Carthage Conferences…Oh the Drama

Jun 29, 2005 by Daniel Ross-Jones

Where’s the cohesiveness on this year’s summer staff? From what I can tell, this isn’t a phenomenon absent from the conference staff, this is plaguing the entire summer Carthage staff.

Last summer, we’d all hang out in WOH’s, the office was the place to check in–even when you weren’t working. We were much more cohesive as a staff. This summer, we’re fighting with each other every day, can’t stand one another and as soon as it’s time to leave, we’re gone.

Case-in-point. The Six Flags kids get shat on daily by our staff, but that’s sort of imbred in the office culture, but that’s not the point. A person came in and asked if he could send a package. I politely gave him directions on which bus to take, how to get to the PO, told him that I figured a regular-sized box not too heavy would probably cost $7. That wasn’t enough for one of my co-workers (who works in a different department, I might add). She said that he should go to the mailroom on campus.

Last summer, that was a no-no. Conference guests–especially Six Flags–couldn’t mail out from the mailroom. We sent them to the PO.

I think it makes perfect sence, but she couldn’t understand it. “Half those people don’t even have cars.” You’re right, that’s why we have a city bus schedule. “We have a post office mailing facility on campus.” No, we have a company mailroom. That’s different. We can restrict who uses the facility. “Well that’s just shitty.” Yes, it is. It’s life.

So she calls down there and gets them to start taking packages from Six Flags. Then proceeds to argue with me about how we treat them shitty and when I try to explain my side, as to why it makes sense that Carthage can determine what Carthage does with Carthage’s own facilities, she tells me to shut up.

Now we have the whole awkward working environment where we can’t even talk to each other civily or even to ask the other to go do something because a call came in. This didn’t happen last summer.

The world’s a rough place. You’ve got to pick your battles. Even at Carthage, I think there are bigger battles than telling someone they have to go to the PO to send a package. (Oh, the cruelty! Think of the children! You might have to actually do something!) Maybe the fact that food service shuts down for two weeks at the beginning of the summer, causing us all to fend for ourselves for food. This is even a bigger issue for Six Flags, since they don’t have the ability to eat at other places with their meal card.

Maybe we should have fought the final plans for The Oaks, rather than believing what the administration spoon-fed us. They are not apartment-style. They are glorified single rooms with a shared bathroom. They do not have kitchenettes. They have a microwave and refrigerator on each floor–something most students already have in their rooms.

Maybe we should fight to have a say in the renovations of the Seidemann building, rather than letting the administration build what they want to see in the new student center. Maybe we should fight to have a decent, current technology infrastructure on the campus. Maybe we should fight to retain the low student to faculty ratio that is growing each year. Maybe we should speak up about the education we’re paying $29,000 each year to receive when it isn’t equipping us well for jobs after Carthage.

But, you know, fighting so that Six Flags can send mail from the campus mailroom compares.

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