There are two kinds of people in this world. The watchdogs and the dogs who, uh, who uh, get watched. There was probably a better way to say that. Like maybe, the watchers and the watched. Yeah, we'll go with that.
There are two kinds of people in this world. The watchers and the watched. We at the SMDC desk are the... Wait, no, that doesn't work either. Because it contradicts the whole point I'm trying to make with this post. One more time.
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| Bear with me here, because this payoff is going to be good. |
Striking the stalker/voyeuristic vibe that "watchers vs. watched" gives off, this time we're golden (Ponyboy).
There's three kinds of people in this world. Observers, the disinterested, and those bound by policy. We at the SMDC desk are the third kind. There's some red tape keeping us from performing certain tasks.
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| Red Tape 2: Electric Boogaloo |
See, the problem is we're in a convenient place. "But blog post," you ask rightly, knowing you'll get an answer as long as the question is the exact one I'm typing now. "How is the unparalleled convenience of the SMDC desk a problem?" Good question. Let me tell you.
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| "Props on your astute line of questioning, kleine Fraulein. Sit tight while Opa lays it out for you." |
Most of the time people on "the Street" (one of the rare times "the Street" doesn't mean Compton) are looking for a laptop or some headphones or a camera, otherwise known as "the reason the university even bothered to hire most of us." But other times, patrons get up for other reasons. They use the bathroom, they take a phone call, or maybe they just need to stretch their statistically out of state legs.
That's when things get all tangled up in red tape.
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| Red Tape 3: Help, Please, All I Want to do is Leave My House |
The short of it is, we can't be held responsible for their stuff while they're gone. Which is great, in a way. If I wasn't held responsible for stuff, then I wouldn't have to feel so bad about my phone call to my cousin while I was in Atlantic City. But apparently not being held responsible for stuff begins and ends with watching patrons' things while I'm on the clock downstairs in Morris.
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| A map of all the places I have to "think of the consequences." |
My own casino fueled regrets aside, the overarching theme of today is that when someone asks if we can watch their stuff, the answer, unequivocally is "no." Find a way to reject them. Usually a simple "sorry, no can do" will suffice. But sometimes they argue, oh how do they argue. Then you just have to take matters into you're own hands.
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| WE CAN'T BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR LOST OR STOLEN ITEMS. |
I wouldn't say we are" bound by red tape", because to me that means something that prevents someone from doing something that they should easily be able to do and should do. We should not watch users things for them. Why doesn't the user ask the stranger at the person beside them to watch their stuff? Because they don't know them, the stranger doesn't want the responsibility and mainly because it doesn't make sense! I'm still amazed at how many students leave laptops, purses, and textbooks all over the library (with no service desk nearby to ask to watch them). It's a hard lesson to learn, but one that must be learned to make responsible adults. If you leave your wallet in the cart at the grocery store to go to the bathroom, would you expect it to be there when you came back since there's a person stocking shelves nearby? Nope. Okay...climbing off my soapbox now...
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