Wow…Seriously?
glingdidit September 9th, 2008
So part of my job is to assist with campus visits for the transfer students I work with.  Usually the student, or parent, will call me up and I’ll help them pick out a day and what types of things they’d like to do while they’re on campus.  I get a lot of odd requests, but this week was the best (or worst) I’ve ever gotten.  So this lady calls and tells me how she’s connected to Greenville and starts name dropping immediately.  Which is fine…because I like knowing when a new student already has a connection with the college.  We talk about her daughter and why she wants to transfer to Greenville and how she’s doing in school.  So far…good/normal conversation.  She then asks about setting up a visit day for her daughter…which is great…because getting a student to campus is one step closer to recruiting them.  I tell her to give some dates to compare with my calendar.  She tells me….”Thanksgiving please.”  I sit there on the phone for a second…totally baffled.  I respond with “Thanksgiving?”  And she says “yes, Thanksgiving…we’ll be there visiting my parents and that day would be great for us.”  I kindly let her know that we aren’t open on Thanksgiving, or the following day and weekend.  She not-so-kindly tells me that if I want a recruit “I’ll be there on Thanksgiving.”  I let her know that campus is closed and that I will personally be out of town.  She then tells me to ask everyone else in the office and to please make sure that one of those persons will cover the visit.  I let her know that’s just not possible….we don’t schedule visits on holidays when campus is closed.  I suggest that she come the day before Thanksgiving…as we’ll have office hours that day.  She finally agrees.  I let her know that the visit schedule will be minimal as faculty will be gone and classes or chapel won’t be meeting that day.  She lets me know that I need to “make something happen.”  Without screaming (which I wanted to do) I let her know that I could provide them with a  campus tour and meeting with myself…and that’s all.  I’m crossing my fingers that they don’t show up.