Space Wars
I’m sick of being kicked out of spaces. It happened twice this week, which brings the total to four times since I’ve been in Pittsburgh. Three of those times have been at CMU. Today, my Project team was told that we needed to clean up the Project space that was to be dedicated to us for the entire summer because we were being moved out. Someone else wanted the room.
People are petty about space, and that saddens me. They inevitably think about the space they aren’t getting or should be getting, and pay no mind to the person or group that gets caught in the middle and put out by their selfishness. In all, it frustrates me, because people seem to stop behaving rationally when it comes to their space. Inevitably it trickles down to someone, and apparently that someone put me on the “Likes to be Relocated” list. My apologies to my Project group who is now on that list with me. Our room situation is in limbo until the end of the week, which is fabulous.
So imagine how I felt when I left school today, passed by the new CMU building that is almost finished, and saw this sign:
I told this to the Project Manager in the group, who said, “That space is $33 a square foot.” To which I replied, “Our Project team is collectively paying $70,500 for the privilege of taking this course.” Holy cow. With that much money I could buy a house on the South Side and have money left over. Add to that the fact that CMU gets money from our client as well, and I start to wonder why this is a difficult problem.
In fairness, my academic advisor and her assistant are working hard to get space. I applaud them for taking on a task that should have been handled by others weeks ago, and I appreciate the connections they are using to get us space for the summer. In the meantime, I’m asking the reader for a favor. Next time you are in a conflict, step into the other person’s shoes and think about what the situation means to them. It really doesn’t matter if it’s space-related or not. Taking two minutes to consider someone else’s feelings is what makes the difference between a terrible week and a salvageable one.