Today I’m not going to complain about the mild annoyance of a fire alarm being triggered at UNSW. I’m also not going to complain about the stupidity of an announcement stating that everyone being able to return to the building after everyone has returned to the building.

I’m also not going to complain about whoever responds to emails not being able to read and spell a name, but today that shall be the choice, I think.

After getting a wonderfully patronising response in regards to a request to get after hours access to the computer lab to be able to do some of my coursework on programs that are only available in the computer lab, I found myself quite irate. Whilst I didn’t appreciate the email, partly due to it assuming that I was an idiot, what really grinder my gears was the person’s inability to spell my name despite it being right there in front of them.

People at UNSW leave something to be desired.

Wait.

People who are working in administration, as well as a number of the professors and course coordinators leave something to be desired. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe my expectation of having a basic standard of treating people with a bit of respect is asking for a bit too much. Maybe I do demand too much from people. I don’t know. I don’t think it is too hard to have at the very least a basic attachment to reality and the ideal of not treating people like they’re idiots or not worthy of respect.

My name is not hard to spell. It’s straightforward. It can be seen in writing. However, many people seem to decide that the best course of action is to spell it how they see fit instead of bothering to actually pay attention. A name may not be much to some, but to others it is quite a lot. Despite it just being a word, it is part of someone’s identity. I can only speak for myself (unsurprisingly). I strongly believe that it is quite disrespectful to spell someone’s name incorrectly if you have a clear indicator of how to spell their name.

If you have the information in front of you, then you have no excuse. What you’re doing is putting on an indication that you don’t care enough to bother to pay attention to what someone is saying or requesting, or even who they may or may not be. It’s rubbish.

Admittedly it is almost as disrespectful as sending a patronising response that ends in a “no”. The ability of the staff at UNSW to actually formulate an email that is not insulting or patronising is almost entirely nonexistent. The staff need some serious training in order to not talk down to students. They may be “educated”, but lacking in the ability to not be shitty people when not face-to-face is not acceptable.

Not all staff, of course, but most of them.

People piss me off as well, but that does not justify providing customer service in a less than acceptable manner.

One last thing: When a fire alarm is going off, having students walk around the perimeter of the building that may be on fire before going to a location that is only about fifty metres away and has a fairly clear space from said building is both dangerous and stupid.

End rant.