in which ach side is slandered with too many ad- Tives to mention here. The important pg to remember is that each view is rel- nt, and one can catch more flies with ley than with vinegar. A more calm, ra- ional and patient approach to problem /ing would alleviate the pressure left most negative encounters and allow increased productivity, tudents, because of the sheer impor- afftce of every infinite detail of the their tionships with A&M, are prone to be- e that whatever problem or situation y are working on at the time is the st important and pressing problem verencountered by humankind. ith this abrasive attitude, it is easy to h oneself to the brink of an all-out ver- assault when faced with the less-than- ausiastic staffer waiting for the prover- 5 o'clock whistle. Needless to say, lout verbal assaults rarely serve as an , Bctive motivator (but they are fun if one properly). More often than not, a v fell-timed smile along with a pleasant le of voice is adequate to garner a pos- ■e and willing-to-help attitude from J|n the most rigid staffer. ft PRESIDENT, KEN STARR iiixpsk Us to Reveal. IM we*ve just Witnessed, From time to time, students are faced with the staffer who just woke up and de cided he or she would not do anything to- , day no matter what, and every student I can just "have a seat, and we'll call you when we get a minute." Usually, about an hour later, the stu dent is told that the person they need to talk to only came in for half a day, "but you can try again tomorrow," and "good luck." Hey guys, this attitude is unaccept- | able and students should stop wasting time. Go home and call the department j head and file an official complaint J against the staffer and ask to deal only with the department head in the future. After 10 or 15 such phone calls, and new personal responsibilities, usually the rude staffer becomes harder to find in the office and things become easier to accomplish. Hold the department heads responsible for the actions of their staff and for the quality of service to be had in their de partments. On the other hand, if one takes a minute, the position of the less-than- pleasant career staffer is also pretty easy to understand. After weeks, months or even years of dealing with the above mentioned now- or-never students from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., they just do not care anymore. Today has its faces, and those faces have their prob lems. Tomorrow will have new faces and new problems. Regardless, the scenario stays the same: So what the hell, "Where's my Igloo vodka caddy and my Carlton 120s — these kids suck and lunch isn't for two hours." They're stuck and impatient with the hum-drum and immediately panicked ex istence of an Aggie. To remedy this situation, several new endeavors should be undertaken by the faculty and students of A&M in hopes of getting back to that "friendliest-campus- in-the world" attitude. First, students and staffers alike should attempt to interact with one another with an almost weird air of friendliness. Chal lenge yourselves. People will find that they generally stay in a better mood, thus one is in a better position to roll with the A&M punches. Second, every staffer at A&M should be made to wear a nametag while at work. People like to hear their own name and having the ability to refer to someone by their name immediately makes the rela tionship and subsequent interaction more personal, thereby, at least theoretically im proving the odds for attaining satisfying results. Department heads are, for the most part, calm and well-educated people will ing to go the extra mile for students if at all humanly possible. Plus, by having a staffer's name, students have the ability to let department heads and deans know of inappropriate behavior. Third, much for the same purpose as mentioned above, the Student Services Committee of the Student Senate should work to create an effective "compli ment/complaint" card much like the one located at the A.P. Beutel Health Center to be posted in convenient locations on the A&M campus. This might increase the feedback to department heads and help rectify some of the "attitudes." Several members of our upper-scale administration are in favor of these ac tions and their implementation could only serve to improve the atmosphere and service provided to the students at A&M. Len Callaway is a senior journalism major. aaaimaiBmvttWf l KNOW, W) TWtrS WHY \ STOPPED AT Taken for a ride Theme parks prove boring, torturous and overpriced A fter traveling to As- troworld on a summer Saturday afternoon, 1 was remind ed why my reaction to amusement parks is somewhat similar to the Jeff Webb sports editor Texafift&tVfTOfi^ESi MAIL CALL pponse to April Towery's Monday, (l, column: 11 think that April Towery needs a pty check. Has it occurred to her perhaps the females that decide to get dressed before class are doing so out of respect for themselves and their appearance? Is the cute girl in the front row tak ing notes just to impress any prospec tive husbands who may be watching? Since she has makeup on does that mean she must have cheated on that last test to get an "A"? Some times I get dressed up for class and if I wake up late, then I don't and who cares? I think this describes most of the females here. Towery's article was a pile of unfounded over generalizations and yet another un justified stereotype. I realize things slow down a bit in the summer but surely she can come up with something worthy of writing. Her last article was ridiculous. Jacy Brie Jared Class of'97 The Battalion encourages letters to the editor Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author's name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Let ters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station. TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: batt@unix.tamu.edu average per son's reac tion to re runs of "Nightman." In fact, it must be a vi olation of some statute that amusement parks can even be named such a heinous and un true thing. Surely "Parks of Tor ture" or even "Boring-Land" would be a better description of what actually takes place inside. For the bargain price of $5 parking and $32 for the ticket, tax not included, I was granted the opportunity to waltz around Astroworld in the 132-degree heat, stand in line for the equiv alent of 14 generations and buy beverages for $4.50, tax not in cluded. Taz's Texas Tornado was my first ride of choice inside As- troworld's land of excitement. Af ter waiting in line, rather excitedly, I might add, it was brought to my attention that, while I was second in line, the ride didn't open up for another hour. Upon hearing this, I left the line to go ride the Dungeon Drop where they strap you to a seat and shoot you up in the air until you can see a faint outline of the Great Wall of China off in the distance and then drop you at fatal speeds approaching a million miles an hour before abruptly stopping. The drop ping part wasn't quite as trau matic as the sudden stopping part toward the bottom. After being dropped, I went back to the Texas Tornado line which now looked something like the line for the last heli copter out of Saigon. For amusement, the people in line would watch the "Guess your height and weight" guy prey upon the small children who had unknowingly just walked by the ride-measurement sign that told them they were "just one inch too short to get in, but we have some nice expensive things in the gift shop your father can buy you." After being Taz-ed out in the line for about two hours, I was tagged for the next available coast er. However, this is when the coaster decides to break. This would be worse news for the peo ple trapped on the top of the first loop who either had to wait until the ride was fixed or repel down with the mechanics. Winding my way through the Kiddieland section, I found the short line for the teacup ride ap pealing; however, I had my sights set higher. The upside- down spaceship ride that I affec tionately refer to as the "Upside- Down Spaceship Thingy" was next on the list of challenges. Truthfully, this proved to be the scariest ride of the day. It may have had something to do with the fact that the only thing holding my body inside of the contraption was a plastic harness that was positioned rather uncomfortably over my chest and (ouch) crotch. This also proved to be the costliest ride of the day. When the spaceship tumbled over, I lost change, my souvenir cup, my car keys, my sunglasses and one of my kidneys. Among the lost items belonging to other passengers were lighters, wallets, shoes and a few small chil dren who, funny enough, were not claimed after the ride. At this point, it was nearing closing time. The time I spent standing in various lines for beverages, water stunt shows, rides, bathrooms and temporary tattoos sucked up most of the day. It was at this point that I came to the conclusion that amusement parks are mirages of fun in the desert of life. The next time I visit one will probably be after hours of beg ging and good behavior by my child. When I come back with junior in tow, I think we'll stick to the teacups. Jeff Webb is a junior journalism major.