Unwritten Rules Bug Me
I have been very careful about my business over the last few months. Mostly because I have a cheap side to me and in the process of moving I didn't want to do something that I could be penalized for. For instance, a number of the bills I pay are taken automatically from my checking account. Over the past few years I have learned that if you pay off accounts that automatically take your payment from the bank, even though they're paid in full, they do not stop taking the automatic payment until you tell them to. Moreover, if you don't tell them well in advance (a whole month for some), they still take a payment and make you wait for a refund check. Few companies make this public; in most cases it's something you have to learn on your own.
Something similar happens when instead of breaking ties you are making new ones. In every new job that I have had I have found that people do similar things differently. I am in the midst of learning those things here at Evangel University. Typically, some of those "rules procedures done differently" are written and even posted somewhere that you can see them. You read them and hope to remember when the time comes for you to carry it out. For other rules and procedures you are not so fortunate. I have never worked anywhere but that there are not, alongside of the written rules and procedures, also a set of unwritten rules and procedures. These are the ones you haven't a clue about and assume they do it like the last place, only to find out your offense after you have violated the rule. Some of these things I understand, you just have to hang around long enough to learn the routine. Other things, well . . . ah, sort of drive me nuts. It's all I can do at times to keep my mouth shut and not make a jerk out of myself (something I do quite well). Last week after receiving a warning for parking in the wrong spot, it was all I could do to keep myself from screaming, "if this is student parking only, then put up a sign saying so!" but I didn't.
I'm becoming more aware of how much people need to be told what you expect from them. I fail at this too. Sometimes it may be because I don't want others to think I am trivial; and yet I am more and more appreciative of the person or company that is brutally direct about business. I don't like having to figure out what is expected of me, and I am more aware now than ever of how I communicate to students, those whom I have some expectations of in the classroom. There's always a balance here, sometimes you can overwhelm people with information, but leaving too much up to assumption only makes for bad relations. You know what they say about assume?