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Pullman
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Dorm Life: It's Good to Have a Dorm Friend |
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Contributed by EmJaye
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Sunday, 24 February 2008 |
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So, it took three and half years for me to truly grasp how great it is to have a friend on the floor of my dorm, but during this past week it finally hit me.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve had friends on every dorm floor that I’ve lived on, I just don’t think I’ve ever really appreciated how great they can be. So let’s discuss why I’ve finally learned this lesson:
I have a “friend” that I’ll call Fire-hose man. I’ve known Fire-hose man since August and over the months that I’ve known him; I’ve grown to like him and thought that he liked me. Fire-hose man, it turns out, had a girlfriend that he never said a word about until last week, when I was supposed to meet him at an event
However, before I get into that, let’s get something straight about Fire-hose man. Fire-hose man is in the same degree program that I am and is a year younger than me, so I thought that him asking about how to get a job was just him looking up to me because I’ve already been through everything that he’s going through now. However, Fire-hose man and I were supposed to meet up at a couple of other sporting events during these past few months and because he’s stupid, he didn’t bring his phone and ended up basically bailing on me, including another event just last month. So, I went into meeting him for this event with a bit of an attitude toward him.
At the last possible minute before meeting him, he sends me a text message to let me know that he’s bringing his girlfriend, the invisible girl, and his roommate, the silent boy, just so that I wasn’t “overwhelmed” when I got there. Feeling slightly panicked because I didn’t know the invisible girl existed and I’ve only met the silent boy once before, I asked the girl across the hall from me, the true friend, if she would like to come to the game with me as backup. After I explained the situation, she was totally in and felt that I needed a friend I could count on there with me because Fire-hose man is clearly unreliable.
During the event, not only did Fire-hose man only talk to me about helping him get a job, but he made no effort to really introduce me to the invisible girl and instead left me to talk to the silent boy the whole time. When the event was over, the true friend told me that, as an outside observer it seemed like Fire-hose man had been using me for my job connections and that he wasn’t being a very good friend. She also stated that, since Fire-hose man had failed to tell me about the existence of the invisible girl, it seemed like he was leading me on as well. Very strong words from a girl who believes in being nice to everyone.
So there’s exhibit A on why being friends with the people on your floor is a good idea: they’ll back you up in awkward situations when you really need someone on your side.
Exhibit B is that on Monday, I wasn’t feeling well and I asked the true friend, right before she left for class, if she would mind dropping an assignment off for me so that it wouldn’t end up being late. Without any hesitation, she agreed, just like a true friend would.
So, in closing, I leave this message to anybody still living in the dorms: give the people living on your floor a chance because you never know when you might need one of them. However, remember the favors your neighbors do for you and be sure to return the gesture should they ever need it, just as the true friend knows she can count on me if she ever needs help.
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