Member-only story
My Favorite Trip to Take is a Power Trip
3 things that make a good leader a good leader
You know the people who think they have a tremendous amount of power?
R.A.s.
As in Resident Assistants. On college campuses, these individuals are the equivalent of university-level hall monitors, police without weapons, enforcers without teeth.
R.A.s exist to report on the overall health and safety of residents on their floor, but really they exist to slap the hands of petty rule violators.
The first three years of my work-study in college were spent working in the post office which I actually really enjoyed. But I had no power there.
Alas, my senior year, I became the Resident Assistant on the bottom floor of Quad 2 at Charleston Southern University. My power extended halfway across the metal doors of the lower level, and I was pumped.
For the most part, I didn’t do much more than threaten warnings to those men on my hall that couldn’t keep their rooms clean. Most of these were basketball players that were towers taller than me. My threats meant nothing to them.
Fine. Whatever. I’d find another way to threaten my non-existent judicial muscle.
One night, the chance came.
Let’s Get Petty
I went to a Baptist school, so boys and girls were not allowed in each other’s rooms. This was a frustrating rule, but an understood one. The closest a girl could get to the inside of a boy’s room was to pull up a chair and sit in the doorway.
As someone who largely had no females interested in entering my room anyway, I was determined to bust those who did manage to sneak women in. Was this petty? Sure. Was I acting obnoxiously? Absolutely. But I found my chance one night to slam my hand on the table and scream “GOT ‘EM”.
A member of the band lived across the way on the second floor. I had seen once or twice a girl leaving his room. I knew this took place at night. And one night, I set up my stakeout.
It took a few minutes. Okay, it took a few hours. But well into the night, around 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, it happened. I peeked through my blinds and saw…
