So, you know how I've been commenting (ie: angrily, tearfully, incredulously stating) that I didn't get ANY responses from prospective employers this summer? Since last summer, I've had my University of Minnesota email account routed to my gmail inbox. I can send from either address, it's all in one place with the gmail interface, which I much prefer to "gophermail". It's always worked really well.
Well, I realized today that I haven't received ANYTHING sent to my University email account since June 23rd. I went to the U of M website, went through the annoying 3 or 4 pages of security questions and passwords, and found 130 unopened messages.
Dozens of them are replies to job applications I filled out. Lots are responses to questions I submitted about my internship, my fall program, my student billing account... There are a bunch from the instructor of my summer class, giving updates on assignments and exams.
I'm devastated. I should have suspected a long time ago that something wasn't working, but I was too busy feeling miserable and rejected and overwhelmed. I never suspected that there was something technically wrong with my email settings; I went straight to believing that I'm worthless and unlovable and no one wanted to hire me or communicate with me. I could have had a different job back in June, instead of slogging through another 2 and 1/2 months of driving and abuse. I could have gotten a lot more done, and my mood and my summer activities would have been a lot different. I feel awful.
4 comments:
Are you happy now, though? You can't change anything from the past- and I'm a big believer that life takes you where you need to be. So even though I imagine it feels awful, try to remember that pain can be necessary- you're EXACTLY where your life was taking you anyway. Now come get your print.
Megan, I would have to politely disagree with you.
Alisha, I would contact the U of M IT department and anyone else who will listen and formally complain. That's completely unacceptable. IT people do, and should, get fired for that level of negligence. Contact anyone who wrote to you and briefly explain the situation. A stock letter to most of the people with an apology/explanation should suffice. Regardless of what your current situation is, this has the potential to be a tremendous blemish on your record, including with people you may one day want to apply with again. You have a lot of repair work to do. If possible, get a formal letter of apology from the University that you could copy and forward to the jobs you'd applied for.
Good luck.
Sorry to hear this Alisha. That is pretty awful.
Be glad that you've found the problem, but definitely be proactive about it.
A quick note apologizing and explaining the situation would probably go a long way. Don't let a tech fuck up hurt you in the long run.
Best of luck.
@Don: I will definitely call the IT department and ask for an explanation, especially so I can prevent this type of error from happening again (or maybe I will just have to use Gophermail...)
However, I don't hold out hope for a lot of remorse on their end. All of the tech dept/computer access information that I was given upon registration explicitly warned me against merging my inboxes. I went against that warning, and I think my experience is exactly what they wanted to prevent.
@ Jesse: I do plan to contact my professor and a few other people to let them know why I didn't respond. Thanks for the encouragement.
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