Squeaky Wheel

I'm writing earlier in the day than usual because I'm doing my least favorite thing: waiting. My boss is supposed to be calling me "after she finishes an early meeting." The work-related crap I didn't feel like getting into a few days ago is this: My department sent out an email just before the start of summer classes with our paydates. I taught my first class for five weeks before I got paid one half of my contract amount. That was fine, or at least I knew it up front and was able to plan. My second-half, first-session pay was supposed to be direct-deposited on July 8. This date was perfect; I was on vacation and would be able to transfer the money to pay my mortgage. On the alleged payday, I checked my credit union account. No pay. I look at pending deposits. Nothing. I called my office and was told that the date had been changed to July 20. (When I later looked at my work email, I saw that a note had been sent out around 10:30 that morning to reflect the change.) When is a good time to find out that your pay will be delayed by a week and a half? If there is a good time, it's not 10:30 on the day you expected to be paid.

After I talked to our office assistant, I called payroll. "Oh, yes, we know about that, but unfortunately there's nothing we can do about it." Again, unacceptable. The woman I spoke with in payroll forwarded me a copy of an email I never received, a long note with a single bullet point addressing adjunct pay. Most adjuncts don't teach summer classes, so in that regard I'm lucky to have been assigned three. (Classes on base are different because of the lengthy credentialing process.) While it's true I'm not in it for the money, it's also true that I need my pittance. Had I known that I wouldn't be paid on July 8, I could have scheduled more scoring work; I've never not been paid on time by that company. Anyway, I don't have a problem with assertiveness, but as an adjunct I also recognize that I can only be so "squeaky". My position is tenuous. If I'm too big a pain, I may not be asked to teach -- blackballed, if you will. I have full-time hours scheduled for this fall and next spring, but it's easy enough for the college to assign other adjuncts to those classes or simply not "invite" me back after that.

On Tuesday, after we returned from vacation, I called my Dean. At first his assistant said he was in and she would see if he was available to talk. Then she said she had been wrong, that he was out of the office and wouldn't return for the rest of the day; he would call me Wednesday morning. I said to my son, "Just watch; I know he'll look up my schedule and call when I'm in class." I was half-right. The Associate Dean called and left a message at 5:10 (my class starts at 5:00) and said she didn't want to let the day pass without getting back to me -- acknowledging that she knew I was in class. She said she would call this morning. So here I sit, unwilling to get started on much of anything until after I speak with her, feeling pissed that the Dean didn't think the situation warranted his direct attention, and wondering exactly what I'm going to say when she finally does call. If my department (and the college overall) is trying to show me how little I matter as an adjunct, they're getting the message across loud and clear.