Monday, March 9, 1998
Murphy’s law
EMPLOYEES: Employees working in the administration building are
students just trying to help, not sadistic, power-mad mutants
By Starr Keilman
Daily Bruin Contributor
Many UCLA students find it extremely painful to venture into the
administration building, and they attempt to avoid it at all costs.
Long lines, big hassles and the "rude people" who work behind those
glass windows make going to Murphy Hall an unpleasant experience
for some.
However, there are those who wake up everyday and trudge through
Murphy Hall’s doors. They are the "rude people" who work there, and
one may find that they are not all rude. In fact, many of them are
only trying to help UCLA’s students.
Murphy Hall is the home of many administrative offices. Included
in these offices are the Main Cashier’s Office, Student Accounting,
the Registrar’s Office and Financial Aid. Students deal with the
Main Cashier’s Office and Student Accounting most frequently during
their stay at UCLA.
Farzana Hossain, a recent graduate of Cal State Northridge, has
only been working for the Main Cashier’s office for eight months,
and she has already adapted to the complicated life there.
Hossain’s duties include working at the window processing payments,
answering phone calls and balancing Bruin Direct.
Watching Hossain work and interact with the students, it is
apparent that she is anything but rude. In fact, the thing she
enjoys most about her job is "being able to answer students
questions correctly and to direct them in the right direction."
Stephen Ingram, who works in Murphy Hall’s student accounting
office, agrees with Hossain. He also attempts to make students’
trips to Murphy as painless as possible. Ingram tries his best to
mediate between the campus and its clients.
He describes his overall work as doing "everything to help the
client while still abiding by the institution’s instructions."
Ingram has worked in Student Accounting for six years, not only
working with those attempting to understand their bills but also
handling all of the returned checks from students, non-students and
various other on-campus stations such as housing and parking.
Ingram is also the campus bankruptcy coordinator.
While students may be very conscious of their own frustrations
with Murphy, few may consider the frustrations of working there –
and there are more than a few.
During peak times, a cashier at the Main Cashier’s Office may
process as many as 2,000 to 3,000 transactions in a single day.
Those who work in Student Accounting don’t have much idle time
either.
Ingram says the most frustrating part of his work lies in "the
fact that (the students) are so quick to blame the system because
they don’t understand the system. By the system I mean BAR (Billing
and Accounts Receivable) and university policies."
Ingram says he thinks that if students would get familiar with
their accounting information it would lower the frustration for
both themselves and employees.
Hossain says she thinks relations between students and
administrative offices could definitely improve if students read
the information sent to them. However, she also admits more
students would probably read the information if it were better
summarized and less detailed.
One of the most common complaints of students is that they have
to go to too many different offices before they are actually
helped. Chris Armbruster, a first-year business/economics student,
understands this criticism. He has found that there is some
miscommunication between the different offices.
Both students and employees recognize the need to improve
communication between the different administrative offices. In
order to reduce the chances of wrongly referring students to other
offices, workers need to learn more about what each of the other
offices does.
Suggestions for improving communication between offices include
more inter-office meetings and a newsletter describing the current
activities of each office. Students also proposed putting a
directory at the entrance, describing the responsibilities of each
department, so that they can figure out where to go.
College life offers more than its share of stress, and the added
worry about bills, due dates and late fees is something students do
not need. While these things do add more stress to student life,
some feel that the employees are unsympathetic to their problems.
Until a year and a half ago, Judy Cervantes, a third-year English
student, also had this complaint.
Cervantes, currently a student worker in the Main Cashier’s
Office, now knows what it is like to live on both sides of the
glass windows. She now realizes why the employees sometime become
frustrated when there are so many students who don’t know the
answer to even basic questions.
Many students do not even realize that they are supposed to be
getting a bill every month, a bill that is due on the 20th. If they
are not they need to check if their address is correct. When
registration comes around there are hour long lines because people
miss the deadline, completely oblivious to that when a bill should
be coming. Cervantes advises students to listen to URSA.
Going to Murphy Hall does not need to be a grueling experience.
When making a trip there, students should keep in mind that the
long lines are a result of those who do not pay their bill on time
or wait until the last minute, the hassles are created from not
being aware of basic information and the "rude" workers are mostly
only trying to help students.