Rules
So, I'd be having one of what you would call, a bad day. It wasn't supposed to be a bad day. I was supposed to be let's meet up with friends and have fun day but fate wasn't letting me have it. It has been nagging on my mind the whole day and I just really dislike it that when something bad happens, I can't simply reset myself and tell myself not to ruin the rest of the day.I was supposed to have dance class at 1 - 3 today and my school has a very stupid system in the South Campus whereby I have to swipe my student id card to get into the building. The thing is, I lost my ub card quite a while back, so when I was supposed to go to dance this semester, I told the person working there very specifically that I lost my card, and I asked if there was any way around it - such as any other identification I can show. That was in February and the person working there then told me, yes I could get my id from the school website and they can record the number of my pass and let me in. So I was like, good, I don't have to pay money to replace the card. Since February, I have been using my mobile id to get into the building with no problems at all. There was an instance where my phone ran out of battery and I didn't have my mobile id, and the person working there told me that it was alright to use an out-of-school id to enter the building only once a month. Crystal clear, I agreed to it and those rules.
Last week, I lost my phone cable and I didn't have battery on my phone again, so I used my once-a-month grace non-student id to get into the building. Today, I had my phone and for some unspeakable reason suddenly the person working there tells me that it is not acceptable to use my mobile id (this is not the same person who told me the rules all the way back in February), and since I already used my grace of the month, I was not allowed into the building.
So I started arguing (respectfully) with her that this was not what I was told, and tried to ask her to let me in just on the account that I was told the wrong rules according to her. I gave her many valid reasons like the fact that I have been entering the building all semester without a problem when I showed my mobile id, and that I'd be back next week so I would get the card replaced by then but she was relentless. At that point I have argued with her for a whole 20 minutes and when she finally decided not to even argue with me ad stood firm on the idea of not letting me in, I decided there was no way I could get past her and so I decided to go through the back door by asking one of my dance mates to open it for me.
Yea, so she saw me on the camera, called me out of the room and we argued for another 20 minutes. I'll admit that sneaking in through the backdoor was my fault and is against the rules but honestly between 1, not being able to get in through the front door, or 2, taking my chances of not being caught through the backdoor, the latter actually has a chance that I can be in the building while the first has none whatsoever.
I just don't understand why the rules have to be so stupid because she obviously knows I am a student. The mobile id proofs that I am a student. She knows I can't run any where because I still have class there the following week. Like I would still have to get the card replaced by then anyway what's the difference? And the fact that the different staff tell me different rules, like could she not have given me the grace to go through just for today? Rules will be rules, but to work you have to be flexible.
I once went to Wegmans and I was short on cash because I just changed my atm card and the card wasn't working. Instead of insisting that I take some stuff out, the staff there helped me find a few small change of tens of cent to help me patch up for what I lacked. Was it proper? Could she have just told me that Rules are Rules and just no? Sure, she could. But she didn't and that made my entire day. I was so grateful to her for that. But this is like, I'm a paying student of the school and I have proper evidence that I am a student of the school but no rules are rules and you are not allowed into the building even though technically you paid for it. I just don't understand? Like what's the point of being so strict on it? It's not like I'm some kind of terrorist that is going to bomb up the place or something.
I don't exactly blame the lady working there, she did her best to remain respectful as I did and I do appreciate that but sometimes people have got to question why rules are there instead of telling me rules are rules. I even asked her if she knows I am a student and she said yes, but I still can't let you in.
What makes me even more mad is that when I am mad, when I am frustrated and especially when I argue with any person at all, I tend to cry. It makes me feel even worse because I don't want to use my tears as an excuse of any sort to win a battle. I feel like its pathetic and short-handed in a manner but for some reason I just can't stop it.
I had the whole evening spent with Tomomie-san as was planned but I just felt like nothing would take my mind away from what happened earlier in the day and I really hate it when a single small thing like this just ruins my mood for the entire day.
The Good Things
So, I know I have been very negative about my whole stay here but really there are some good sides to it. So today, I'll talk about those,People here are very willing to give compliments. I'm still not used to it myself in the sense that I do not give out compliments as easily as others do but I try. People will tell you that they like you clothes, they like your hair, they like your shoes, they like whatever. They tell you good job on things, they tell you things like that that make your day. I was uncomfortable with accepting the compliments at first, but now I just say thank you. Usually people pay another compliment back in return... I'm still working on that. It was when I was thinking about Singapore when I realized this. We don't pay others compliments a lot in Singapore. I guess we have a different mentality that we should push them harder, but sometimes these compliments really helps to boost your confidence in working on something.
People are really open in talking to you. I once said a long time again that when I was in Singapore, it took me an entire year to start making friends in Singapore under the same University program. I am that hard of a person to make friends with if not added by the fact that I do not respond to messages and stuff. Here, because everyone talks to literally everyone, it makes it easier to make friends. As much as I am only here for such a short time, I have made many friends here. It came as a silver lining that I fell out with my Singaporean friend because I started to open my network. Many Singaporeans come here and they stick to their own circle of friends and don't open out to the other cultures that are available in this campus. Because I wasn't close to any Singaporeans, I had that chance. I've made friends from Malaysia, from Japan, from Korea, from China, from Russia, from US itself, and this is coming for someone who is like potentially an anti-social (no, I'm just too awkward to make friends and open up about myself).
People are willing to give you a ride if it is on the way. I mean the cars here come way cheaper than the ones in Singapore. You can literally buy a car for US$1500 but people are way more willing to car pool here than in Singapore. Okay, maybe that is part of the reason because if you have a car in Singapore it pretty much means you are at least moderately wealthy and you're scared of getting robbed, but it's really easy to carpool here. I once had this lady who saw me carrying bags of groceries back home and she gave me a ride back. I didn't even know her. I don't know her name. All she introduced herself as was that she worked in UB and would be willing to show me her card if it would make me feel safer to get a ride.
In a way, I guess these are the things that I would miss when I leave this place. That, and the Mexican food here.
Labels: appreciation, buffalo, school, the good things, USA
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