The Note

I transferred to my current residence hall in the beginning of my Junior Year. This specific dorm is much swankier than my old residence hall, mainly because of the spacious rooms and the personal bathrooms. My Junior Year was off to a great start until a note was slipped under my door.

Maybe I should back up a bit and explain the type of RA I identify myself as. In the world of Res Life there are three types of RA's:

First there is a Class A RA. This RA stands outside your room waiting to hear violations occur and if and when they do, they pound on the door and show no mercy as they take the ID cards of residents and assert their manliness (because statistically most Class A RA's are men). These RA's are never lenient and act as pseudo-police officers and write up for all violations that they come across and take pleasure in making residents angry, sad, or cry.

Second, there is a Class B RA. This RA follows the rules of Res Life but does not go out of his or her way to document situations or make the lives of residents miserable. If a conflict is brought to his or her attention, it is taken care of. However, other than that, this RA can be found in their room most days not interacting with their residents. I, myself, am a Class B RA.

Finally, a Class C RA is every resident's best friend and dream come true. This RA does not give a crap about anything going on and neither supervises or checks in on residential issues. If they did not have a sign on the door saying "RA" residents would never know that they had an RA to begin with.

Of course exceptions to each Class occur. There will always be that overly energetic RA that goes above and beyond the call of duty to ensure a wonderful living community. But these RA's are few and far in between and to you I salute you.

Now back to the note. I had just finished my first floor meeting for my residents in which I explained the rules and procedures of living in a residence hall, mainly quiet hour issues. Later that night I was in my room watching television (quite softly may I add but I am open to other interpretations of my noise level) when I saw a note under my door. On the note, in large highlighted letters read "It is past quiet hours. Practice what you preach. Thanks <3."

First off, only a female resident would take the time to highlight a what is supposed to be insulting note and take the time to capitalize and bubble each letter. Also, only a female would be passively rude enough to slide a note under the door instead of knocking and asking me to quiet down. And only a resident in general would assume that I check my door every moment of the day to check for notes. If I had not walked past my door on my way to the bathroom I would never have found it and the resident would have had to deal with the noise the entire night due to their passive aggressive tendencies.

Why is it that residents will slam on my door at all hours of the night to tell me that their neighbor is being too "loud" and to quiet down and feel no shame or pity as I stumble to put on my glasses and shoes, and yet when I am being too "loud" they are all of a sudden too shy to approach me and therefore slide notes under the door? I will never truly understand the minds of students living on campus but I hope that the resident who wrote the note felt absolutely empowered after slipping it under my door. A one-up on the RA if you will. It is the little things that I can provide them each and everyday that will make their on campus living experience better.