By Jenni Hammitt

August 18, 2008

So it has happened again. You waited until the last minute to do something. Now it is crunch time and you are rushing to make your deadline. The question is how are you going to proceed? About six years ago, I walked through the front doors of the community college I work for. Actually, I fought my way through the door. There was a line all the way thought the lobby and down the front hallway. Security thought I was a student, and they initially wouldn’t let me through the door. The triage desk (the people in the lobby who made sure you were in the right line) made the same mistake.

By the time I made it to my office, I was at least 5 minutes late…and I had planned on being 15 minutes early. When I asked my one new co-worker what was going on, her response was: “Oh it’s just late registration. You’ll get used to it eventually.” What she didn’t tell me (probably to not totally scare me off) was that every year it would get worse as our student population grew. I never have gotten used to it. I just know to expect it.

It is that time of year again, and of course chaos on the loose. Over the years, I have discovered our students fall into categories. 1) Students who know they screwed up. They know that we have been registering since March. They know there will be long lines. Not all the services the want access to will be available. Oh, and the classes they want may in fact be full. They don’t like the mess they are in, but it is what they have to deal with. 2) Students who just don’t get why they are faced with long lines, overwhelmed employees, not all the services want are available, and their classes are full.

The second group just baffles me. I’m not sure what the issue is. I usually put a lot of blame on my friend “the entitlement monster.” People think that it is our job to make up for their poor planning. They are loud, rude and insult the people they expect to bend over backwards to accommodate their requests. In their minds, the rules shouldn’t apply to them. They just don’t why the transfer advisor isn’t available for appointments. Well that is because the transfer advisor is running the returning student registration room.

Testing is walk in, but we might not have a seat for you when you arrive because it is first come first served. If you want to see an advisor, you will have to wait. I know you can’t register with out a Program Chair signature, but it is Faculty Break. None of them are on campus. Of course, this is all *our* fault for being bad employees and knowing nothing about customer service. Right?

Don’t get me wrong, people in the first group can have their moments too. Yes sometimes the stress they have created comes back and bites them in the behind. It happens, but in the end they take full responsibility for their own choices and the consequences.

This isn’t just a “student” issue. Procrastinators usually just own up to it, or they do not take responsibility. Of course people fall somewhere in between the two extremes, but there usually is a reaction that they favor. Think about the people in your life. No wait, actually think about you. How do you behave when your procrastination has caught up with you? Do you take ownership of it? Do you blame everyone else, including the people trying to help you?

It can be a tough question for some of us. Personally, I’m admittedly a control freak. I hate waiting until last minute. Writer’s Block sometimes forces my hand though. When it happens, I will do everything in my power to make my deadline. I’ll stay up all night, cancel my plans, work over my lunch breaks and anything else I have to do to make it work. Of course I have my moments. I get ugly, and is unacceptable. In the end, I have to own up to my flaws and apologize.

© 2008, Jenni Hammitt. All rights reserved.

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