Thursday, July 15, 2010

Deliver us!

Okay, I'll make this short and sweet.  Well, no guarantees on sweet.

I have a problem with a university that ups its parking tickets by $5 if you don't pay within 72 hrs., but does not even send an explanation when I don't get paid for two months plus a week.

I also have a problem with a university that charges me a late fee on a bill I don't owe, but says nothing about paying me interest on late wages.

Okay, that felt better.  Kinda.

Hats off to a conscientious gal in the chemistry office who sleuthed her way through the bureaucracy.  She is a shining light in a gloomy, benighted system.

I got paid half the amount I should be paid today.  But when I called accounting to ask them to remove a late payment fee on my account, she told me shortly that she could only do that once I'd paid my bills.  I chuckled and told her I'd be more than happy to pay the university once the university pays me.  A notice at the beginning of the month told me they're about to hand my case over to a collection agency. 

It's not that I'm unwilling to pay.  It's just that I can't pay you until you pay me.

The steps to stability:
1) Pray -- hard.
2) Laugh -- hard.
3) Find a lesson -- hard.

Here's the lesson I'm drawing from this.
Keep power structures/pay structures as personal as possible.  If you're not going to pay someone, you should have to tell them in person and see what their face looks like.
A cell can only grow so big before needing to divide.  The same is true of a business or government.
For anyone in a love affair with big government, I hope this serves as a warning.  Minimize the probability of committing sin.

"Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns.  Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin."  (Deuteronomy 24:14-15).

(Originally written 10/23/09 at 2:52PM)

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