Normally I avoid writing SPOTD reports about people within my faculty (predominantly for safety reasons…*grin*) but this one was stupid enough that I am going to break that rule. Not outright, since I will not be identifying who the individuals were, but then, if you are in the ILFR system, you can probably guess who I am talking about.

On the evening of Thursday 16th November, I spent an hour and a half trying to organise a replacement vehicle for my booking to Glenormiston the next day. I had booked a vehicle on Tuesday (Falcon sedan) to travel to Glenormiston for field work on Friday, and the booking was clearly on the board for all to see. I had made arrangements to pick up the keys at 4:30pm Thursday, but as I was not able to get to the campus at that time, rang reception and organised the keys to be left in the Reception pigeonhole for me to pick up after 5pm, when I could get to campus.

I arrived at 10:30pm to pick up the keys (and renew several books through the library internet site), but the keys were not in the Reception pigeonhole as I had organised. I suspected that the receptionist had not left the keys out for me, until I saw a note slipped under the reception window by a staff member stating she had taken the Falcon vehicle home.

The reason for this was apparently that someone had parked the silver station wagon (another vehicle in the Uni carpool) in the middle of the underground carpark, trapping their vehicle, which was indeed the case. However, rather than simply calling security at 9:00pm when they apparently departed, they chose to take the vehicle I had booked instead.

I asked a couple of postgrads working late if they had any idea what the home phone number for this husband and wife research team was, but they did not know. It was suggested that they lived in a certain suburb, so I checked the White Pages and turned up the right name in the right suburb. I gave it a call, but it turned out to be the wrong person with the same name and suburb. I then checked a few more names without ringing, and established the correct number.

They stated again that their car had been blocked in, and that since it was 9pm and since they could not read the booking board, assumed it would be okay to take the keys in the pigeonhole. This was, as you might imagine, a rather irritatingly stupid conclusion to make, since it deprived me of my booked vehicle. When I looked at the board later through the window of reception as they had done, I had to agree that I could not read the name who had booked it (written in pencil, poor lighting). However, it was very clear that there was a name and a destination in the booking area, so they should have been able to tell the car was indeed reserved for use by someone.

I was told that they were not willing to drive the car back to the campus for me, despite the fact that they had used it for personal needs, and I had made a booking three days previous. I was even advised to check and see if another set of keys (left for another lecturer) was to be used early in the morning, and if not, to take that one instead. I was not happy with this suggestion from her, because it did not solve the problem, only possibly increased the level of inconvenience.

However, as it was blatantly obvious that they would not be returning the vehicle in time for my 4:30am departure, I had to ring security and get an officer to let me into the reception office, in order to get the keys for the station wagon. The wagon was fortunately not booked, so I took that vehicle to Glenormiston instead, but if this vehicle had NOT been available, it is clear that the staff members valued their personal use of the vehicle more worthy than my University field work and official booking.

When speaking to the staff member on the phone, and stating why I felt they should return the car to the Uni and take a taxi home (before I’d determined the station wagon was not booked) on the phone, she was adamant that the person who had done the misdeed was not her, but the person who had parked behind her car. I agreed with her that the other person should not have left the car in the middle of the carpark, blocking her car in, but that taking my pre-booked vehicle left me without transport for fieldwork. She could not see this point, telling me that when she came in the next day, she was going to have a go at the person who parked behind her car because they were the ones in the wrong.

The security officers took very little time to arrive, and when they did, asked why the staff members had not simply requested them at 9pm instead of causing the problems. I am at a loss to explain this myself. I was told that when they left, “it was late, and there were children at home and they are 9 and 10 and 12 years old and she had to go home and she could not read the booking board to see if it was a problem”. To my way of thinking, that last reason is the main reason NOT to do what they have done.

Then again, to my way of thinking, if the children were so important, the parents might consider going home before 9pm and giving them dinner, since they had apparently not been able to eat their evening meal before the mother got home to cook it. But I’ve learned that some people take great offence when you imply their parenting skills are lacking (based on a couple of SPOTDs from a couple of years ago which I never wrote up), so I did not express those sentiments at the time.

What makes this even more irritating was that, in all the confusion about trying to get in contact with them, and organise a replacement vehicle, I forgot to renew the library books, resulting in a fine of $23.50 all because I got distracted by the SPOTDs. Not only did they cost me time, but they cost me money as well, and inconvenienced me for so long that it was after midnight before I managed to secure a vehicle and go home for four hours sleep before hitting the road.

And there is nothing worse than a SPOTD that costs me money…

Categories: SPOTD