College Work Study

[Namrepus221]

FIrst time poster, long time lurker.

Anyways. I had one of my very few "CS" moments today during work. I work at our college's Commuter Center. Basically it's a lounge where people that commute to campus hang out, watch TV, etc, etc. Basically for 8 hours, I sit at a desk and make sure the printer has paper.

Anyways we have a Coffee maker that people are allowed to use. It's one of those "good" ones that have the "press mug to button" to dispense the coffee.

Well apparently the coffee maker decided to break today, when someone pressed their mug it kept dispensing and dispensing all over the floor, into cabinets under the countertop...and yet NO ONE came to me and said "We need some extra paper towels, the coffee maker is on the blink" It took me the better part of a half hour to clean up everything, clean out the cabinet and the bag of forks that were nearly ruined, and the grounds all over the place.

The only other "SC" moment I've ever had involved someone with a laptop.

Basically I was doing some paper work for a class. This guy comes up with his laptop and says "Fix this" in a very demanding tone and shows me the laptop.

Doesn't show me it at any kind of reasonable area or anything, such as putting it on the desk, He just holds it in his hands about 4 feet from me in a manner that says "You work here, you should know what's wrong immediately, fix it!"

Simply put I say to him this (with the numbers and all)

1. I am not the computer service desk.
2. I can't help you with your problem because I'm not technical support for your computer or the campus internet.

He says to me "There's no need to be rude." To which I reply "I wasn't being rude, I was being honest. I don't know how to fix your problem."

I mean I know there are issues with the wireless in that section of the building and we've been after computer services to fix it for months and months.

I have another story abotu one of my work study jobs....but it's late and I better get to bed. I'll post more later.

[purplecat41877]

Namrepus221, I don't think that you were rude to the guy with the laptop. If anyone was being rude, it was him for demanding that you fix his laptop.

[Arachne]

"FIX THIS!"

"Okay. Just hold it there, nice and steady. Good. Now, this is gonna take me a few hours, so I hope you don't have to go to the bathroom."

I wouldn't want to work at a college campus job for anything, if all college students were even half as rude as a lot of the people who went to school with me. There's something about your first taste of adulthood, mixed with too much beer, too little sleep, and incredible amounts of stress that brings out the worst in everyone.

[friendofjimmyk]

Well apparently the coffee maker decided to break today, when someone pressed their mug it kept dispensing and dispensing all over the floor, into cabinets under the countertop...and yet NO ONE came to me and said "We need some extra paper towels, the coffee maker is on the blink" It took me the better part of a half hour to clean up everything, clean out the cabinet and the bag of forks that were nearly ruined, and the grounds all over the place.

GAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! This is one of my biggest pet peeves! If you make a mess, please, at least make an attempt to clean it or notify someone who CAN clean it.

There were a few times while I was a restaurant slave where people would drop beers or spill crap off the tables and not do anything about it creating a real dangerous situation!

[Becks]

GAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! This is one of my biggest pet peeves! If you make a mess, please, at least make an attempt to clean it or notify someone who CAN clean it.

I've been known to say that at work. "I guess I don't mind if the customers make a mess* AS LONG AS THEY TELL SOMEONE ABOUT IT (or at least make an effort...)!!!!!!!!!!"

*such as and including spilled coffee, milk and/or creamer, soup(s), salad dressing, olive oil, vinegar, water, soda, hot chocolate, tea, beer, pickles, olives, horseradish, etc., etc., etc.

[Namrepus221]

The bad thing about working this job is that I'm only permitted to work 8 hours a week total.

And apparently my school won't be abiding by the new state minimum wage law as well (I'll still be making $5.15 an hour as opposed to the state required $6.25) I'm not 100% on this however and will be contacting the Payroll office on monday.

Anyways to the other story. This isn't really about an SC...more like a Stupid Employeer

I worked for 3 weeks at the schools computer lab... Seriously the most boring job I've ever had. No friends, no cell phone usage, no using the computers even for school work (you can't even use your laptop if you have one to do school work)...Just sit there and make sure the printer is full and tell people if there is a stapler they can use for their print out to go to hell (literally someone did say this to someone once and wasn't fired)

Anyways. This was just shortly after US. Troops invaded Afganistan. I finished up my time that I was supposed to be working and decided to check on the news on CNN.com.

The "boss" comes in and says to me "Are you supposed to be working" I say to him "I'm off the clock, I'm just waiting for my replacement" He says "From now on you sit at this chair (points to a chair one seat away from mine) when you come to work because you aren't allowed to use the computers"

I go to my dorm, get stuff for classes finish up my day.

I come in the next day and my name is scratched off the roster sheet. I go work the room I was supposed to work anyways, fill in my time card and leave after I finish work (A full 8 hours later)

I come back 2 days later and ask about the name thing. The person that handles the front desk area says to check my school e-mail.

I do.... I've been fired.

"Do to your inability to follow proper procedure your employment here has been terminated."

The e-mail is date stamped 5 minutes after the boss told me not to sit near the computers anymore and that I was still an employee.

I'm mad as hell. What about the 8 hours I put in after I was "Fired"???

Luckily they decided to pay me for my time because A. No one told me to my face I was fired and had no way of knowing before coming into work that I was. B. The boss had assured me that I was still an employee when he repremanded me. C. I was off the clock when I was checking the news site. Legally you can't fire someone for doing something when they aren't at the time working for you. D. I worked the 8 hours and was still in the computer at the payroll department when I inquired about when I was fired. I wasn't fired till the end of that day meaning I could not be denied my pay for being "fired"

I had friends that worked there as well and they hated it too. One of my last friends that worked there said that the boss's wife was dying of some disease and he was taking his aggressions out on his employees, much like what happened to me.

[Getoutofmylobby]

My work study job was, fittingly enough, in the work study office. Students were sucky, at times, (I met the future Mrs. Getoutofmylobby there ), but in my experience the people who ran the work study office were way suckier (is that a word?). We got paid minimum wage to help kids fill out tax forms for their jobs which meant we were really busy at the start of school but from about October on, we didn't do a damn thing. So, this is a good chance to do homework right? Wrong. Our jobs weren't done until all the scrap paper was shredded, the student records were alphabetized, the countertops were wiped, and the office was vaccumed.

Yeah, they "asked" us do that.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I don't understand why they wouldn't let you use the computers. If your only job is to sit there and make sure whatever supplies don't run out, how does doing your homework interfere? Hell, I worked in our little campus fast food place and even we did homework when it was really slow!

Firing you over email is such BS. If you don't have the guts/decency to fire someone in person, you have no business being in charge. Besides, how hard is it for the person to say the didn't get the message, or how many legitimate reasons are there that they really didn't get it?

I would think the school would have to abide by minimum wage, wouldn't they? When minimum went up while I was working at school, we all got bumped up accordingly from whatever we were making at the time.

-ams-

[SCSlave]

The next time someone comes up to you and demands "FIX THIS!", do this:

Cross your arms, blink really hard, bob your head (A la "I dream of Jeanie")

There...all better.

[Mark Healey]

GAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! This is one of my biggest pet peeves! If you make a mess, please, at least make an attempt to clean it or notify someone who CAN clean it.

There were a few times while I was a restaurant slave where people would drop beers or spill crap off the tables and not do anything about it creating a real dangerous situation!

I never understood why people don't. If I make some kind of mess in a restaurant I ask the staff for a towel. I know that they are going to insist on cleaning up themselves but asking for the tools to clean up is a nice coded way of letting them know that I know I screwed up and am sorry about it.