1. She started the tour like she always did: “Hi, my name is Dani. I’ll be your Residential Life Ambassador, or RLA, and I’ll be showing you what it’s like to live on Mizzou’s campus in one of the residence halls. Right now you are standing in the main entrance of Defoe-Graham, which was renovated in 2009, so it’s a little new, it’s a little old...which makes it a good representation of what you can expect to find in the residence halls across campus. If you noticed, I did have to open the door for you and that is because all of our exterior doors to all of the residence halls on campus are locked 24/7. You need to swipe your student ID to come into the building at all times. It’s just an extra safety precaution we take here at Mizzou to ensure that only residents, maintenance, and professional staff can gain access to the building.” She then discussed the front desk and asked the group if they had any initial questions before proceeding down the hall.
One young man in the group calmly asked, “So is this what you do all day?”
Dani was a little disoriented by the question. It was so vague. “Giving tours?,” she responded.
“No, opening the door.” While Dani brushed the question off with a “no,” the other RLAs present including myself could not help but burst out laughing at the absurd question. Rarely do we get a good laugh out of tours but every once in a while we get the occasional funny or weird question. I’ve only been an RLA three short months, but I’m going to tell you some of the memorable moments I’ve had so far.
2. My next was October 9, my first Black and Gold Friday, it was about 11 a.m., and tours were flooding in like we were hosting the premiere of the last "Harry Potter" movie. We were doing stations (I was responsible for greeting them as they came in, accompanied by their tour team leader and giving them the intro that Dani gave above. After I gave them the entire spiel, one woman quickly asked “Do the boys have access to the girl floors?” I understood perfectly the real question masked here: “How likely is it that my daughter will be sexually assaulted in the residence halls?”
I’ve never gotten a more serious question from a parent, so I looked at my fellow RLA, Alexander, for assistance. He was about 10 feet away standing down the hall at the kitchen, had heard the question, and had a look on his face that meant he didn’t have an immediate answer. I was on my own. “Uhh,” I said, “we actually have one residence hall that’s all female and that’s Johnston. The other residence halls are separated either by floor or by wing. For the former, residents can take the elevator to any floor and for the latter, there is no barrier separating the wings of the residence hall from each other. So yes, boys have access to the female floors.” I could’ve mentioned that all of the electronic locks on each individual door to each room lock immediately upon closing, but it slipped my mind at the time. My response didn’t necessarily reassure her qualms as she didn’t look pleased. Her friend tried to reassure her better as I passed the group down to Alex.
3. The next memorable moment was because it was so weird. I was talking to my boss, Sarah, who had just shadowed an RLA tour, and she told me someone on the tour asked if they could bring their own mattress instead of using the one the university provided. I know that the mattresses provided by the university aren’t Serta Tempurpedics, but they’re not that bad. Anyhow, residents aren’t allowed to take any furniture out of the rooms that are provided by the university.
