Today was my last day at work until I come back in the fall. This week I
have two final exams, two group projects and one small paper due before I can
concentrate on my international move. No big deal--I can do this. I just need
to remember not to multi-task; that’s when I get into trouble. I think that it
is somehow more efficient to study for several tests at once or write a paper
while reading an unrelated article, but it never is. No good comes from this
style of “time management.”
The library is bulging with students today. They pounce on open
desks like cheetahs with designer clothes. The undergrads dress up for the
library like it’s the place to be seen; and it probably is.
This is a social norm that I don’t really understand. From
what I’ve observed, the primary factor in choosing whom to ask to be the
guardian of your stuff is simple proximity. Random chance dictates that the stuff should be watched to avoid the likes of me as anyone
else.
Lucky for her, I’ve got my own stuff.
Am I really being asked to step in if someone else were to
help themselves to her laptop? The request for stuff-watching (SW), places an
un-asked for burden on the SW-er. The implicit suggestion is that if any stuff
goes missing, the SW is the prime suspect. Perhaps the best person to ask is
the one who looks the sketchiest, and ask them loud enough for less sketchy persons to take
on a role as secondary stuff-watchers.
If someone were to come help themselves to the stuff, what
would I say? They could easily plead that they know the person—and how would I,
the dedicated yet unknowing SW, be the wiser? How far am I really willing to go
for someone else’s stuff? I don’t even know if it was hers to begin with. A
brilliant con might be to ask someone to watch some stuff that isn’t yours and
then come back later to take it.
I sit with trepidation, terribly anxious that someone might be slinking up to
burgle her even now.
And now, to be perfectly honest, I don’t even recall what
she looks like.
No comments:
Post a Comment