27 May
2014
27 May
'14
4:52 p.m.
Some of you may have noticed the blackboard message in the common room
today. For those who haven't, it says:
PLEASE MOVE. PLEASE TAKE YOUR ELITIST SELF-ABSORBED ASSES TO YOUR
DREAMSPACE UPTOWN "OMNI" SPACE AND STOP PRETENDING TO REPRESENT
"COMMUNITY"
Last night at about 11:30 pm I was sitting in the common space, hacking
away on my laptop, when Johannes (one of the tenants of the building) set
up the projector and started watching a comedy tv show in the common room.
It was just him near the projector and me and Anthony sitting in the
couches near sudo room.
Johannes went and turned off half the lights in the common room without
communicating with us. I was bothered by this and went over and turned the
lights back on. He then came over to me and angrily asked if I really
_needed_ the lights on. I calmly responded "I prefer the lights on". He
then got very upset and started ranting at nobody in particular (though of
course in response to me) as he stomped around the room. I then said "It's
polite to ask before changing the lighting in a room with other people".
This is truly the extent of our interaction, and I communicated in a calm
and neutral manner throughout. Johannes kept angrily ranting, then turned
off the projector. He came back in and out of the room carrying a
blackboard several times. It wasn't until I got up from the couch later
that I saw the message he'd left.
I realize this negative interaction could potentially have been prevented
had I talked to Johannes first instead of just turning the light back on
(though I have attempted this before when he's been disruptive in the
common space, with limited success). The reason I bring this up on the list
is that I am concerned by the disproportionate anger that this small
incident triggered. I feel like it requires a serious lack of
self-awareness / empathy to deal with the incident as Johannes did.
I am documenting this in case this becomes a pattern of behavior that needs
to be addressed in the future.
--
marc/juul