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Yay alcohol yay
Jan. 17th, 2010 10:45 pmAhaha, had my first vicarious brush with alcohol poisoning the other night.
My friend calls me up around 1am, going, "Hey, can you meet me outside? I need some help."
I come out of my dorm to find his roommate passed out in the backseat of his truck, his nose busted up where he had slipped and gotten cut on his glasses. My help was necessary to get him into bed.
I pinched him between the thumb and forefinger to check for a reaction. He wasn't choking and reacted when I yelled at him. He just wasn't conscious.
We get the kid out of the truck and sort of walking into his building. I had to double back quick when he started vomiting in the lobby. We finally got him hugging the toilet in his own room and divested him of his vomit-covered jacket. And then we turned around to find someone lounging in the doorway of the room, asking for our names. My friend and I are like, "Aw hell nah."
Only after the guy introduced himself as another RA did I in any way talk to him. My friend still refused to say anything.
The experience taught me two things.
01. I do not have a problem with other people's blood. I was mopping up this kid's face while yelling, poking, carrying, and verbally abusing him. This is good news for a future in health care.
02. Taking your job as an RA too seriously deters people from coming to you in search of help. I did not want to deal with the RA, and I am one. While I would like to think that most people know what to do if they think someone's in danger, there are times when you do not know what to do and you need help. And the first person you think of going to for help is not the person who writes you up for every little offense. It's the person who is your friend as well as an authority figure. They will help you first and worry about the details later. Not the other way around. The RA I speak of asked for our names before he asked if the kid was even all right. He covered his ass first. And that is something I consider unacceptable.
I was in danger with my job when I was called into this situation. I may still be. I could be accused of drinking with residents or all manner of things. There are people on staff who are willing to take a tattle-tale's word over yours.
There are also those who will tell me what is and is not my job. And I know helping a friend out is not categorized as my job.
But I was not thinking about that when I was doing this. I was thinking about helping a kid who needed it, and making sure that he was safe. I was thinking about helping my friend, who was in a stressful situation and needed me.
Had another RA not jumped all over us, I would not have written a report about it, either.
I like my job. The benefits are amazing. But I still hate administrative bullshit. The people I work with tend to capitalize discipline over actually helping anybody.
Well, I refuse.
So. Crisis is over, and I will take on anyone who so much as looks sideways at my actions. I'm a person before I'm an RA. And I am not sorry.
My friend calls me up around 1am, going, "Hey, can you meet me outside? I need some help."
I come out of my dorm to find his roommate passed out in the backseat of his truck, his nose busted up where he had slipped and gotten cut on his glasses. My help was necessary to get him into bed.
I pinched him between the thumb and forefinger to check for a reaction. He wasn't choking and reacted when I yelled at him. He just wasn't conscious.
We get the kid out of the truck and sort of walking into his building. I had to double back quick when he started vomiting in the lobby. We finally got him hugging the toilet in his own room and divested him of his vomit-covered jacket. And then we turned around to find someone lounging in the doorway of the room, asking for our names. My friend and I are like, "Aw hell nah."
Only after the guy introduced himself as another RA did I in any way talk to him. My friend still refused to say anything.
The experience taught me two things.
01. I do not have a problem with other people's blood. I was mopping up this kid's face while yelling, poking, carrying, and verbally abusing him. This is good news for a future in health care.
02. Taking your job as an RA too seriously deters people from coming to you in search of help. I did not want to deal with the RA, and I am one. While I would like to think that most people know what to do if they think someone's in danger, there are times when you do not know what to do and you need help. And the first person you think of going to for help is not the person who writes you up for every little offense. It's the person who is your friend as well as an authority figure. They will help you first and worry about the details later. Not the other way around. The RA I speak of asked for our names before he asked if the kid was even all right. He covered his ass first. And that is something I consider unacceptable.
I was in danger with my job when I was called into this situation. I may still be. I could be accused of drinking with residents or all manner of things. There are people on staff who are willing to take a tattle-tale's word over yours.
There are also those who will tell me what is and is not my job. And I know helping a friend out is not categorized as my job.
But I was not thinking about that when I was doing this. I was thinking about helping a kid who needed it, and making sure that he was safe. I was thinking about helping my friend, who was in a stressful situation and needed me.
Had another RA not jumped all over us, I would not have written a report about it, either.
I like my job. The benefits are amazing. But I still hate administrative bullshit. The people I work with tend to capitalize discipline over actually helping anybody.
Well, I refuse.
So. Crisis is over, and I will take on anyone who so much as looks sideways at my actions. I'm a person before I'm an RA. And I am not sorry.
