The game's afoot.
I had conveniently forgotten just how crowded campus is during the fall semester, and particularly how crowded it is during the first few weeks of the fall semester. Thus imagine my surprise on Tuesday when, after wading through the sea of patrons lurking outside Club UGL, I found ladyblogsalot surrounded by a slightly smaller sea of people, with yet another person on the phone. Thankfully, I didn't start working until several hours later.
I had been warned that the first few weeks of fall were "a little busy," and internally I knew that these first few weeks of the semester will be hectic. Nevertheless, like a deer in the headlights, I found myself stunned at just how many people were in the library. My first semester at the info desk took place during the sleepy summer semester, and my hours there were spent somewhat leisurely. Fast-forward to Tuesday, the second day of the fall semester -- each time I wrote down the gate count on Tuesday I stopped to recheck the number, certain that there must be a mistake. Did 4,000 people really pass through the gates in a single hour in the evening? At some point during my shift on Tuesday the gate counter definitely went haywire, as evidenced by the 4,000+ person increase in the gate count between 10 and 11 p.m. I would believe 4,000 people passed through the gates around dinnertime during Welcome Week, but certainly not around bedtime.
Now that it's the weekend the library has quieted down a bit, and I have some time to write this posting. Future GSAs might read this to prepare for their first onslaught of Welcome Week students. Current GSAs might use this posting to learn or share tips and such, or just to commiserate. Mostly, I'm writing this to vent, unwind, and absorb what I've learned this week.
By far the most popular questions that I heard were:
-"Where's building X?"
-"Where's my class?"
-"Do you have my textbook?"
-"Why don't you have my textbook?"
-"Why can I only check out my textbook for two hours?"
As students learned that they couldn't check out their books for more than a few hours, questions about using the photocopiers also became *very* popular. I did see on one student's syllabus that the professor promised to confiscate any photocopies of the textbook.
And of course, the great classics of UGL still applied: "Where's advising? Tutoring? Counseling? Where's the bathroom? The computers? The vending machines? Change for the vending machines?"
My favorite interaction of the week was:
Obvious Freshman: "Where do I go to checkout a textbook for my class?"
Me: "Textbooks are on reserve over at the checkout desk?" (I point to checkout desk).
OF: "Oh, okay." (Walks half way to checkout desk. Walks back.) "So do I tell them what book I need?"
Me: "Yup. . ." (Patron walks away as I smile and think "No, they have a psychic back there who tells them what you need.")
And to the creepy, old movie-lovin' man who said 30 years older than myself isn't too old: No...just...just no.
So, those were my Welcome Week experiences...care to share yours?
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2 comments:
My favorite interaction of last week was between myself, the patron and her friend. The patron didn't know where her Intro to Whatever class was and couldn't understand why I couldn't figure it out by looking through about twenty sections all meeting at the same day and time. When her friend told her she should know where and when her class took place, she looked at her friend incredulously and said something to the effect of "Why should I know where my class is?" and demanded that I look up her schedule on her account. I suggested she use one of the computers and look it up herself and she said, "I'm not gonna do that." I told her I would do it only if she waited until I had helped everyone else in line (this was on the first day, so I was really busy). She waited, but I could hear her muttering, "I gotta get to this class." I half wanted to see how long I could get her to wait until she left!
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