What should I do when . . . ?

Solving common UGL conundrums,

one blog posting at a time

Eva G. Is a genius.

Tuesday we were discussing how to resolve one of the usual little problems that crop up in Club UGL from time to time. Sadly, with the passage of time I've forgotten what that issue was. This is unfortunate, because on Tuesday the problem and the resolution to said problem seemed like rather important knowledge that all the GSAs should know. During the course of our conversation, Eva mentioned that we should put "how to" information like this on the Blog.

See, what a genius.

This seems like a particularly good idea since so many GSAs are moving upward and onward in a month or two, and us newbies and future GSAs won't know many of the tips and tricks that make Club UGL run smoothly.

So, my fellow Clubbers, if you run across any pertinent knowledge please post it on the Blog. I'll put permanent links to them in the gray sidebar. For ease of information location, please post separate issues in separate posts. You should also be able to find posts by using the search box up at the top.

To get things moving, I'll start by posting below this little bit of wisdom, which I gained only a few hours after my discussion with Eva the Genius. Enjoy. . .

What do I do when a student

mysteriously locks himself in the emergency stairwell?

Tuesday afternoon Heather and I were in the hallway leading to the Computer Help Desk, when we heard furious knocking. We turned to see a student locked in one of the emergency stairwells (near the women's restroom).

I'm not sure how this happened. In theory, an alarm is supposed to go off when the doors to the emergency stairwell are opened, or so says the sign on the first floor door. And yet, no alarms. And apparently, once someone has entered the stairwell he or she must rely on the kindness of strangers to let him or her out. Ahhhh good.

I was about to open the door to let the poor student out, however Heather warned against it in case the alarms decided to start functioning again. Rethinking this, I decided that on the whole that Heather's was good advice. I've experienced the glory of the UGL fire alarms once before, and I don't particularly relish the idea of experiencing them again. I suddenly had this vision of hundreds of students pouring down the central staircase at UGL, serenaded by piercing sirens and transfixed by the disco-esque flashing lights. Yeah, it's best not to go there.

So, what do you do when someone locks themselves in the emergency stairwell? Well, my friends, you tell Circulation. The supervisor has a key that will open the emergency stairwell door on the second floor, sans alarms.

I'm happy to report that the trapped student was freed, although probably a little irked that we wouldn't open the door right away. I understand this. I would be irked too. On the whole, however, annoying one patron is preferable to evacuating an entire building of patrons.

This is all very well and good, but I've noticed a major flaw in the system. Let's assume that there is an emergency that warrants evacuation, and a few students decide to take the emergency stairwell. How, pray tell, do they get out of the stairwell? Do they magically unlock when the sirens go off? I'll let you know when I find out.