The Graduate

Photo by Andrew Michaels

I received a phone call the other night, from someone at Napier University. It was basically a begging call, looking for donations from their alumni.

It took me aback a bit, because during the course of the phonecall I discovered that I graduated from Napier with a 1st in Accounting in 1990.

Did I? It was news to me!

The Napier Uni Alumni Association has plagued me for the last few years. It doesn't seem to matter where I move to in Edinburgh, they manage to track me down. The other night, they bothered my dad for my phone number. I'm pretty sure the Canadian Mounties could learn a thing or two from them about tracking people down.

I wouldn't mind so much but I despised my time at Napier. For a start, I was too immature for University life. If it had come along a couple of years later I would have thrown myself wholeheartedly into it, but at that particular moment I was still a wee laddie physically, emotionally and intellectually. I was also studying a subject that bored me to tears. I had enjoyed Accounting at school, but soon realised that it was a completely different subject at Uni.

By midway through my second year, I'd had enough. My attendance dropped to practically zero and I only bothered to sit one of my second year exams, failing it spectacularly. So you can see why I was surprised to discover that Napier think I graduated with a 1st!

So twice a year, when the Alumni magazine falls through my letterbox, it goes straight into the recycling bin unread. And here's where I bring it around to the green - during the phonecall the other night, I persuaded the woman that I didn't want to receive any more communication from Napier, ever. Hopefully, she'll tick the box that takes me off the mailing list and it'll be one less wasted resource making it's way out into the world.

Still, it'd be nice if they sent me a graduation certificate!