Whenever German admin wants to let you know that the substance of one of their communiques is non-negotiable, or to simply to add a little gravitas to lighten up their workday, they typically quote chapter and verse of the relevant law. In many ways, the quote is a language unto itself, filled with all sortsContinue reading “The letters of the law”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
When labels meet fables
A painfully short time ago, I wrote about how the IT Department here at the University of Not-Bielefeld spent the better part of a coffee break designing a foolproof system to save its employees from themselves. Spam and phishing e-mails were multiplying exponentially to pandemic proportions so something desperate and drastic had to be done.Continue reading “When labels meet fables”
Flying in the face of the pandemic
After a long, corona-induced abstinence, I recently had the necessity to take to the skies again. Which also meant that after a good six months of pretty much avoiding all forms of public transit, I also had to take a taxi, a streetcar, a train, and a bus all in short order. The last timeContinue reading “Flying in the face of the pandemic”
Belabelling a point
Every time that I start to worry that I’m running out of material for this blog, admin comes through for me. I suppose that means that I should be grateful somehow … … but definitely not in this case. We all know the drill. Once we set up an e-mail account, the very first andContinue reading “Belabelling a point”
COST cutting
Right. If this blog is going to be about the absurdities of admin, might as well finally go after the granddaddy of them all: the European Union. You know, the entity of which the choking bureaucracy was part of the reason that an entire country decided to leave Europe? (Speaking of absurdities, let’s talk aboutContinue reading “COST cutting”
A question of form
Forms are synonymous with admin. And forms are simply awful. Period. (Although most people would agree with each of these sentiments, I strongly suspect that they have never contemplated the logical consequence of linking them together.) There is, of course, the pain inherent to any form in and of itself. However, there’s whole bunches ofContinue reading “A question of form”
Working the chain gang
Remember the good ol’ days of the internet? The days before endless numbers of spam e-mails about penis enlargements or from Nigerian princes? (Or about penis enlargements for Nigerian princes? I mean, they have to invest those millions somewhere, right?) When life was simpler and people were so unsavvy that you actually had to explainContinue reading “Working the chain gang”
Leerevaluations
First off, I should probably explain that title … Despite their stunning underdog victory to claim the title as the funniest nation in Europe in 2001 (sorry for the repetition, but I still can’t wrap my head around that one), most people who don’t speak German don’t realize that it’s actually possible to make punsContinue reading “Leerevaluations”
We are Anonymous
To combat cheating, my University here in Not-Bielefeld recently implemented an online tool (PlagScan) to help to assess the degree of possible plagiarism in student reports and theses. (As an extreme bit of irony, the program came online exactly one day after I submitted a report on a thesis where there were some instances ofContinue reading “We are Anonymous”
The self-fulfilling prophecy
Just a quick one this time around … A few years ago, one of the secretaries (if that job description is even allowed to see the light of day anymore) in the department wanted to rise up the pay scale and, this being Germany, could only do it upon achieving “further qualifications”. (In Germany, everythingContinue reading “The self-fulfilling prophecy”
The Blog About Fog 