The Don Files: Part I
Since I have not lived at St. Paul's since W06, since most people on my LJ friends list haven't lived there in two years, and since I'm going to be graduate in a few days, I thought that it'd be fun to take a trip down memory lane. (Plus, I want to document these stories before I forget them.) These are the never-told-before stories of the amusing things that students have done while I was a don. Some involve me directly, while some don't.
Disclaimer: Most names in these stories (except mine or ones marked with an asterisk) have been changed, but names are consistent throughout all stories (so if "John" is mentioned in two stories, it's the same person). As well, I'm not explicitly revealing in which semester each of these stories takes place (although other details in the stories may give that away).
Today's stories are quite tame; the juicy stuff is coming in forthcoming entires. :)
Forbidden love: Alright, so you remember this secretive entry from a few years back? There is a very amusing story behind that.
Every night at 10:00pm, one of the dons-on-duty has to put out the toast and then walk around the college to lock up. Some dons do the minimal work possible (lock the doors, lower the flag, and run back to their room), while others do a more thorough check. Most nights, I took a walk around the college - down every hallway, and in every common room.
I even had a route that I took every night that had virtually no backtracking, so I could navigate the college in the minimal time possible. I'd check out MacKirdy Hall, the Library, the Caf, La Bastille, the Chapel, Bunker...oh yes, Bunker. Most nights it was deserted (apart from a person or two studying), but one night, there was some action going on.
I unlocked the door at the top of the stairs, walked down the stairs, and turned 'round the corner into Bunker. I then see Danny and Sandy lying down on the floor. On top of each other. And Danny's shirt being held up against his chest - like he had grabbed and tried to put it on in the 10 seconds while he had heard me walking downstairs.
I just raised my eyebrows, waved hello, and walked up the stairs to finish my walk-around.
I never saw either one of them in that room again, and Danny avoided making eye contact with me for a week.
Making a mess: When I walked in to Dungeon Lounge one day, it was a complete mess. Several meals' worth of dishes strewn about the counter, garbage piled up, and the couches littered with crumbs. I informed the RLPC about the situation, and after he checked it out himself, he locked up the room for a week's time. Naturally, not all students appreciated this move - especially a few male residents on Dungeon who (we assumed) were taking their dinner to Dungeon Lounge to watch TV while they ate.
RLC Jason's* apartment was directly above Dungeon Lounge, so one evening he was curious as to why there was so much noise coming into his apartment from below. He took along a don pal, Mike, and the two of them went to check it out. They unlocked the door using the don keys and caught a group of frosh watching the Raptors NBA game. The same frosh who (presumably) had been leaving their half-eaten dinners in that lounge.
After grilling them, Jason and Mike determined that the guys had wanted to watch the NBA game. However, with the door being locked, the smallest one of group went around to the courtyard, forced upon the narrow window that provides ventilation to Dungeon Lounge, crawled through it, and opened the door so that they could watch the game. Impressive, but wrong.
They were all carded.
The disappearing mugs: On the day that the frosh leaders moved in to SPUC, the leaders went around to every room and left wall calendars and plastic freezable mugs for every resident - the idea being that these would be on students' desks when they showed up.
The next day, the frosh moved in to SPUC and Orientation Week festivities got underway. However, when the upper-years moved in two days later, several came complaining to me (and the other dons) that their room didn't have any mugs, though the calendars were still there. Some were ticked off about this, while some just wanted to make sure that their room hadn't been missed. I was puzzled about the location of the mugs, but since we didn't have any extras, there wasn't much I could do.
As well, during frosh move-in day, I noticed that one resident on my floor had brought a microwave with her. I told her and the family that they were not allowed in the residence, and she promised to send it back home (even though her father explained to me that they had spent all this money on a microwave and how convenient it would be).
A few weeks later, the RLPC, and I had to deal with a crisis situation in the middle of the night. The two roommates invited us into their room and I listened to what had happened. In the corner of the front part of the room, I noticed that there was a microwave plugged in there. "Interesting," I thought to myself. A few minutes later, I happened to look up at the space above the closets, and there were about 60 plastic freezable mugs stacked in a pyramid. "Very interesting," I thought to myself.
The RLPC and I didn't pursue the issue, since the girls had had other "behaviour" issues, so we felt that it wasn't worth the effort to quibble. (And, this late in the term, no one cared about their missing mugs anymore.)
Oh yeah, did I mention that during frosh week, these underage residents posted an LCBO receipt totalling over $150 on their door? Smart move.
Kin Girls: One of my biggest regrets as a don was not taking a firm enough approach with the Kin Girls in my first semester; I let it slide too much. At the start of term, they were just watching movies or talking loudly past quiet hours with their doors open. As the term progressed, they stayed up later and later and, even though they learnt to close their doors, they partied harder and harder. Sometimes they would run screaming down the hallway between their rooms. Britney (who was was living with a Kin Girl) was failing tests because of her roommate's noisy and partying habits, so Paul K* made a rare exception to his policies and allowed Britney to trade roommates with someone in order to get some quiet studying space.
During exam periods, the usual total silence policy was enacted; however, the girls still wanted to party and goof around in their room and the halls. I kept gently reminding them. One particular evening when they were making too much noise, I asked if I could speak to them in their room. I reminded them about the rules, why it's important for others to be able to study, and alternative places for them to hang out if they wanted to make noise.
When I asked them if they had any questions, Jacklyn made a look with her face at another one of the girls in the room. I asked if something was the matter, and they said that I was not treating them fairly, since I was always cracking down on them but allowing others on the floor to be quiet. They then offered to show me a journal, listing every occurrence when someone else had been making noise but I hadn't stopped them. (One of my other biggest regrets as a don: not looking at and making a copy of that list .)
I simply told them that I didn't live on the floor 24/7 (since I sometimes studied in MacKirdy or Sunken, or even wrote exams) and that whenever I was on the floor, I treated everyone equally. I then said that I had received several complaints about the Kin Girls, but not a single complaint about others on the floor. Jacklyn said that she was ready to explode and that I should leave, which I did. They toned down the noise somewhat until the Christmas break.
The following term (when I was living on the floor but not donning), the girls still partied late into the night. One of their neighbours, Meghan, was on co-op that term and had to be in bed pretty early (10:00pm) in order to get to her job for 8:00am some mornings. After one particularly noisy night where she was repeatedly woken up, she called each of their rooms at 6:00am on her way out to an early day at work. The girls were not amused at being woken up so early, and Meghan had a small smile on her face that day.
Disclaimer: Most names in these stories (except mine or ones marked with an asterisk) have been changed, but names are consistent throughout all stories (so if "John" is mentioned in two stories, it's the same person). As well, I'm not explicitly revealing in which semester each of these stories takes place (although other details in the stories may give that away).
Today's stories are quite tame; the juicy stuff is coming in forthcoming entires. :)
Forbidden love: Alright, so you remember this secretive entry from a few years back? There is a very amusing story behind that.
Every night at 10:00pm, one of the dons-on-duty has to put out the toast and then walk around the college to lock up. Some dons do the minimal work possible (lock the doors, lower the flag, and run back to their room), while others do a more thorough check. Most nights, I took a walk around the college - down every hallway, and in every common room.
I even had a route that I took every night that had virtually no backtracking, so I could navigate the college in the minimal time possible. I'd check out MacKirdy Hall, the Library, the Caf, La Bastille, the Chapel, Bunker...oh yes, Bunker. Most nights it was deserted (apart from a person or two studying), but one night, there was some action going on.
I unlocked the door at the top of the stairs, walked down the stairs, and turned 'round the corner into Bunker. I then see Danny and Sandy lying down on the floor. On top of each other. And Danny's shirt being held up against his chest - like he had grabbed and tried to put it on in the 10 seconds while he had heard me walking downstairs.
I just raised my eyebrows, waved hello, and walked up the stairs to finish my walk-around.
I never saw either one of them in that room again, and Danny avoided making eye contact with me for a week.
Making a mess: When I walked in to Dungeon Lounge one day, it was a complete mess. Several meals' worth of dishes strewn about the counter, garbage piled up, and the couches littered with crumbs. I informed the RLPC about the situation, and after he checked it out himself, he locked up the room for a week's time. Naturally, not all students appreciated this move - especially a few male residents on Dungeon who (we assumed) were taking their dinner to Dungeon Lounge to watch TV while they ate.
RLC Jason's* apartment was directly above Dungeon Lounge, so one evening he was curious as to why there was so much noise coming into his apartment from below. He took along a don pal, Mike, and the two of them went to check it out. They unlocked the door using the don keys and caught a group of frosh watching the Raptors NBA game. The same frosh who (presumably) had been leaving their half-eaten dinners in that lounge.
After grilling them, Jason and Mike determined that the guys had wanted to watch the NBA game. However, with the door being locked, the smallest one of group went around to the courtyard, forced upon the narrow window that provides ventilation to Dungeon Lounge, crawled through it, and opened the door so that they could watch the game. Impressive, but wrong.
They were all carded.
The disappearing mugs: On the day that the frosh leaders moved in to SPUC, the leaders went around to every room and left wall calendars and plastic freezable mugs for every resident - the idea being that these would be on students' desks when they showed up.
The next day, the frosh moved in to SPUC and Orientation Week festivities got underway. However, when the upper-years moved in two days later, several came complaining to me (and the other dons) that their room didn't have any mugs, though the calendars were still there. Some were ticked off about this, while some just wanted to make sure that their room hadn't been missed. I was puzzled about the location of the mugs, but since we didn't have any extras, there wasn't much I could do.
As well, during frosh move-in day, I noticed that one resident on my floor had brought a microwave with her. I told her and the family that they were not allowed in the residence, and she promised to send it back home (even though her father explained to me that they had spent all this money on a microwave and how convenient it would be).
A few weeks later, the RLPC, and I had to deal with a crisis situation in the middle of the night. The two roommates invited us into their room and I listened to what had happened. In the corner of the front part of the room, I noticed that there was a microwave plugged in there. "Interesting," I thought to myself. A few minutes later, I happened to look up at the space above the closets, and there were about 60 plastic freezable mugs stacked in a pyramid. "Very interesting," I thought to myself.
The RLPC and I didn't pursue the issue, since the girls had had other "behaviour" issues, so we felt that it wasn't worth the effort to quibble. (And, this late in the term, no one cared about their missing mugs anymore.)
Oh yeah, did I mention that during frosh week, these underage residents posted an LCBO receipt totalling over $150 on their door? Smart move.
Kin Girls: One of my biggest regrets as a don was not taking a firm enough approach with the Kin Girls in my first semester; I let it slide too much. At the start of term, they were just watching movies or talking loudly past quiet hours with their doors open. As the term progressed, they stayed up later and later and, even though they learnt to close their doors, they partied harder and harder. Sometimes they would run screaming down the hallway between their rooms. Britney (who was was living with a Kin Girl) was failing tests because of her roommate's noisy and partying habits, so Paul K* made a rare exception to his policies and allowed Britney to trade roommates with someone in order to get some quiet studying space.
During exam periods, the usual total silence policy was enacted; however, the girls still wanted to party and goof around in their room and the halls. I kept gently reminding them. One particular evening when they were making too much noise, I asked if I could speak to them in their room. I reminded them about the rules, why it's important for others to be able to study, and alternative places for them to hang out if they wanted to make noise.
When I asked them if they had any questions, Jacklyn made a look with her face at another one of the girls in the room. I asked if something was the matter, and they said that I was not treating them fairly, since I was always cracking down on them but allowing others on the floor to be quiet. They then offered to show me a journal, listing every occurrence when someone else had been making noise but I hadn't stopped them. (One of my other biggest regrets as a don: not looking at and making a copy of that list .)
I simply told them that I didn't live on the floor 24/7 (since I sometimes studied in MacKirdy or Sunken, or even wrote exams) and that whenever I was on the floor, I treated everyone equally. I then said that I had received several complaints about the Kin Girls, but not a single complaint about others on the floor. Jacklyn said that she was ready to explode and that I should leave, which I did. They toned down the noise somewhat until the Christmas break.
The following term (when I was living on the floor but not donning), the girls still partied late into the night. One of their neighbours, Meghan, was on co-op that term and had to be in bed pretty early (10:00pm) in order to get to her job for 8:00am some mornings. After one particularly noisy night where she was repeatedly woken up, she called each of their rooms at 6:00am on her way out to an early day at work. The girls were not amused at being woken up so early, and Meghan had a small smile on her face that day.