It’s Spring Break at most of the area colleges around here including my alma mata, Lipscomb University. I have 4 years of memories (both good and bad) of dorm life at High Rise dormitory. During school breaks such as Spring Break and Thanksgiving, it is not uncommon to find alarm clocks going off and continually ringing because there is no one there to turn it off. It seems pretty inconsiderate or just plain stupid to leave your alarm clock on for the weekend or school break that you will be gone. But believe me, I’ve seen it all during my 4 years at school. With that in mind, I’ll present my list of dorm pet peeves….

Top 7 List of Dorm Pet Peeves

7. People who throw away anything. If you are a scavenger, you can find anything in the trash of a dorm. One time my friend and I found a fully working Nintendo 64 in the trash (and in excellent condition). There were even two games with it. We couldn’t believe it worked when we hooked it up. I guess the original owner got a newer model and didn’t feel like selling it or giving it away to anyone, so he trashed it. That’s wasteful. Other friends have found working toasters, lamps, sofas, chairs…all ready to be thrown away. We live in a land of plenty where people don’t appreciate what they’ve got.
6. Door Alarms. After 9 pm at night, the side doors of all dorms could not be opened. If they were opened, then the alarm would sound. $50 fines were given out to people who intentionally opened the doors. The alarm was quite loud especially if you were on the 2nd floor. I’m not sure what it accomplished to have the door alarms. 9 pm was chosen because of some type of equality law. The administration wanted security for the girls’ dorms at 9 pm, so they had to do the same for the guys’ dorms.
5. Car Alarms. If I can hear your car alarm from my 5th floor dorm room, then it is way too loud. Car alarms should not go off in the rain/wind. But they did in Lipscomb’s parking lot.
4. People who trash the dorm. This accomplishes absolutely nothing. Do you like living in trash? There have been tons of times where I have gone to brush my teeth and found the sink covered with hair where someone had decided to give themselves (or their friend) a haircut. Clean up after yourself.
3. People who play baseball, soccer or any other type of organized sport in the hallways of the dorms. People, it’s call the SAC (Student Activities Center). If you would like for me to escort you there so that you can play your games, I will. I’m trying to sleep/study.
2. Maintenance work that drags on forever. This is more a problem with the college administration than the dorm residents. Showers where continually being retiled because water was seeping into adjacent rooms. One time the shower on my floor was shut down for that reason for 3 months with no repair work done whatsoever. I finally complained about it and everyone on my side of the floor was given $25 gift certificates to a local mall. Still it didn’t seem satisfactory. Seemed to me like a bribe.
1. Alarms clocks that are not turned off for breaks/weekends when their owners are not there. (See above).