Never Wear Your Good Khakis When On Duty

I was a mid-year hire into the resident assistant position, and all I was given to prepare for the spring semester was my RA manual and an abbreviated training session.

My first night on duty was completely hectic - I didn’t get to bed until 2:30 a.m., unlike the 12:30 or 1:00 which is the norm. I signed on duty with another RA from my staff and soon we received our first cal - of many - throughout the night. My duty partner and I were called to three buildings in the apartment housing area on campus, where there was sewage water backing up on the lower levels.

My duty partner and I went to our Commons Building to get the wet vac… only to find out when we arrived back to the apartments, that it was broken. It took us another 1.5 hours to track down another wet vac, and although it was not in perfect condition, it had to do. My duty partner and I then proceeded to wet vac about 12 apartments.

On top of that it was a Sunday duty shift, which requires the RAs on duty to check all of the parking lot/building lights and all the fire extinguishers in the apartment complexes.

I am proud to say that not only did I assist in cleaning up gallons of sewage in my good khakis (that night I learned never to wear nice clothes while on duty), I also completed safety rounds.

Everything went off without a hitch - basically.

Not bad for only 8 hours of training, eh?