Monday, October 11, 2010

Prorations

or 
Another Way that Blackburn College Screws Us Out of Money that We Don't Have

     So, today I opened up my mailbox, hoping for a post card or a package waiting slip or some money, any or all would have been more than acceptable. However, instead of any of these happy surprises, I pulled out a proration notice. For those of you who do not know, Proration is when the school bills the entire floor of your dorm $50 for some discrepancy, presumably caused by one person who refuses to fess up, for example: vomit on the restroom floor, urine/feces in places that urine/feces do not belong, blood on stairs, in hallways/bathroom, etc. The fifty bucks is split evenly among the residents of that floor. In the case of Jones Hall, Second Floor, someone got vomit on the toilet seat and left it there for someone else to deal with. Rude, yes, but that's kind of why we have Campus Services.

Reasons that Proration is total BS:
  • Student Life only prorates the whole floor if the perpetrator doesn't fess up, which would never happen because if they admit to making the mess they have to pay the entire $50, as opposed to just a portion of it if they keep quiet.
  • As mentioned above, that's why we have CS. It is their job to clean the campus, including the dorms.
  • Proration money is given to the CS worker who found, reported, and cleaned up the mess. This leads to warped system because, theoretically, a CS worker could walk into the Jones Bathroom, urinate or vomit on the toilet, report it to the RD, then clean it up and we, the residents, would get charged for it.
  • The fee is split among the residents of that floor, so floors with more residents have to pay less than floors that have empty rooms (like 2nd floor Jones).
  • Proration is a concept available only in the Campus Services department. I work in Snack Bar, and if some jerk spills his or her smoothie all over the floor or leaves a ridiculous mess on their table (which they frequently do), I just have to clean it up and move on, no complaints and I don't get paid any extra.
    In conclusion, I find proration to be a totally ridiculous concept, operated on a warped system. If they are going to charge someone because of "Excessive Mess," then they need to send a sample off to a lab and find out whose it is and charge that person, instead of squeezing college students for more money that we don't have.

1 comment:

  1. You know, I agree. That was like in high school when they would yell at us for leaving the tiniest scrap anywhere... isn't that what the janitor is getting paid to clean up? Sure, I understand that it gets annoying when kids just make huge messes for the fun of it... but seriously? It's your job, just do it. If you don't like it, get a new one.

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