...but somehow I didn't. So when the first of two checks from UMaryland came for teaching my summer course, I was rather startled by the amount on the check. It's several hundred dollars short of what they promised (assuming the checks will be for equal amounts). Now, I know that taxes eat sizable chunks from the gross pay....but when your gross pay is already starting out much, much below what you were led to believe, it can make for unpleasant shocks about "net pay".

This makes me very grumpy. I signed a contract for a certain amount and, dammit, I expect that amount. It's a contract after all.

So I emailed the lovely lady in charge of finances for the linguistics department, asking very prettily who it was exactly that I should bitch to. I'll have to see who she recommends. But, gah! Stupid $#@%!&* payroll system. It's bad enough there's a 4-week delay until they start paying you (unlike the two-week delay which most places have)....no, no, no....they must also do their best to make sure not to pay you what they promised.

As many have noted, "I love this $#@%!&* university and this university loves $#@%!&* me."

As it stands now, because of $#@%!&* expensive Vienna conference thing, I am now significantly poorer than I expected.


Grar.