Today was what I thought was the first day of my summer semester at St. Charles Community College, only I found out when I got to my class, that it actually started two weeks ago. The only thing I could think of regarding this mistake is that I must have mixed the start date for the five week session with the eight week session. I couldn’t have attended the eight week session even if I’d wanted to as it began one week after my surgery. Now I have to appeal the loss of $600 for my classes. And you know, its totally amazing the difference a helpful person makes. The first lady I encountered in trying to rectify my mistake was totally pleasant and helpful, directing me to another office where she said I should speak to one of two different women. When I got to that office, I encountered a receptionist behind a counter. I told her I was directed there to speak to one of the two women and explained my problem to her. She went to an office, spoke to someone in the office and came back out with a form. She handed me the form and told me to fill it out and turn it in. I tried asking her specifics about the form but her only answer was, “the form should tell you what to do”. Needless to say, she, along with the other woman, was less than helpful. I went back to the original woman just to let her know that the women she directed me to were not helpful. Again, this nice lady stepped up, explained the form to me and outlined exactly what I would need to do to appeal for my refund. Not only that, she dropped my classes for me and got me registered into new classes in the fall. I’ve been working on this Associates degree for going on twenty years, and only since my retirement have I become dedicated to receiving my Degree. It was something I never thought I would accomplish but now I’m in line to graduate in December. Lesson learned and I may be out $600 but thank you to that nice lady! Oh, the only bright side was that the handicapped parking spot I parked in was right outside her door, not close to my class, but close to her!