I got nothing

Friday of the first week of classes....the first week is just tiring, because you are dealing with ongoing enrollment woes plus people trying to figure stuff out plus just the typical work-week stuff.

And more things that make me less willing to come up here alone on a Saturday to work: the vending machine in the building was broken into and the money stolen. I didn't realize this until Faculty Meeting, I just saw a big "OUT OF ORDER" sign on it and figured, as had happened in the past, that the coin slot had decided not to accept coins or that the thing had decided not to drop a snack after someone paid for and selected it.

They think it's maybe an "inside job" as in, friend of someone who has a key. But there's the outside possibility that someone is sneaking in during the day, finding a *very good* hiding place, and then coming out at night....why our building, I wouldn't know. (It's not like we have an unattributed Michaelangelo statue hanging around just begging for someone to find documentation on).

Also, on my way out of my office yesterday afternoon, I looked down at the vent in the door. We all have metal grate vents in our doors, ostensibly for air flow when our doors are closed. A couple of my colleagues had theirs kicked in in the first round of this stuff. Well, now mine shows evidence of being kicked but probably not breached - the attachment point where it screws into the wood door is very loose and it is tilted a bit, but that is not noticeable from the outside. I told my chair. She asked me if I had just now noticed it or if I had checked before and not seen it. I said I hadn't checked, because the other kicked-in vents, it was obvious from the outside, and it was not for mine.

Incidentally, our campus police force is down a couple officers right now, so the patrolling is not happening as much as it could. We're supposed to get security cameras for hallways and exterior and I hope we do, soon. (I am not a big fan of random surveillance of law abiding citizens but when there's clear criminal activity going on, something needs to be done. And anyway, it's not like we're having cameras put in our offices or in the classrooms).

So yeah. This weekend I'm taking the new text book and some research reading home with me, and working AT HOME, and I will try to only work at home on the weekends until they catch the person or until the little incursions on our building finally stop. (I'm hoping the cameras plus the signs warning of their existence, is enough of a deterrent).

It's also been suggested that if I come in to a trashed parking lot again, I call the campus police and maybe the local cops before cleaning it up, because it could be evidence of trespassing on university property.

All of this makes me unhappy. I am making plans to get pepper spray to keep in my office just in case (if I were in my lab and needed to defend myself, there are a number of big heavy things I could lift and throw or lift and swing if I were threatened).


I also need to get a "no soliciting" sign for my home's front door. I had to take my car out for some work yesterday, but when I went after Faculty Meeting, they were slammed, and suggested I come back around 5 (they are open until 7:30 on Thursdays). So I went home and was practicing when I got a knock on the door. It was some guy who first asked me a question about dish soap, and then scuttled off to his car and came back carrying a Kirby vacuum. And I sighed, and said, "Really, I'm on my way out the door for something, I don't have time for a demonstration" (Well, also I didn't WANT a high pressure sales pitch, and also, all my floors are hardwood and I didn't want him chunking a heavy metal vacuum around on them and maybe dinging them up). And it wasn't a total lie because after he left, I did go and get my car taken care of. But, ugh. I need something like Caller ID for my front door - I guess I thought it was the UPS guy even though I was not expecting a package. (I don't open the door after dark unless I know 100% for sure someone is coming and I know who it is).

I think I'm  bothered by these things because they violate my sense that I should be able to have a couple places on this earth where I can not be disturbed. I know I can't go to the grocery store without having to cope with crying children, or people running in the aisles, or getting in line behind someone who either seems to want to loom over me and try to read my credit card number, or who wants to be my new best friend and share their story of botched cosmetic surgery, or whatever. But I feel like I should be able to go home and have a reasonable expectation of not having someone pushy try to sell me stuff, and also NOT make me be rude to them to get them to leave. (Ask Culture. I think to be a salesperson you have to have the Ask Culture personality.)

A no soliciting sign would do it. I kind of hate the ugliness of the "official" signs but I wonder if a hand-lettered one would work? I have a friend who had a sign up saying something like, "I do not purchase things from cold callers. I do not want to subscribe to any more magazines. I cannot eat the cookie dough your child is selling. I do not sign petitions. And I already have a faith path I am happy with, thank you, so no soliciting."

But I bet people wouldn't read it.

Maybe I need this:

Of course, I'd need a couple of footnotes on there, for the people I don't want to go away. But yeah.