Back to Updating…. Though, No One Knows That I Am Anymore, Because I Am Not Online Constantly.

A bunch of my friends from Bradley who have not had the luxury of graduating such as I have are now sitting through Residence Hall Staff Training this week. It is an every semester ritual that divides the staff into 3 distinct camps:
-Newbies: 1st (sometimes 2nd) semester staffers who don’t know better and actually enjoy their job because they think “they will make a difference” or “they want to give back” or something like that.
-Staff who love their job: These are staff that can actually be split into two categories as well (I honestly don’t think there are any ones that I know of that fall out of these categories). One is second year RAs. The other is hall directors. A trademark of these people are the fact that the vast majority of their dealings revolves around the residence halls, be it actually doing things for the residence halls or hanging out with people in residence halls.
and finally,
-Staff who think their job is nothing more than a job: I definitely fell into this category, which I think the majority of RAs who were RAs for longer than 2 years did too. There comes a point where you just stop caring about the residents as much, and start caring that you are getting free room and board… Mind you, I still did my job (no residents getting in trouble, no major problems on my floors, no residents sent to the hospital for drinking related problems… that sounds like I did a fine job). But to me, especially after coming back from Scotland, it was merely a job to me. One where I performed the requirements, earned my wage, and said adios when the time came.

I’m not saying anyone of those 3 categories is the right category to be in, but what I will say, unequivocally is that staff training is by far the most mind numbing week of your entire existence. Hands down. I hated it from day one.

And yet, I have to go through another staff training from August 26th through August 30th. But here are the reasons why this one will be better:
1) I will not be in Peoria (I will be in Tyson’s Corner, VA, a suburb of DC)
2) I will not be in a dorm (I will be staying in a Sheraton hotel)
3) I will not be in training from 9 am until midnight (I start at 8, finish by 5)
and the best reason
4) The hotel I am staying at has a free (yes, free) happy hour which begins when I finish training and lasts for 2 hours. Free beverages and food will abound.

Yeah, I don’t miss being an RA one bit.