The Day The Wheels Came Off My Commute
By Matt Sommo
On Tuesday October
7th, I had a commuter's nightmare. What seemed like a normal day, turned
out to be a disaster.
I am a full-time student at RVCC and am appalled at Security's actions
in my time of need. At 3 p.m., I received, what I thought at the time,
was one flat tire. I was leaving the parking lot near the gym, and my
front right tire popped. I swerved out of control and hit the curb. I
had nowhere to go, so I pulled into the motorcycle parking spaces as much
as I could and left the car there.
From there, I went to the Security office for help. Before I could even
get my story out, they were quick to steer me away, saying: "We don't
do tires, just batteries." This statement annoyed and baffled me.
I have seen them deal with keys locked in cars and, just the other day,
saw them assisting a student whose car was overheating.
After getting my jack out of the car and finding it broken, I went back
in the school to ask if I could at least borrow a jack. A female security
officer stated that they didn't have any. What if the pickup vehicles
get a flat?
I was outside for a few hours, and security trucks must have passed me
at least 10 times. Not once did they check to see how I was. The only
people that stopped were students and faculty members, who lent me a jack
and said that it was appalling and that security should have been out
there helping me.
After getting my car jacked up, I realized that my back right tire was
flat also, and I needed to be towed. I went back inside for help a third
time to see if they could provide me with numbers for a tow truck, and
to see if they found my hubcaps in the middle of the road, because they
had been knocked off when I hit the curb. The security guards were in
the same spots as they were hours earlier, and they stated that that wasn't
their job. I said, 'What if somebody ran the hubcaps over?' but again
they didn't want to be bothered.
I finally got a tow truck, and that is when a new security guard came
over - not to help me, just to get my name and file a report. I finally
left school, about 5 hours later, at 8 p.m. My house phone was dead and
couldn't get through to home, for a few hours. At least give me a phone
number, or let me use a phone.
After E-mailing Katie Grofik, RVCC's security director, she forwarded
my letter of concern to Daniel Roose, vice president of operations of
Motivated Security Services. Although there was a mix-up with the E-mail,
the reply was sent within four days. I was happy with the reply, and the
amount of time they spent looking into this situation. Security went as
far as looking at the camera shots from that day to see how long I was
there, how many times security passed me, etc. Katie Grofik was very helpful
and showed concern for me, and made sure everything turned out alright.
This kind of concern should be shown throughout RVCC.
Illustration
by Lisa Burd