Don’t ring. Please, please don’t ring.
That's the old R.A. mantra passed down from old R.A. to new. You find yourself saying this over and over as you place the on-call phone next to your pillow and pray you fall asleep. As if ever taking an 8 a.m. class was a good idea. Unlike the Belcher's emergency phone in my favorite TV show, the R.A. on call phone has all the minutes in the world and it is calling you. Yes, you.
Resident Assistant. Community Assistant. R.A. No matter how you slice it, it’s a job. A hard job. RA is the kind of overworked, underpaid, never thanked position you’re going to college to avoid doing. Yet, here you are, on call again.
If you don’t already know, an RA is a student and staff member at a college or university who lives and works in the residence halls, or dorms, and enforces rules and policies. You’re the bad guy. And you know it. Party in room 101? Call the R.A. Distinctive smell of Mary Jane in the laundry room? Call the R.A. You’re the go-to, no nonsense, tell it like it is pseudocop and you’re here to write people up.
Seriously though, why do these things happen on campus? Of course, you don’t want to do that. You’d much rather avoid incident reports a mile long, whiny residents wondering why you’re in their room harshing their 420 mellow and staff meetings that last hours on end.
Whats worse? You’re expected to hold events in your halls and expected to have your “too-cool-for-school” residents attend. They don’t want to hang out with their R.A. Most walk the long way around the building to avoid saying "hi" to you. But you keep trying.
As an R.A. you learn how to be on a team. You know you need to stick together. You help keep the team together and like any other team, you help those that are really feeling the pressure.
The worst part about being an R.A., in my book, is dealing with rude and outright mean residents. Oh! You don't like me standing in your room with the UPD officers? Trust me, I don't like being up at midnight because you decided to throw a party on the day before my British poli-sci final. Don't forget about the ones that outright lie.
And just remember...
Then, there are some that look up to you. Those freshmen who aspire to be you, and aspire to do everything you do. You may look and feel like hell after a power weekend on-call, but they only see themselves as an R.A.
Don't forget about time off. We may not get a ton of it, and I say this from the bottom of my heart that we generally love our residents, but sometimes we need to get away. Being on campus for weeks on end can make someone go crazy. So give us our alone time.
Please.
That time off is precious as you know. Especially when your already hectic schedule makes it hard for you to spend time with non-R.A.s. With on-call, office hours, mandatory meetings in the offices and late nights preparing floors, it can be hard to find time for anyone.
So why be an R.A.?
I mean, I think I've made aspiring R.A.s ponder their choice and current R.A.s contemplate a job in retail again.You don't make a ton of money and...
...you're continuously exhausted and free time is nonexistent. You're always running around doing something, but of course doing it flawlessly.
But you do it. You do it because its you’re job. And you're good at it. And you don't have to commute to work. And it pays, well -- decent. But more than anything, you do it because you make an impact, however small, on your residents. And one day, they'll tell the story of how you were their RA.
You assist because a long time ago you were the freshman who needed help, needed a friend, needed someone. And your R.A. was there.
And who knows, you might run into a resident in the future and they'll buy you a cup of coffee, and after having to stay up with them till 4 a.m. making sure they got back to their room safe, you deserve it.
