When Fridays Attack!
I know it's not Friday today. I'm writing about what happened last Friday.
I was sitting in French class, minding my own business, when Phil calls me, aghast and outraged. He was saying something about the Mirror. He said he couldn't believe it. After a few moments, I realized what he was giong off about--the staff list for next year had been posted in the issue, and my name wasn't on the list. I was just as shocked as he and even more upset; so upset, in fact, that I had to leave class. He tried to console me and told me he thought it was a load of crap, and that I was a better writer than all of them, etc. He even emailed my faculty sponsor and asked her why I was let go--she basically replied by telling him it was none of his business. I left campus and cloistered myself from the Drury community all weekend, too shocked and ashamed to ask questions.
From campus I went straight to B&N to get my check and buy some stuff--it was there that my credit card was declined. I wrote it off as another dumb Capital One fluke and called them when I got home, only to discover that my balance was $300 higher than it should have been and I was over my credit limit. After pushing buttons on my phone for ten minutes, I finally got to where I could speak with a human being. He read off the charges and told me they were from Napster. Napster. The ones who gave me a 30-day free trial. The service that was supposed to be $15 a month. Turns out, free is not as free as I thought it was, and there's a difference between "downloading" and "buying." Apparently, everyone knew about this very important distinction except me. I had been downloading (er, excuse me, BUYING) wonderful indie albums willy nilly for the past week, and had racked up $300 in what I thought were free songs. Apparently not. Since it's digital music, there's no way to give it back or get a refund, so I'm just stuck with the bill. That's 2 months worth of saving for me. I've just wasted 2 months of labor. Great.
I'm slightly better today, though the humiliation from both events has worn off slightly. I've had a lot of support from both students and faculty alike on the Mirror thing, which makes me feel better but also makes me even more certain that there must be something fishy going on around here. We have our weekly staff meeting at 4:00 as usual, and it's like some kind of horrible trial looming in the distance. The Mirror tribunal hearing. I just so unsure of how to play this. Should I act as though nothing has happened? Should I be humble and contrite? Obviously distraught? Cold and demure? Proffessional and haughty? I have no idea. I know my advisor is going to talk to me about why I was fired, and I really don't want to hear it. Everyone says I have to face her, but I'm just so hurt by the whole ordeal. I don't know what I'm going to say, how I'm going to publicly react. I don't know if I should go to the editing session on Wednesday. I don't want to. I'm starting to get my customary anxiety symptoms.
It wasn't just me enduring the Friday from hell, Hannah and Amanda were stricken as well. You can read more about it on Hannah's blog, but the long and short of it is, she hit a Mercedes while parking and Amanda got pulled over on her way home. I just keep telling myself, it's only a few more weeks until classes are out. Then the biggest thing I'll have to worry about it whether or not I'm selling enough member cards.
I was sitting in French class, minding my own business, when Phil calls me, aghast and outraged. He was saying something about the Mirror. He said he couldn't believe it. After a few moments, I realized what he was giong off about--the staff list for next year had been posted in the issue, and my name wasn't on the list. I was just as shocked as he and even more upset; so upset, in fact, that I had to leave class. He tried to console me and told me he thought it was a load of crap, and that I was a better writer than all of them, etc. He even emailed my faculty sponsor and asked her why I was let go--she basically replied by telling him it was none of his business. I left campus and cloistered myself from the Drury community all weekend, too shocked and ashamed to ask questions.
From campus I went straight to B&N to get my check and buy some stuff--it was there that my credit card was declined. I wrote it off as another dumb Capital One fluke and called them when I got home, only to discover that my balance was $300 higher than it should have been and I was over my credit limit. After pushing buttons on my phone for ten minutes, I finally got to where I could speak with a human being. He read off the charges and told me they were from Napster. Napster. The ones who gave me a 30-day free trial. The service that was supposed to be $15 a month. Turns out, free is not as free as I thought it was, and there's a difference between "downloading" and "buying." Apparently, everyone knew about this very important distinction except me. I had been downloading (er, excuse me, BUYING) wonderful indie albums willy nilly for the past week, and had racked up $300 in what I thought were free songs. Apparently not. Since it's digital music, there's no way to give it back or get a refund, so I'm just stuck with the bill. That's 2 months worth of saving for me. I've just wasted 2 months of labor. Great.
I'm slightly better today, though the humiliation from both events has worn off slightly. I've had a lot of support from both students and faculty alike on the Mirror thing, which makes me feel better but also makes me even more certain that there must be something fishy going on around here. We have our weekly staff meeting at 4:00 as usual, and it's like some kind of horrible trial looming in the distance. The Mirror tribunal hearing. I just so unsure of how to play this. Should I act as though nothing has happened? Should I be humble and contrite? Obviously distraught? Cold and demure? Proffessional and haughty? I have no idea. I know my advisor is going to talk to me about why I was fired, and I really don't want to hear it. Everyone says I have to face her, but I'm just so hurt by the whole ordeal. I don't know what I'm going to say, how I'm going to publicly react. I don't know if I should go to the editing session on Wednesday. I don't want to. I'm starting to get my customary anxiety symptoms.
It wasn't just me enduring the Friday from hell, Hannah and Amanda were stricken as well. You can read more about it on Hannah's blog, but the long and short of it is, she hit a Mercedes while parking and Amanda got pulled over on her way home. I just keep telling myself, it's only a few more weeks until classes are out. Then the biggest thing I'll have to worry about it whether or not I'm selling enough member cards.
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