Hanging On The Telephone At MDC

The phone is not dead—although it may seem that way after calling the same person numerous times and getting no response.

You expect this kind of treatment from scorned lovers or insurance agents, but not from school officials or employees.

If you have never had to contact anyone at Miami Dade College, and were able to handle everything by yourself, you have a secret the world needs to know.

To the rest of you that don’t posses this power— prepare for some hardship.

Trying to get in touch with the financial aid department is a perfect example; it always leaves a bad taste in your mouth and it doesn’t take much to know why.

Try calling financial aid and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

It’s a hassle. You’ll be bounced from person to person— if you’re lucky enough to get to speak to someone live. Sometimes it takes 30 minutes until someone picks up the phone. All of that for someone to fix your problem in less than five minutes. It’s enough to leave a student frustrated and with an impending ulcer.

Contacting people, especially people who are on the college’s directory listing, shouldn’t be like pushing a boulder up a hill. You get put on hold before hearing the dreadful words: “They’re in a meeting. I can direct you to their voicemail to leave a message.”

The voicemail, you would think, is the lesser of two evils, but then you hear the words: “You cannot leave a message for this number because their inbox is full.”

At this point, you’re bleeding from your ears.

Why do administrators, department heads, athletic coaches, professors and such, constantly have their voicemail inbox full?

Do they not listen to their messages? Is it possible that they purposely leave their voicemail inundated?

What is a student to do, when the quest for the answer comes to a sudden stop?

The phone can’t be dead.

Unfortunately, many of these questions can’t be answered for MDC students because their messages have never been returned.