Get Herald RSSAs I bought my coffee at the Blue Room and opened to the editorial page of The Herald a few weeks ago I was shocked and saddened by a letter to the editor - Gail was leaving for the spring.
After countless "good mornings" and "have a nice days," Gail has become as much a fixture of the Ratty (and accordingly the Brown experience) as there could possibly be. She is a warm, friendly and familiar face, and she will most certainly be missed.
But after all this ran through my mind, I started to ponder the nature of Brown students' fascinating communal relationship with Gail.
Why is it that Gail, but not Jose, Fatima or any other chef or cashier at Brown, has captivated our attention and our love? According to the University's Web site, Brown employs nearly 2,800 staff and yet we only know a handful.
It seems that at best we do not know the staff and at worst we ignore them. Instead of attempting to cultivate the same rapport that the community has with Gail, we are largely content to view the rest of the Brown staff merely as employees of the University that we attend.
So, over the past couple of weeks I have been making an extra effort to say "hello" and "thank you" and all of the proprieties that students sometimes forget when they are in a hurry. It has been an illuminating experience. I had a nice conversation with one of the security guards at the SciLi. I say thanks to Paul (the janitor of Marcy House) whenever I see him.
Granted, my anecdotal observations do not provide a systematic exploration of the relationships that students have with Brown staff. I am sure that many other students are also friendly with the security guards at the SciLi and the safeRIDE drivers.
Nor am I suggesting that Brown students are normally rude, mean or arrogant if they forget to say "hello," or "thank you," when they are in a rush. But it does seem like we should do something as a community to show more appreciation for the employees who make our University run.
I came up with a few ideas.
I first thought about creating an "employee of the week" award for different groups of staff. There could be one in the Ratty and one in the V-Dub, one in the SciLi for Media Services and so on.
If students saw a picture and a few sentences about a previously unknown employee every week, it might give them a chance to approach these employees and congratulate them on their hard work.
Of course, this might be difficult to implement - selecting winners and losers could be problematic - so it may not work for every division of the Brown staff.
Then I wondered whether the Herald could do a weekly feature on different staff members. Instead of polling students on various topics, it might be worthwhile to survey the staff. Even hearing from a handful of staff members each week would help students cultivate new Brown employee obsessions and relieve some of the pressure on Gail.
But as I sat around trying to come up with ideas, I realized that I was on the wrong track. Brown doesn't need a feature or an employee of the week in order to acquaint students with staff. Brown students just need to exercise a little compassion.
Maybe, in this sense, Gail's brief absence benefits us all. It benefits Gail because we will all be excited to see her when she returns. It benefits the broader community because it affords us an opportunity to meet and interact with new staff celebrities.
So, Gail, I wish you the best. And I hope that your brief hiatus from life at Brown will enable the student body to get to know other cashiers, security guards, drivers and janitors just a bit better.
Max Chaiken '09 is the reason that the Ratty runs out of Hot Ham on Bulky Roll
