struggling with my institution always doing things in practice different than how it's theorized. i get told how things are supposed to be run, and then figure out how it's actually been. it's fucking bullshit though, because when i do things correctly i'm interrupting people's delusion that they understand the process, and i'm an asshole who needs to be fired.

specific instance of this is the way my institution handles storage for students over summer. in theory, students can store their shit only if they are returning next semester, and they have to get all of their things out by a certain date in the semester. otherwise storage is closed except for the week or so when it's open for people to either put in their shit, or get shit completely out. in practice, people just left their shit there for years and were accessing it whenever they wanted.

so at the end of this semester, i figure things have been properly communicated (as i had no indication that it wasn't) and so put in a work order to get storage cleaned out. at this point folks had left shit in there for years, they weren't coming back for it, let's get it donated. the facilities and grounds service contacts me to let me know that would be getting to it eventually, and that they would bring in a truck that they load everything onto and then take back to the physical plant where they sort it for donations.

it takes these people 2 weeks to actually show up and clean shit out. they don't announce when they're arriving, i just get an email that they finished. there is no truck: they just tossed everything into the local dumpster for all the students to see when they return back to their rooms. again, theory to practice is completely different.

the day this happens i'm out sick throwing up and being generally miserable. student shows up at my apartment (i live on campus) to demand an explanation for why he was never contacted about his things being thrown out. it happened to rain that day, so while this kid was dumpster-diving his shit out, he's also got wet. turns out this kid was storing old keepsakes that are priceless to him and things of that nature, and it was just all thrown out. he understood that he could keep things in there until the end of the semester. dude leaves with the name of my supervisor.

more students come out of the woodwork to complain. i talk to one student, they don't like my answer, so their mother calls acting like i'm a sick nut who jerks off to student's misery, and that's why i personally went and discarded all of her child's stuff. how is the institution even allowed to clear out storage? - this becomes her main question, for which my explanation of our abandonment policy is somehow not good enough. she is also directed to talk to my supervisor.

then there is the matter of my returning RAs who's stuff was supposed to be kept in storage, but was thrown out anyway. i delegate the task to one of my current RAs, who simply doesn't do it. so all of their shit was also thrown out. of course this is my fault since it was my responsibility to make sure the RA did their job. all but one of my RAs is graduating this semester, so they've pretty much all checked out and aren't doing shit cause they're leaving.

being an authority figure fucking sucks. you will never not be criticized. it's by far the worst part of my job, which is otherwise pretty chill and enjoyable. having to get tough with people and force them into doing shit just isn't my forte... but in order to professionally develop i need to enforce these policies and make sure theory isn't so far removed from practice.

i will become a tough boy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdju-W_ZAnw