Are these the worst people on campus?
Please stop doing these things, you’re driving me crazy!
Now that I’m in my final year, I feel like I’m spending more time on campus, specifically in the university library, than I do at home. While this has been great for my productivity, I’ve found that the more time I spend on campus, the more I see certain types of annoying behaviour.
I think I’ve identified the worst offenders. Do you agree?
The Loud Texter
The library is a place for quiet work. This is common knowledge, right?
Wrong.
Allow me to introduce you to “the loud texter”. You may have your phone on vibrate, but a vibrating phone against a wooden desk still makes a noise.
We can all still hear it!
Why are you in the library if all you’re going to do is have a text conversation? I understand the odd text to a friend for moral support about the mountain of work you might have, we’ve all been there.
But if your phone is buzzing that much go outside and sort out whatever disaster is occurring!
Inappropriate Snack Eater
Similar to “the loud texter” we also have the “inappropriate snack eater”. Who thinks carrot sticks are a good choice of snack for a silent environment? Or crisps!
I do not want to be hearing the tour that chunk of carrot is making around your teeth while I’m trying to write an essay.
The Desk Hog
I’ll just pop my stuff here to make sure I’ve got a seat when I come back. NEXT WEDNESDAY!
The final library user is potentially the worst of all. “The desk hog”.
My university library has such a problem with this that they have employed people to give “parking tickets” to desk hogs and remove their belongings to free up desks.
It’s unbelievably infuriating if I can’t find a seat because there are tables full of bags without people. I understand going for a break while you’re studying.
We’re only human and everyone needs a breather. But I have genuinely spent 4 hours sat next to a lonely bag while multiple students had to leave the library because there were no free seats.
Brand Reps
The wide, hopeful smile belies the sad eyes as the steady stream of freebie grabbers swarm past.
It can’t be an ideal job. You have to talk to a lot of students, 90% of them won’t care about your gym/club night/graduate scheme and that must be tough.
But couldn’t we come to some sort of understanding?
If I’m doing a degree in anthropology, you know I won’t make it onto your engineering graduate scheme. Just let me have a free pen and I’ll stop wasting your time.
Footpath Blockers
Please, someone please, tell me why it is necessary to walk slowly in a line of 4 across a narrow footpath?
No one can get around you and we all have places we need to be.
This may seem petty, but I am frequently late to class as a result of being trapped behind slow walkers.
Yes, it is definitely their fault and nothing to do with my total lack of time management and constant underestimation of how long it takes me to walk to places (cough cough).
The Short Stoppers
The only people worse than the group of walkers, are those who stop directly in front of you with no warning.
If it’s busy, it creates a pile up of bodies who have to do a sudden shuffle to avoid walking in to the person in front of them. Maybe they got a text, maybe they’re taking a photo, who knows? Whatever the cause of their sudden halting, I refuse to believe it was so urgent that it had to be dealt with in that second and they couldn’t have stepped out of the way first.
Campuses are always busy places. Everyone has their own places to be, tasks to do and a hundred thoughts on their mind at any one time. It’s easy to forget that other people have their own things going on and I’m sure I’m guilty of a few of these in my time at university. But with every chew you make, every desk you take try and be considerate of others.