Loungin' Around

I like to believe that most people have a common sense of decency and social appropriateness, though it may not surface in my writing. This week something that been occurring frequently that really irks me and simply begs the question, “Really?”

I don’t like to talk on the phone in my room because it’s inconsiderate to my roommate do so, so I usually go down to the lounge to talk. It’s not that I’m saying anything I necessarily wouldn’t want her to hear, it’s just that she’s usually watching a movie or studying and I don’t want to disturb her. The lounges are public to all Cunningham residents or, I guess, all students at Longwood (though not many non-North Cunningham students hang out in our lounges). The one I usually talk on the phone in is mid-way down the hall and contains a table, two chairs, and a couch. When there’s someone in that lounge, I go down to the main lounge, which contains a mini-kitchen and a television. When this one is in use, which it often is considering the TV, I go up to the second floor, which has an open lounge area at the end of it complete with several couches and a drink machine.

Notice I said that when there is someone in said lounge area, I go somewhere else to talk on the phone. You’d think this would be the widely accepted, generally polite thing to do. You would also assume that everyone would do this. Well, you’d also be wrong.

I had a recently-ended battle with a boy we all affectionately call “Lounge Kid.” Lounge Kid looks like a serial killer. Lounge Kid also never left the lounge for two weeks straight. I mean, it’s not like he had a sleeping bag rolled out and his toothbrush on the windowsill, but he was in there whenever I wanted to talk on the phone, working on some sketch for an art class. Lounge Kid is a creeper. Every time I come down the hallway and he’s in there he stares at me with a stare that says, “I’m going to make a dress out of your skin.” I usually try to make a pretty sour face back, hoping that the staring will cease, but it doesn’t. I think he didn’t stop staring at me because he was anxious to see what kind of horrible expression I could contort my face into each time we made eye contact.

Nonetheless, he has concluded spending all of his time in the first floor North lounge. I don’t know why, but he just hasn’t been in there. I haven’t exactly cried over it yet. But, Lounge Kid is old news.

A couple weeks ago I was sitting in the open second floor lounge area on the phone. It around eleven o’ clock at night. I had been sitting there for well over a half hour when this girl approaches; she was both on the phone talking obnoxiously and holding her laptop. She had one of those naturally obnoxious voices that you can’t really insult because you know they cant help it most of the time.

She spotted me and said, “Uhhh… uhhh…” into the phone. She looked at me, then at the couch next to me, then at me again. I continued my conversation. She then proceeded to sit near me, hook up her laptop, and continue her very loud, obnoxious conversation.

I understand that these are open, public spaces for all residents. But, mind you, there are four floors in the Cunningham building and two lounge spaces on each hall. There are 12 halls total. That means there are 24 lounges total. That’s not including laundry rooms, and there are 2 of those on each floor, and they’re usually pretty empty during the week. That means there are a total of 32 open spaces that can be used as a place to talk other than your room.

I can understand that most people are too lazy to walk down to South Cunningham to use their lounge, which is understandable. But really, you shouldn’t have to. I already told you my order of locations, and I didn’t even mention the laundry room. There are endless possibilities that don’t include invading a talk space that was already in use.

Just yesterday, I was talking on the phone in the small mid-hallway lounge. I had been there for about 45 minutes talking with my significant other about Thanksgiving break plans and such. This girl approaches the lounge, laptop in hand. Let it be said that this lounge is much smaller than the second floor lounge area, thus less reasonable when someone attempts to “share” it. So anyways, this young lady walked right in with a sort of entitled attitude; didn’t look at me and went straight for the chair then hooked up her laptop. I continued to talk to Erik for a few minutes, hoping she might get uncomfortable. But, she didn’t. Instead, she shot me this glare, like her voo doo mind trick or something was going to make me go elsewhere to converse. Instead, I just got sick of her creepily staring at me, and went elsewhere on my own.

Anyway, this whole thing is annoying. We are offered ample space in our dormitories, not to mention the student union, Java City, and the plain old great outdoors. You wouldn’t crawl into a phone booth when someone else is using it, so why double-up on a lounge?

 

By the Way:

This will be my last entry of the semester. My next entry will be January 14^th. Good luck on your exams, be looking for my stories in the Rotunda, and have a wonderful break!