University of Virginia Library

No Help

Early Thursday morning after a
trip to the bathroom, I went to
open my door and alas it was
locked! It definitely was a
dastardly plot conceived by a
warped man in a moment of
uncontrollable madness. Hoping to
find the emergency man in a little
late, I ran down stairs but he had
since parted. Running upstairs,
hoping not to be seen, since I was
in my underwear, I reappeared on
the scene of the crime. While I
carefully surveyed the situation at
hand, my roommate went to our
counselor, who was visiting in the
next hall. But he explained that he
did not have the pass key and to
call Security.

In a fit of madness, I walked
into my counselor's opened the
unattended room and saw the
forbidden fruit, THE KEYS! I then
proceeded to steal the keys and
open the door, transgressing my
counselor's most sacred rule. We are
not to touch his pass key.

When he found out about my
inexcusable action, he proceeded to
give me the harshest tongue lashing
I have ever received. I definitely
should have called Security! Now
Security is not known for its speed
in reaching the dorms to assist
students locked out of their rooms
and it was late and I was in my
underwear. I tried to have him
listen to reason but, I failed. I
explained that clearly the rational
approach to my problem was to
borrow his key for ten seconds,
rather than inconvenience the nice
men at Security and to spend half
an hour waiting for them. As I
already mentioned, I failed and I
am now on his blacklist.

A counselor is supposed to be a
friend, a guiding hand, and a
disciplinarian. With such Mickey
Mouse rules, as the unavailability of
pass keys for the above emergency,
that are enforced by housing and
the counselors, how can the
counselors expect to fulfill their
jobs? Exceptions to rules are known
to exist, and to think that my
problem did not merit an exception
is, in my opinion, an audacity. At
least a housemother would have
had some motherly compassion for
me in my sad plight.