Everyday is a Siege of Terror

My former advisor told me this of school a few years a go. How true.
We have very little staff at the moment, this segues neatly with the faculty situation. On Wednesday I had to teach two classes, and I wanted to have people write on the board, so I needed two additional dry erase markers. This really should not be a big deal. Really. It shouldn't. However, I had to speak to two different people, and fill out an official Requisition Form to borrow markers. The lady who made me fill out the form at first told me I couldn't have them since I'm teaching for a different department. I have learned to keep asking the same question (as if I don't understand) until a person capitulates in exhaustion. Eventually, she stopped typing, and we went to the cabinet of crap. She looked at a cup containing about a dozen markers, and said, "No, we don't have them!" "They're right there," I said. Then, she wanted to give me Sharpies. For fuck sakes!
I finally got some markers. I went to class, and most of them failed to copy down what went up on the board. Dang kids.
I realized while watching Cops this evening that what they do is no different from what I do, though I'd like to think I'm not as racist as the cops are.
As my mother says, "Fuck them if they can't take a joke."