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Is there anything more drab and yawn-inducing than weekend duty? Don't think so. I think I'm going to lie down for a bit and hope nobody calls. Ususally they call when I've just dozed off.
Last week was rather tough, so much so that I can't imagine what it would have been like, had I made the trip to Islamabad on top of everything. So it's another silent thank you to the Defenders of Avarice who made me cancel the trip because it was too expensive.
It wasn't a bad week, though. Because my friend Irene (still in Lisbon) came to stay with me for 2 days, and I finished all the work I had to do. Yesterday, however, I had to hold my lecture on immigration law twice, 2 hours in the morning for the budding diplomats and 4 in the afternoon for the consular and administrative staff. The budding diplomats were a bit tiresome, especially when I tried to convince them that, if a foreigner has got a letter of admission from an Austrian university, it's useless to try and squeeze some German out of them, because they don't necessarily have to speak German to be admitted.
I know that sometimes I'm a bit of a pessimist (or maybe just a realist, but most of the time that's more or less the same), but what really worries me is that people, given even the smallest amount of power, suddenly believe they're gods. Many people, anyway. I mean, look at visa officers: even though it sounds overly dramatic, they have the power to make or break people's destinies. And they should be very conscious of that fact. Of course, many of those who apply for student (or other) residence permits don't really intend to study but to work illegally. Many of the applicants submit fake documents. And it's certainly important for a visa officer to bear that in mind. However, that doesn't give anybody the right to turn into a sadist or use what little power they've got to inflate their egos.
Some of the little diplomats seem to be going right in that direction, though.
One of them, visibly disappointed because he mustn't examine the applicants' knowledge of German, asked, "But if the person wants to study architecture, I can ask him questions about architecture, can't I?" By that time, I was so fed up with his snottiness that I merely answered, "Of course, if you're sure you know the answers." Gah.
Today doesn't seem to be very busy, and I don't have any office work to catch up on. So I think I'll really lie down for a bit. The temptation of just taking the receiver off the phons is enormous. Can't do that though. Maybe the Powers That Be have mercy on me and let me nap for a little while.
Last week was rather tough, so much so that I can't imagine what it would have been like, had I made the trip to Islamabad on top of everything. So it's another silent thank you to the Defenders of Avarice who made me cancel the trip because it was too expensive.
It wasn't a bad week, though. Because my friend Irene (still in Lisbon) came to stay with me for 2 days, and I finished all the work I had to do. Yesterday, however, I had to hold my lecture on immigration law twice, 2 hours in the morning for the budding diplomats and 4 in the afternoon for the consular and administrative staff. The budding diplomats were a bit tiresome, especially when I tried to convince them that, if a foreigner has got a letter of admission from an Austrian university, it's useless to try and squeeze some German out of them, because they don't necessarily have to speak German to be admitted.
I know that sometimes I'm a bit of a pessimist (or maybe just a realist, but most of the time that's more or less the same), but what really worries me is that people, given even the smallest amount of power, suddenly believe they're gods. Many people, anyway. I mean, look at visa officers: even though it sounds overly dramatic, they have the power to make or break people's destinies. And they should be very conscious of that fact. Of course, many of those who apply for student (or other) residence permits don't really intend to study but to work illegally. Many of the applicants submit fake documents. And it's certainly important for a visa officer to bear that in mind. However, that doesn't give anybody the right to turn into a sadist or use what little power they've got to inflate their egos.
Some of the little diplomats seem to be going right in that direction, though.
One of them, visibly disappointed because he mustn't examine the applicants' knowledge of German, asked, "But if the person wants to study architecture, I can ask him questions about architecture, can't I?" By that time, I was so fed up with his snottiness that I merely answered, "Of course, if you're sure you know the answers." Gah.
Today doesn't seem to be very busy, and I don't have any office work to catch up on. So I think I'll really lie down for a bit. The temptation of just taking the receiver off the phons is enormous. Can't do that though. Maybe the Powers That Be have mercy on me and let me nap for a little while.
