One of my co-workers told me on Monday that Apple is looking for students to work from home during the summer and part time during the year. Since I am currently looking for a job, I thought it would be great for me to go. I went to an info session yesterday at 4pm. There was about 6 people attending so it was great to get some personal time with the presenters. During the presentation, the presenters talked about how well Apple is doing, how innovated and competitive they are. They threw sales numbers at us, saying how well sales are even in a down economy. About half way through the hour presentation, they actually started to talk about the job.
Basically, they are looking for current students to work for Apple as an IT for the iPhone. It's 4 weeks of training, full benefits (healthcare, dental, 401K, stocks...) and it's 40 hours a week during the summer and between 16-22 hours during the academic semester. You have to be a student (guess I can't do the iPhone IT job that they are talking about) and have between 12-17 credit hours during the fall semester. They don't want you to have too much of a workload and not do your job. They pay for your internet and new phone line (up to $50). I thought it was pretty cool, even though I can't do it. I asked if there are any opportunities for near-graduates and they said to go to the career fair that is today or apply online. Since my schedule is crazy, I can't attend the fair but I did submit my application on line to several jobs that Apple has. At the end of the session, there was a drawing to win a iPod. Guess who is now the new owner of a gen 4 iPod Shuffle? I had the lucky ticket and was beaming for the rest of the night.
I felt that they info session was a great help to me in exploring other positions that I thought I wouldn't be qualified for. I'm hoping to hear back with Apple in the next few weeks for any job offers. Not holding my breathe but I'm hopeful. This weekend, I'll be applying for more jobs in the area and getting my taxes done. Wish me luck!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Duty Stories Three
This third story takes place in September of this last year, just after a month of being at my new residential hall.
It was a Saturday and we had just got back from 1am walks. We were both tired and decided to go to bed. Around 3:30am, I get a call about an paramedics responding to someone on the third floor. I'm still a little tired but I book it out of my room, without my contacts. I take the stairs to the third floor and I start seeing blood on the walls, on the ground and my heart sinks. I open the door to the third floor and I see a familiar face. It's one of my residents, just doors down from me. He's bleeding from the nose and maybe the head, I couldn't tell. I see my duty partner for that night and paramedics attending to my resident. I ask my duty partner what happened. He doesn't know for sure. All he knows is there was a party on my floor and my resident was drinking. My duty partner said that as he was going down the stairs, he tripped and possibly broke his nose. CAs can't really do anything in this situation, it's beyond us. ProStaff arrives and asks us what has happened and then proceeded to get information from the police officers. My resident is then taken in ambulance to the hospital because he wasn't responding to the paramedics. I'm pretty shaken up.
In a few days, the resident came back to the hall. He's fine. No broken nose but his parents heard what happened and are removing him from the university. I can't say that I'm surprised that he is going. All I could do was wish him well and hope that he's okay. It could have been a lot worse but thankfully, we responded quickly and he was okay in the end.
It was a Saturday and we had just got back from 1am walks. We were both tired and decided to go to bed. Around 3:30am, I get a call about an paramedics responding to someone on the third floor. I'm still a little tired but I book it out of my room, without my contacts. I take the stairs to the third floor and I start seeing blood on the walls, on the ground and my heart sinks. I open the door to the third floor and I see a familiar face. It's one of my residents, just doors down from me. He's bleeding from the nose and maybe the head, I couldn't tell. I see my duty partner for that night and paramedics attending to my resident. I ask my duty partner what happened. He doesn't know for sure. All he knows is there was a party on my floor and my resident was drinking. My duty partner said that as he was going down the stairs, he tripped and possibly broke his nose. CAs can't really do anything in this situation, it's beyond us. ProStaff arrives and asks us what has happened and then proceeded to get information from the police officers. My resident is then taken in ambulance to the hospital because he wasn't responding to the paramedics. I'm pretty shaken up.
In a few days, the resident came back to the hall. He's fine. No broken nose but his parents heard what happened and are removing him from the university. I can't say that I'm surprised that he is going. All I could do was wish him well and hope that he's okay. It could have been a lot worse but thankfully, we responded quickly and he was okay in the end.
Duty Stories Part Two
This duty story is from late February/early march of last year.
Myself and my duty partner were on our last walks of the night and in the last building our of duty round. We decided to sepreate on the first floor (this building has an outdoor courtyard and we can see each other the entire time). After I completed my side of the floor, my duty partner starts to wave his hands around to get my attention. I come over to see what's going on. He tells me to be quiet and listen to the door. As I pressed my ear up to the door, I could hear ping pong balls being bounced. My duty partner tells me that they are playing beer pong so we knock to check it out.
As someone opens the door, we can see 6 people in the room, cans of beer everywhere and people are upset. I decided to take the lead on this duty situation and start asking questions, doing observations and telling them to pour out their beer. My duty partner is taking down notes and collect information from the residents. It was all good until this very intoxicated residents decides to confront me. She's yelling at me, demanding to know why I'm doing this to her and her friends. I calming explain that it's our job to do this, we need to document everyone on the room and my duty partner is backing me up, so we can present a unified front. As I start to back out of the room, the intoxicated girl still yelling at me and her friend is trying to make her calm down, I notice in the crack of the door, that there is a person hiding between the door and the wall. I point this out to my duty partner and he calls the guy out. I couldn't believe that he was hiding! As my duty partner was documenting him and asking him why he was hiding, this girl was not letting up. I started to talk to her again, in a calm manner and all of a sudden she starts to cry. For no reason. I nervously glance at my duty partner because I am very comfortable with the situation now and I have no idea what to do.
Thankfully, he was done getting all the residents information and quotes from what people have said, so we left. He told me that I did a great job for only being on the job for a few months.
A few weeks later, I am at the desk and this girl comes to the desk. It was the same intoxicated girl that confronted me. She wanted to apologize to me and handed over a letter. She said that she was embarrassed that things had gone that far and she wasn't acting like herself. I accepted her apology and she left. I still have that letter. It's not often that CAs get apology letters from residents.
Myself and my duty partner were on our last walks of the night and in the last building our of duty round. We decided to sepreate on the first floor (this building has an outdoor courtyard and we can see each other the entire time). After I completed my side of the floor, my duty partner starts to wave his hands around to get my attention. I come over to see what's going on. He tells me to be quiet and listen to the door. As I pressed my ear up to the door, I could hear ping pong balls being bounced. My duty partner tells me that they are playing beer pong so we knock to check it out.
As someone opens the door, we can see 6 people in the room, cans of beer everywhere and people are upset. I decided to take the lead on this duty situation and start asking questions, doing observations and telling them to pour out their beer. My duty partner is taking down notes and collect information from the residents. It was all good until this very intoxicated residents decides to confront me. She's yelling at me, demanding to know why I'm doing this to her and her friends. I calming explain that it's our job to do this, we need to document everyone on the room and my duty partner is backing me up, so we can present a unified front. As I start to back out of the room, the intoxicated girl still yelling at me and her friend is trying to make her calm down, I notice in the crack of the door, that there is a person hiding between the door and the wall. I point this out to my duty partner and he calls the guy out. I couldn't believe that he was hiding! As my duty partner was documenting him and asking him why he was hiding, this girl was not letting up. I started to talk to her again, in a calm manner and all of a sudden she starts to cry. For no reason. I nervously glance at my duty partner because I am very comfortable with the situation now and I have no idea what to do.
Thankfully, he was done getting all the residents information and quotes from what people have said, so we left. He told me that I did a great job for only being on the job for a few months.
A few weeks later, I am at the desk and this girl comes to the desk. It was the same intoxicated girl that confronted me. She wanted to apologize to me and handed over a letter. She said that she was embarrassed that things had gone that far and she wasn't acting like herself. I accepted her apology and she left. I still have that letter. It's not often that CAs get apology letters from residents.
Duty Stories Part One
To show that duty time can be wacky, confusing, dangerous and oddly fun, I'm gonna share with you three of my duty stories. The duty stories will be separated into three different blogs. Let's get started then!
This story takes place in April of last year. After a bad breakup with a boyfriend, I had a lot of free time on my hand so I would accompany the duty CAs on their walks. It can never hurt having more CAs with you and they didn't mind. I was walking with two co-workers and we passed a room with festive look. It was a girl's birthday that day and she decided to celebrate. With alcohol. My two coworkers were in front of me and didn't see the open door with the bottle of open vodka on the student's desk. But I did. And so did the resident. As soon as she saw me observe her and her drink of choice, she sprang up and slammed the door on me. Myself and my coworkers were not deterred.
I told the duty CAs what I saw and we knocked on her door, and one of us started to take down notes to but in the report that we had to file. The resident didn't answer the door. So we knocked again. No answer. The doors at my old placement on campus has vents so you can look and hear what's going on in the hall. We decided to use this to our advantage and say to each other, very loudly, that we would call the police if she wasn't going to answer the door. We knocked one more time but the resident in the room didn't change her mind and didn't answer the door. We called ASU PD and they knocked on the door. She answered for them. After the police officer asked some questions and had her and her male friend in the room pour out the alcohol, she was arrested and escorted to his car out front. She was cited for minor in composition and minor in possession of alcohol. She was released after a little while.
If the resident had answered the door for us, we would have wrote her and her friend up for the alcohol, made her dump it out and that was it. But residents tend to make it hard for themselves and not do what they are told.
This story takes place in April of last year. After a bad breakup with a boyfriend, I had a lot of free time on my hand so I would accompany the duty CAs on their walks. It can never hurt having more CAs with you and they didn't mind. I was walking with two co-workers and we passed a room with festive look. It was a girl's birthday that day and she decided to celebrate. With alcohol. My two coworkers were in front of me and didn't see the open door with the bottle of open vodka on the student's desk. But I did. And so did the resident. As soon as she saw me observe her and her drink of choice, she sprang up and slammed the door on me. Myself and my coworkers were not deterred.
I told the duty CAs what I saw and we knocked on her door, and one of us started to take down notes to but in the report that we had to file. The resident didn't answer the door. So we knocked again. No answer. The doors at my old placement on campus has vents so you can look and hear what's going on in the hall. We decided to use this to our advantage and say to each other, very loudly, that we would call the police if she wasn't going to answer the door. We knocked one more time but the resident in the room didn't change her mind and didn't answer the door. We called ASU PD and they knocked on the door. She answered for them. After the police officer asked some questions and had her and her male friend in the room pour out the alcohol, she was arrested and escorted to his car out front. She was cited for minor in composition and minor in possession of alcohol. She was released after a little while.
If the resident had answered the door for us, we would have wrote her and her friend up for the alcohol, made her dump it out and that was it. But residents tend to make it hard for themselves and not do what they are told.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Graduation
It is less that eight weeks until graduation. It still hasn't hit me that I'm finally graduating... or that I'm even a senior! I think as I get closer to May, it'll finally dawn on me that I am graduating.
My family is coming down. My family and I have a sorted history but over the past few weeks, we are talking more and trying to reestablish ties with each other. It's kinda of scary. For so long, I didn't really have a family and now that I do, I'm not sure what to do.
I got my cap and gown last week. I was expecting it to be more pricy but I was surprised. My cap and gown are hanging on the edge of my lofted bed. I need to get the wrinkles out of it before the bed day.
I'm starting to look for jobs and places where I want to live. I'm scared out of my mind cause I don't know what my next step is. I know that I'm going to work and live somewhere, just don't know where.. yet. Everything is going to hit me at once, I just know it. Hopefully, I'm prepared enough for when that happens.
My family is coming down. My family and I have a sorted history but over the past few weeks, we are talking more and trying to reestablish ties with each other. It's kinda of scary. For so long, I didn't really have a family and now that I do, I'm not sure what to do.
I got my cap and gown last week. I was expecting it to be more pricy but I was surprised. My cap and gown are hanging on the edge of my lofted bed. I need to get the wrinkles out of it before the bed day.
I'm starting to look for jobs and places where I want to live. I'm scared out of my mind cause I don't know what my next step is. I know that I'm going to work and live somewhere, just don't know where.. yet. Everything is going to hit me at once, I just know it. Hopefully, I'm prepared enough for when that happens.
Duty Time!
Duty. Building walks. Rounds.
Duty is a vital part of a CA's life. During duty, not only are getting to know other residents, but we are checking on behavior issues and any building issues that may arise. To residents, duty means that CAs are "out to get us", to "ruin our fun", etc. While duty can be an intense time for CAs, it is for the best of the community that duty walks are done.
Every day of the week, someone is on duty from either 5pm-8am on weekdays to 8am-8am the following day on weekends. Being on duty means being on call for that building. If there is a behavioral issue with a resident that comes up or if there is a flooding in the building, the CA on duty is there to respond. But, it's not just the CAs that are on duty everyday. Our Professional Staff, ProStaff, are on duty too. However, they cover a wider area than we do. CAs just cover their building that they are in, ProStaff can cover between their "neighborhood" to the entire campus, all depending on their exact position. ProStaff are there to help CAs out and handle situations that we don't know how to handle.
During duty, several CAs complete two to three building walks. Two for weekdays and three for weekends. The number of CAs that are on duty vary from complex to complex but usually two CAs are on duty together and complete walks, together. Building walks or walks, as we call them, occur at night when most of the issues arise. During walks, we.. well.. walks the entire building, from top to bottom. We check to see if there is vandalism, trash, damages to the building itself and most issues with residents. Since we are in university environment, illegal drug and alcohol use occur fairly often in the residence halls. If we smell marijuana in a room, we call the police, ProStaff and wait for the police to come to confront the residents. While on walks, we spot a resident with a bottle of vodka on their desk, we confront the resident ourselves and make a report of the incident. If we someone vandalizing a poster or a wall, we confront the resident and make a report. CAs only call ProStaff when we call the police, paramedics, when there is property damage, when the press ask us questions and any plumbing issues. But CAs can call ProStaff when we are dealing with a difficult situation and need advice. ProStaff were once CAs/RAs and are more than willing to help.
In addition to looking out for floods and intoxicated residents, we also look for community standards violations. These are small infractions such as being too loud during Quiet Hours or leaving trash in the hallway. Usually, we talk to the resident and they are sorry and turn down the music or take out the trash. But sometimes, they are disruptive and cause a scene. Depending on what they do, we can document the resident or call the police if they get violent.
It's never boring when you are on duty.
Duty is a vital part of a CA's life. During duty, not only are getting to know other residents, but we are checking on behavior issues and any building issues that may arise. To residents, duty means that CAs are "out to get us", to "ruin our fun", etc. While duty can be an intense time for CAs, it is for the best of the community that duty walks are done.
Every day of the week, someone is on duty from either 5pm-8am on weekdays to 8am-8am the following day on weekends. Being on duty means being on call for that building. If there is a behavioral issue with a resident that comes up or if there is a flooding in the building, the CA on duty is there to respond. But, it's not just the CAs that are on duty everyday. Our Professional Staff, ProStaff, are on duty too. However, they cover a wider area than we do. CAs just cover their building that they are in, ProStaff can cover between their "neighborhood" to the entire campus, all depending on their exact position. ProStaff are there to help CAs out and handle situations that we don't know how to handle.
During duty, several CAs complete two to three building walks. Two for weekdays and three for weekends. The number of CAs that are on duty vary from complex to complex but usually two CAs are on duty together and complete walks, together. Building walks or walks, as we call them, occur at night when most of the issues arise. During walks, we.. well.. walks the entire building, from top to bottom. We check to see if there is vandalism, trash, damages to the building itself and most issues with residents. Since we are in university environment, illegal drug and alcohol use occur fairly often in the residence halls. If we smell marijuana in a room, we call the police, ProStaff and wait for the police to come to confront the residents. While on walks, we spot a resident with a bottle of vodka on their desk, we confront the resident ourselves and make a report of the incident. If we someone vandalizing a poster or a wall, we confront the resident and make a report. CAs only call ProStaff when we call the police, paramedics, when there is property damage, when the press ask us questions and any plumbing issues. But CAs can call ProStaff when we are dealing with a difficult situation and need advice. ProStaff were once CAs/RAs and are more than willing to help.
In addition to looking out for floods and intoxicated residents, we also look for community standards violations. These are small infractions such as being too loud during Quiet Hours or leaving trash in the hallway. Usually, we talk to the resident and they are sorry and turn down the music or take out the trash. But sometimes, they are disruptive and cause a scene. Depending on what they do, we can document the resident or call the police if they get violent.
It's never boring when you are on duty.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Workin' the Desk
CAs have many assigned roles. One of which is a desk assistant (DA). What a DA does is, well... sit at the front desk of a residence hall. All freshman halls on ASU campus are open 24/7. There is someone behind the desk at all times, save for winter break and summer vacation but even then, there is one hall that is open for Summer Bridge or a main winter break desk. CAs are required to work four hours at their hall's desk. Those required hours are not paid but we can work more hours to make some money. It's not a lot, $7.25 an hour but it pays the bills. Myself, I work 16 additional hours at Palo Verde East and Palo Verde West desks. Since I'm in PLEX (Palo Verde East and West), it only makes sense to work these desks.
This is a brief run down of what we do at the desk:
-Check the keys to make sure that they are all accounted for
-Check out keys to residents who have locked themselves out of their rooms
-Check out keys to appropriate vendors and ASU Facilities Management
-Check out equipment
-Answer telephones using proper telephone etiquette
-Various administrative tasks
-Checking students IDs to verify that the live here and if they don't, they have a resident of the building escorting them
-Being aware of the behavior of the residents and calling the CAs on duty to have them address the issue
Those are basic DA tasks. It's gets more complicated when move-in and move-out occur. As with any job, we have rules that we have to follow. Some rules are:
-No drinking at the desk or before your desk shift
-No sleeping at the desk
-Don't leave the desk (someone is always behind the desk)
-Always dress in ASU attire
-Always be on time for your shift or call ahead to let the person you are relieving that you will be late
You can be fired if do not follow the rules. Some rules are more serious than others (like the no alcohol rule) and they do fire you on the spot.
If you follow all the rules, it's pretty fun and can be laid back, depending on the shift. I've been working the desk since I was a freshman so I've experience really heavy traffic and seeing no one during my shift. I've also seen some very interesting sides of residents during my desk shift. It can be very entertaining.
This is a brief run down of what we do at the desk:
-Check the keys to make sure that they are all accounted for
-Check out keys to residents who have locked themselves out of their rooms
-Check out keys to appropriate vendors and ASU Facilities Management
-Check out equipment
-Answer telephones using proper telephone etiquette
-Various administrative tasks
-Checking students IDs to verify that the live here and if they don't, they have a resident of the building escorting them
-Being aware of the behavior of the residents and calling the CAs on duty to have them address the issue
Those are basic DA tasks. It's gets more complicated when move-in and move-out occur. As with any job, we have rules that we have to follow. Some rules are:
-No drinking at the desk or before your desk shift
-No sleeping at the desk
-Don't leave the desk (someone is always behind the desk)
-Always dress in ASU attire
-Always be on time for your shift or call ahead to let the person you are relieving that you will be late
You can be fired if do not follow the rules. Some rules are more serious than others (like the no alcohol rule) and they do fire you on the spot.
If you follow all the rules, it's pretty fun and can be laid back, depending on the shift. I've been working the desk since I was a freshman so I've experience really heavy traffic and seeing no one during my shift. I've also seen some very interesting sides of residents during my desk shift. It can be very entertaining.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Live, Work and Play: The Res Life Way
Well, let's get down to business, shall we?
What does it mean to be a Community Assistant at ASU?
ASU says that CA (aka RA) should do the following:
Build and lead a community of peers by being available and accessible to residents
Connect peers to educational, social and cultural activities
Check-in and check-out paperwork
Address policy violations
Crisis intervention
Night/weekend community walks
Work a weekly shift at 24 hour hall desk
Attend required staff meetings and training sessions
Encourage and support student involvement in Hall Council
Serve as a academic and social role model, friend, confidant, and resource for a diverse group of students
And for the most part, this is what I do. I'm support for residents and guests, I handle confrontation between students, I document any policy violations (alcohol, drugs, community violations like noise or trash), I work the desk 16 hours a week to pay bills, I attend meetings every week and go to council events, I program events for my residents and the complex at large...
I do a lot of stuff. And this is what I can remember!
I have so many roles in addition to being a full time students, just months shy from graduation. What makes my internship unique is I live where I work. I live in the dorms 24/7. I interact with students on a hourly basis, always on watch incase that I'm needed for a situation like a flooding or a fire. Most people can turn off when they go home, not think about work and the drama that's been going on there. I can't really. I'm always in CA mode. At least, when I'm here. When I go out to friends or crash at a friends place, they notice when I'm not in CA mode. I'm more relaxed, not on guard. I didn't even realize I was like that until my boyfriend pointed it out to me. It was rather startling to see myself as always on guard.
Now, this job can be stressful at times. There have been times where I just want to lock myself in my room and turn off my phone cause I've had enough of what's been going on. But there are rewarding times too. Getting to know new CAs and sharing your horror stories, helping a resident move out a tough living situation or celebrate an A on a midterm with ice cream. It's all a mishmash of things, good and bad. It's worth it, I think. :)
What does it mean to be a Community Assistant at ASU?
ASU says that CA (aka RA) should do the following:
Build and lead a community of peers by being available and accessible to residents
Connect peers to educational, social and cultural activities
Check-in and check-out paperwork
Address policy violations
Crisis intervention
Night/weekend community walks
Work a weekly shift at 24 hour hall desk
Attend required staff meetings and training sessions
Encourage and support student involvement in Hall Council
Serve as a academic and social role model, friend, confidant, and resource for a diverse group of students
And for the most part, this is what I do. I'm support for residents and guests, I handle confrontation between students, I document any policy violations (alcohol, drugs, community violations like noise or trash), I work the desk 16 hours a week to pay bills, I attend meetings every week and go to council events, I program events for my residents and the complex at large...
I do a lot of stuff. And this is what I can remember!
I have so many roles in addition to being a full time students, just months shy from graduation. What makes my internship unique is I live where I work. I live in the dorms 24/7. I interact with students on a hourly basis, always on watch incase that I'm needed for a situation like a flooding or a fire. Most people can turn off when they go home, not think about work and the drama that's been going on there. I can't really. I'm always in CA mode. At least, when I'm here. When I go out to friends or crash at a friends place, they notice when I'm not in CA mode. I'm more relaxed, not on guard. I didn't even realize I was like that until my boyfriend pointed it out to me. It was rather startling to see myself as always on guard.
Now, this job can be stressful at times. There have been times where I just want to lock myself in my room and turn off my phone cause I've had enough of what's been going on. But there are rewarding times too. Getting to know new CAs and sharing your horror stories, helping a resident move out a tough living situation or celebrate an A on a midterm with ice cream. It's all a mishmash of things, good and bad. It's worth it, I think. :)
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