Londonward

Seems when working for the LSE, you have to be prepared to wait a long time for your money if you’re new or getting it due to unconventional circumstances. In this case, I’m still waiting (and apparently will be, for another month) for the extra cash the School was supposed to pay me for extra shifts this past summer. Yeah, it’s nearly 3 months now. I am so not impressed.

Everyone concerned is blaming each other, and in the midst of all this us lowly workers are left wanting. And it’s not a little bit of money I’m owed, either - if I remember my claim form right it adds up to some £400! I was hoping to have some extra cash in November to maybe buy something cool (like new clothes, or a new sleeping bag because who knows when you’ll need one) or even stash something away on the off-chance that I’ll actually get into Oxbridge.

Supposedly, there is some back-office wrangling going on to get us paid. Eh, maybe I’ll just end up getting extra money for Christmas presents.

(Though that means a smaller-than-expected paycheck this month. Damn.)

What a surprise that my salary payment has been screwed up again. This time I’ve been paid for my regular hours on time but the extra hours we put in on a Sunday and a Monday morning in August haven’t been counted. I understand that my direct supervisor is extremely stressed and busy at the moment, but it took until my colleague and I marched into his office this morning that he took up the phone and called the person responsible.

Apparently we haven’t been paid because she is new and had been left with no instructions about what to do with a list of names our department had provided. I can understand that, but she could have at least asked. It now seems like we’ll be paid at the end of October for stuff we did in August. Not a good thing, especially considering I am more than a little skint at the moment.

Out of the blue I get an email in my school mailbox, according to which due to them not having received any fee payments for this academic year, my library rights have been withdrawn and, should I not pay the outstanding £1900 in the next few days, I will be de-registered and kicked out of the school. I was under the impression that the Student Loans Company had arranged payment of my tuition fees for this year and hadn’t even looked at my fees status until now. I was able to pull up a letter they had sent me sometime in November, and I’m taking that to the Fees Office to ask them what’s up. Not being able to check out books would suck, considering I have several thousand words to write.

I’ll keep all two of you posted.

Update: As usual, a royal fuckup by the Student Loans Company is the culprit. Apparently, they sent out loan payment notifications out late, meaning the LSE didn’t actually apply them to student records or something. I’ve been given a few days to look at my statements (and if necessary contact the SLC) and confirm I should be paid. What I don’t understand is why I have to be the one doing the legwork when it’s an issue between the policies of two public institutions.

March 12 Update: My LSE For You account now shows that they have billed the Student Loans Company. I assume that means I can concentrate on stressing out about essays only for the remainder of the week. Thanks for your comments, everyone.

It was payday today. Only problem? I wasn’t paid.

The long and the short of it: I went to the cash machine to get some money out for lunch. “You may withdraw NIL” was the friendly message I got. The next step was to go to the bank to ask if they’ve accidentally put the money into the other account I mysteriously have. They hadn’t.

I was fuming by the time I got to the HR department. A guy I explained my problem to asked me for my name and immediately recognized who I was. Apparently, there had been a problem with a contract I had been issued for 3 days of training prior to my actual starting date. I asked them if they had contacted my department about it because I for one hadn’t heard anything was wrong after I’d signed the new contract. Apparently they had been in contact with the departmental administrator, but no-one had thought to tell me I wasn’t getting paid. It also doesn’t explain why I wasn’t paid for the entire time my other contract was valid (that is, the time between my original planned start date and today). Who cares about when I get paid for the 3 extra days of work I did in September?

I told the HR guy that I’ve been waiting to get paid for 2 months now and that any extra days would just push me deeper into the red. He said there was nothing else he could do except “maybe” put me on a “supplementary payroll” where I could get paid on the 5th of December. Hooray! I told them that I would require some sort of documentation stating why this has happened, for being overdue on rent or something. In this country, it’s always good to have letters stating things. But a letter won’t remove the fact that I am flat broke until I do get paid, which seems to be in 5 days.

People put up with this?