There's a Form for That

      I went to order my transcripts today and I wish I could say it was relatively uneventful but things never are…

      First I went to the board of education for Jones County to order some of my transcripts needed and confusion shortly followed. I went to the front desk and they gave me a form to fill out to request the transcript. After I was finished with that the receptionist then called Jones High School to obtain the transcript. The person on the other end (I have no idea who) couldn’t find my records, so the receptionist asked if they’d be in the archives and the person on the other end of the line went to go look.

      Now here’s the problem, I never went to Jones High School. In fact on the form I had to fill out it asks for your schools name to which I wrote ‘New Bern Country Day’ (a now closed school which also looks nothing like ‘Jones High School’). When asked why she was calling Jones High School the receptionist said it was because they would likely have my transcript. I assumed she was calling there because of the fact that the school which I went to was closed, but when asked why they would have the records of a closed school a look of confusion just consumed her.

      I told her which school I went to and then she asked in reply “So you never went to Jones?” to which I could say nothing other than “No.” She then realized she had sent the other person on a wild goose chase that could likely end up taking a while. After everything was clear (which I don’t see why it wasn’t to begin with) she said it would take a day to process and obtain the transcripts and to come back tomorrow at which point I could pick them up.

      So then I left for the Craven County Board of Education to get the rest of my transcripts. When I arrived I noticed that the board of education building had locked doors that only open electronically (are they afraid people will steal their records?) and once inside they gave me another form to fill out that was similar to the one before. This time however, they told me that they don’t accept the transcript orders and they also don’t have the archived transcripts at the board of education. Instead you have to turn in the form at the actual school you went to.

      I then went to Havelock High School (where I had gone previously as a student) and again the doors were locked and only open from the inside or electronically. One of the people in the office was pushing the button that allows them to open but no matter which door I tried none of them worked. Finally, someone just opened the door and I went to where I needed to go to hand in my form. The person in that office told me that they don’t keep transcripts at the school but in fact they’re kept at the board of education who told us the exact opposite thing. On top of that the form which I had to give to the school directly is then faxed over to the board of education who then faxes back the transcript; bureaucracy at it's finest. Since I got to the school a half hour before they closed I was expecting the transcript to be faxed over the next day; instead by the time I got home they called and said it was faxed over already, much to my surprise. Much too late to go back so it will be tomorrow regardless.

      Somewhat unrelated but we also bought eight sheets of 4’ x 8’ gypsum today because my father has been working on the house for a while and is replacing some walls. I knew sheet rock wasn’t light but I wasn’t prepared for just how heavy it actually was and since no one else was around I had the privilege of helping to load, unload, and move the gypsum. I know it might sound kind of silly but since I’ve never really been physically active before I kind of consider it the beginning of my physical training. My hands were certainly sore enough after we were done moving it.

From 12/17/08	From 12/17/08