Picture this: It’s afternoon, and I am dinking inside the mini-lab in Renshaw Hall. You know, I’m doing the usual multitasking — e-mail, Facebook and Tetris. Needless to say, I’ve got a buffet of tabs open to feed my ADD.
But I wasn’t aware that the room would become pregnant with chaos, nor that I would be sitting in the center of it.
A class is in session in the main lab and two of the computers in the mini-lab were having some issues. While those of you, upon reading the previous sentence, may have said by way of inner monologue, “What else is new?” you comprise a portion of the motivation behind this writing.
As I mentioned, two of the computers were not running properly. Upon entering the mini-lab, I attempted to bring them back to working order by holding down the power button on the back of the modem — unfortunately, to no avail. At that point, it was no skin off my back; the computer in front of me (my go-to guy) was having a great day.
However, I noticed that when other students came in to use the lab, they didn’t even make an attempt to correct the situation. Regardless of the fact that I’d already attempted to fix the computers, you would think a student’s need to use one would warrant some sort of attempt at it. I thought so, and I was wrong.
Instead, people walked into the lab (if they even made it that far, most would look in and then leave Renshaw entirely) and, seeing that two computers were out of commission, left in an irritated fashion characterized by huffs, sighs and grumbles. My inner monologue: “You’re just going to leave? You’re seriously not even going to do any basic troubleshooting? So be it, you deserve to find another place to take care of business.”
What gets me, though, is the fact that folks get all ticked off because they feel as though the next nearest available place with computer and printing capability is the library, an assumption that would make even myself a tad bit miffed. But that’s not the case. Two places I can think of are much closer in proximity to Renshaw Hall and can accommodate these needs. (I will leave them nameless and let you practice being resourceful.)
What’s more is that, had you not waited to print your document until 10 minutes before you were supposed to have it with you in class, you wouldn’t have a cause to waste precious energy getting upset.
Now, you’re saying to yourself, “People in glass houses…,” but you shouldn’t for two reasons: One, although I may complete assignments in a manner of procrastination, I know that there may be unforeseen events to plan ahead for, so I print early. Two, if earlier you said, “What else is new,” that means you are aware of the potential of unforeseen events, such as unavailable computers and a class in the main lab. It means you continually choose to reject logic and take a gamble on getting things done on time, and that is your own fault, true enough.
The next part of my story takes me out of the game.
With every person who was halfway to a hissy fit in front of me that day, I became increasingly irritated at the lack of troubleshooting. I decided to take action — the most obvious action, mind you: I called ITS. Boy, was it difficult to turn my head to the right and find the number. Even more difficult was dialing the number on my cell phone. It wasn’t actually hard, as you should have gathered by now, but it may as well have been as complicated as a Rubik’s cube the way my college mates consistently shied away from it.
Needless to say, I spoke to someone on the phone, someone from ITS appeared within 10 minutes to fix the computers. It is her job, and she does it exceedingly well, but I am certain she is not a psychic.
It cannot be terribly arduous to be resourceful; I am sure the vast majority of the population uses Google more than enough, and sometimes merely to answer a quick question.
Am I wrong to assert that it wouldn’t be becoming of you to receive a job offer and then to demonstrate a severe lack of resourcefulness? I am sure that I am correct. I am also sure that should you find fault with what I have imparted, you will figure out where to find me.

Septembre Russell
Copy chief Septembre Russell can be reached at [email protected]