Mr. Wiggins, there's a triceratops on line 3...

Hi, all!

It's me again.

Your friendly, neighborhood beeyotch.

I'm currently on hold on the telephone and thought I'd start hammering this post out, while I wait to get some resolution.

Let's see if I can bring you up to speed, while I'm waiting to speak to someone at [Kid 2]'s school. Today's story started...


about two weeks ago, I suppose.

I wasn't actually present at this first part. [Kid 2], a senior this year...I still can't believe that...had registration at her school. A PUBLIC high school here in River City. That seems relevant, somehow.

Now, back in my day (the Triassic period, we used to call it), high school registration was done in June for the next year. At some point, over the summer, you got a print out of your classes and information on where your homeroom was located. The first day of classes was a horror, getting lockers assigned and picking up books and such. But, you know, we rocked it old-school then. REEEEAL old school...like with ditto machines and manual typewriters. And maybe even rotary cellphones, if your 'rents had a little put by.

Like most things, I'm here to tell you, that stuff is a thing of the past.

This year, because of work schedules, her beloved step-daddy accompanied her to registration. Her choice (which is kinda sweet...but that's a whole other blog post). And, like last year, it involved picking up her schedule, paying fees for the courses she would be taking, getting her locker, having her student ID made...SCREEEEEECH

That's right, "paying fees for the courses she would be taking" at a public high school. Now, some of this I can see. There were a few courses I had in high school, where there were costs for supplies that may have been above and beyond...like Home Ec and Chemistry. Not so now. Now there are fees for Senior English and U.S. History.

U.S. History is what I'm on hold about right now...and "on about" right here.

The course fee for U.S. History this year was $30. Which, you know, seems exhorbitant to me. It does. It doesn't factor in field trips or any such.

Honestly, though, what's got me frothing today (and, technically, it started last night) is that [Kid 2] came home from school yesterday and asked me if she could download something on the computer. All innocently, not suspecting that my head would be exploding in 5...4...3...2...I asked what it was.

Wait for it.

It was a disc with her U.S. History textbook on it. It needed to be downloaded and the disc returned to her class (so other students could do the same).

The synapses were trying to short, so I tried to reroute the data in an emergency manuever that failed miserably. "Um, why do you need to download a textbook?", I asked...all non-chalantly making like my brain had completely forgotten about that $30 fee. "Because we don't have enough textbooks for the class and I need this to be able to do homework."

Uh...

Uh...



So, I've paid $30 for a fee for a U.S. History class and my child can't even get a textbook?!?!?!?!?

I gathered up the pieces of my cranium, vented a little last night, and now I'm on hold as the school passes me around from one person who doesn't want to answer my question to another.

My question, of course, is how does this work? Am I getting a refund or a textbook?

Hey! Guess what! The school was able to find a textbook for my daughter! How great is that?!?! Guess I can take the skates off now...