Fucking tired. Students started coming in early today. Normally students don’t start showing up for advisement until ten-ish, but today some were coming in during the eight o’clock hour. Susan also had her entire class come up to the center to work on their class projects but also for advising (which she didn’t tell me or Heather about until the last minute), so several came in around ten. Heather was working with one until she had to leave for class (she was cutting it close), so she passed that student over to me. I worked with him about fifteen minutes during which time two more folders (As each student is brought back, their folder with their records is placed in the door mailbox until we call them in.) were dropped by my door. I grabbed the next one, a girl interested in elem ed, and another folder was dropped by the door. About twenty minutes later, I grabbed the second one, a girl interested in pscyhology. Twenty minutes later, I grabbed the third, a guy interested in technology. Each one was scheduling for spring classes, and I could have just as easily stuck them in whatever gen ed classes they still needed to get them out of there quick, but I hate doing that. I’d rather help them find classes they’re interested in as well as maybe a few from the major they want. I’d rather also take time to explain how to register to the new freshman who have never done it (Their first semester it was done for them.) so they won’t have to come back up and ask. It’s more time-consuming, but I feel it’s worth it in the long run. I wasn’t done with the guy interested in technology until Heather came back from her class whereupon another student came in. I dealt with him, hoping that after that I would get a chance to eat, but one of my students came in right after that. By the time I got done talking to him, it was one o’clock and I hadn’t eaten yet. I called out for Jimmy Johns and told the secretaries that I was on lunch, but twenty to two, they brought another student back. I asked if he could wait a few minutes, he said okay, and finally my food showed up. I was getting nauseous from not having eaten, so I ate half the cookie real fast and drank some lemonade and then went and got the student. He left a little after two, so finally around two thirty I got the chance to eat my sandwich. I had a couple other students through the span of the afternoon, and by four, I could have passed out from sheer exhaustion. The phone call from the husband earlier that afternoon hadn’t made me feel any better (long story about the water people being idiots and our water being shut off until tomorrow), and the fact that it was snowing off and on just meant I got a sinus headache for about five and a half hours in there.

What kills me is that regardless of the fact that Heather and I tell the secretaries that we’re on lunch, it doesn’t seem to matter because they’ll still bring people back despite what we’ve said. The only thing that works is shutting our door or leaving, but when was there time to do that today? Heather and my lunches don’t tend to synch up anyway, so I may be seeing students while she’s eating and she’ll see students while I’m eating so shutting the door isn’t always an option. Regardless, they just keep bringing people back and even if we tell them we’re on lunch, they’ll put the student’s folder by the door and tell them to wait. To us, that’s just awful since they’re forced to wait when they should have been turned away at the door to come back later because it was lunch time, so rather than make them wait an entire hour, we end up bringing them in early to get them out of there. If it’s not students coming in, then they’re transferring calls back to us. Susan almost never has to work through the lunch hour because the secretaries listen to her and stop bringing people back to her. It’s tiresome and it’s irritating that we either never get lunch breaks or they’re only for about twenty minutes and are never for an entire hour. I don’t always like to leave for my lunch break; sometimes I just want to sit at my desk and check my e-mail or read a book or work on my thesis. But if I don’t leave, I get stuck with a shorter break if I get any at all. It’s getting old. It’s exhausting. I came home this evening and was drifting off on the couch before calling it quits and going to bed for a few hours. I’m still tired. I’m pretty cranky, and this not having water thing is just making it worse because I was going to do laundry and had the idea I might finally clean out that old fish tank. I can’t wait until pre-registration is over. Heck, I can’t wait until this semester is over. I’m looking forward to not having to mess with grading or lesson plans for a while. I’m tired.