"Guidance, my ass!"

People are shit. This didn't just dawn on me, but has come to me over a period of time, marked by several encounters with the shittiest people I know, those idiots who work in the guidance office.

No stupider form of humanity exists, anywhere. Even though most of the janitors are slow at least they get their jobs done. The Idiots (I shall refer to the Guidance People as Idiots for the rest of this article) cannot even do their job. They simply can't.

A typical visit with my Idiot goes something like this. I walk into the office and go to the table where I'm supposed to wait. I've signed up for this time yesterday, and am relieved that I'm the only one waiting. I sit down and wait.

Twenty minutes later I get up and ask the Secretary if my Idiot is in the building. After getting an affirmitive, I go and wait some more. Finally the Idiot shows up. "My new shoes just got in at the store, and I had to go pick them up." (An actual excuse it used once). So we go into its office. I explain my problem in my clear, slow, condescending, talking-to-adults voice, a voice equally well suited for dealing with very young children.

I'm scheduled to take Algebra Trig II, and I want to take Advanced Algebra. I tell it this and it tells me that Algebra Trig II is a much easier course and I would probably be better off sticking with it. I explain that I took it last year, and that I am prepared to move on. This doesn't do anything, though. When I try to initiate changes in my schedule, the Idiot will simply not comply. I want to drop a course to make room for something else, and the Idiot would not help me. The Idiot says it will do things (i.e. call a college, send a letter, etc.) and these things simply don't get done. The Idiot even lost parts of college applications it was holding for my friend.

So, is the problem that Guidance Idiots are overworked? Do they have too many obligations to make the individual's "Guidance Experience" beneficial, or even bearable? What solutions are available to the frazzled student sick of dealing with Idiots?

Besides getting lucky and having your schedule come out the way you want it to, options are scarce. However, dealing with West's Idiots perhaps prepares us for real world experience. After dealing with them, I think that a student could handle anything.