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.