Groundwork

When I first moved into my dorm, I had no idea what the people at the front desk did. After we were here for a little while, I started needing information and such and whenever I would ask anyone, they would tell me to go ask the front desk. After a while, I finally went down there and found out that some of the people that live on my floor actually work the front desk. This was the main reason I started going down to the front desk and talking to people. The more time I spent down there, the more I got to know what all went on "behind the scenes". I have become good friends with most of the people that work the desk. This makes it easier for me to get information and have the truth come out about what they really do.

I feel comfortable when I'm down visiting the front desk. There are couches down there that makes it feel more inviting. There are always people down there as well so it makes it feel normal to be down there. When there aren't any people down there and I don't really know the person working the desk, I feel somewhat uncomfortable. When I know the person, I can come up with things to talk about; when I don't know the person that well, I feel like it's tough coming up with topics to talk about.

I am still an outsider because I do not work the desk. Even if I interviewed everyone and attempted to get to know everything there was to do, I still wouldn't have the full experience because I am only observing, not actually having to do the work. They normally have a 3-4 hour work schedule so that means they have to sit down there and, at some times, do absolutely nothing for 4 hours. Even if I stayed down there the entire time someone is working, it still wouldn't be the same. Another aspect of working the front desk is when you have to work from midnight to 7. This is different than the normal working routine because they have to sit out in the lobby area and swipe everyone's card in as they come back from partying or whatnot. This also means that they have to deal with drunk people on a pretty normal basis.