Identifying the Culprit
OK, in light of all that is happening in the world, I feel a bit bad that I am blogging about this. But read my other blog here for today's entry on the incident happening that brought tears to my eyes this morning because I cannot believe that humanitarian aid is being blocked by such a selfish group of people....
Anyway, this is a story of what made me laugh last night, and earlier this afternoon as I talked to my friend again (who was with me last night when this happened). I guess that's how life is - tears of sadness and tears of joy exist in harmony because without one you might not really know the extent of the other.
OK, sorry to keep diverting to something more philosophical as this incident really is not philosophical at all! It happened after 9 p.m. last night in the School of Social Welfare (my department). Being kicked out of the library (apparently it doesn't matter that finals are drawing near....Friday nights everyone must stop studying in the library by 9.....), we decided to go to the doctoral students' office in my department because there are 3 computers there and a large enough area for two of us to spread out and work. So we had been in there about 45 minutes, had a discussion, done some work, and I was busy listening to my music and writing my paper when my friend makes this noise; it's that noise when you're a bit scared but trying not to panic, or when you've found something gross all of a sudden (or maybe a combo of both). So I was like "What's wrong!?" And she points to this furry little thing that was curled up near where she was sitting. It was literally by where her feet had been! It was a MOUSE!
OK, so I shrieked a little. That's my initial reaction. If I have to, and if I have appropriate equipment and strength in numbers (of people), I am able to calm down and try to help catch something like that. But the key here is IF I HAVE TO. We couldn't figure out if it was dead or not. My friend was sure it was dead; I wasn't. I threw (yes, cruel I know) balled up post-it notes in its direction but of course my aim was terrible. Then I found an M&M on the floor, so I picked that up and threw it; it ended up hitting the cabinet right by this mouse, and the mouse FLINCHED! But it didn't move. I yelled, "It's alive!" Then my friend stepped closer and she exclaimed, "It IS alive! I can see it breathing!" So we looked at each other wondering why on earth it wasn't moving. Since we are in the Health Sciences Center, my first guess was that it was a lab mouse that had escaped and found refuge in our department (come on, we ARE after all Social Welfare people....). But I did not want it running around in our department all weekend! People ate their lunches here, had food around I'm sure (which might have brought it here to begin with), and I didn't think it was sanitary. So my bright idea: look for someone (a guy because girls would shriek too much in addition to trying to catch it) to help us capture it and take it outside.
My quest for help was completely useless because a student (from the Nursing Department I think) pointed me to the security guard office, the security guard looked at me half-amused and told me to call a couple of numbers because he didn't know what to do with it, and then on my way back to the office the same student after asking if everything was OK and if I had obtained help just apathetically said "Oh sorry". What on earth?!? Was he sorry about his apathy? Or his total lack of gentlemanly behavior? Evidently he wasn't interested in doing something chivalrous for a semi-distressed semi-damsel. Ha ha ha.
So, upon returning to our office, my friend told me that she saw the mouse crawl out from under the desks and when she screamed, it scurried back under the cabinet! Oh my goodness!! OK....I decided I'm going to call all those numbers the security guard gave me (btw, I really don't feel safe in this building anymore....ha ha ha!). The first #, being Pipes and Plumbing (?) in boredom told me to call Environmental Health and Safety; so I called Environmental Health and Safety but apparently nothing related to that occurs on the weekend so they wouldn't be open until Monday. Finally I dialed the last number - emergency. Yes, it sounded a bit ridiculous but I really felt like this mouse needed to be taken out! My friend suggested we do it, but I was a bit scared about trying to catch it without a container that closed. The last time I had to corner a mouse, I had 2 other guys with me, and my co-worker did the capturing in a box. So here's my conversation with the University Police:
Operator: University Police, can I help you?
Me: Yes, um....I've talked to the security guard in the building and I've dialed a few other numbers but everyone directed me to you. I'm in the School of Social Welfare in the Health Sciences Center, and....(pause)there's a mouse in our office.
Operator: A mouse?
Me: Yes, a mouse. I don't want it to be running around in here all weekend. I think it might have escaped from a lab or something here.
Operator: What did it look like?
Me (thinking incredulously, "a mouse?!?!?" Is this a trick question?): (hesitation)
Operator (obviously my pause was too long for him; maybe he realized it was a lame question....): Is it white, black, brown?
Me (dryly): It's brown....
Operator: You have to call Environmental Health and Safety for that.
Me: I already did.
Operator: Wait. Where did you say you were?
Me: The Health Sciences Center, in the School of Social Welfare.
Operator: The School of Social Welfare? Oh yeah....the Health Sciences Center. Oh, you're on the Hospital side of campus?
Me (rolling my eyes now): Yes.
Operator: What's your contact #?
Me: Well, I don't know the direct line into our office but here's my cell phone #.
(And I gave that to him.)
Operator: And your name?
Me: Eun-sil
Operator: Spell that for me.
Me: E, U, N, hyphen, S as in Sam, I, L as in Larry (I think I lost him here, at the hyphen....)
Operator: And your student ID #?
I gave it to him wondering why I needed to do that. Legitimize that I'm a student I suppose.
Operator: Could you hold please, ma'am?
Me: OK.
And all this time I was looking at my friend through the glass partition that separated where I was from where she was (inside the doctoral students' office cubicle area while I was at a phone on the other side of the partition). All of a sudden I saw the mouse scurry out again. I shrieked, and so did she. And lo and behold! The mouse turned right around and scurried back into hiding!
The operator came back on the phone: You're gonna have to call Environmental on Monday.
Me: You mean I'm gonna have to just let it run around all weekend in this department?
Operator: Yeah, cuz Environmental is not open on the weekend. (Nah! You don't say! I wanted to say....) There's nothing we can do about it. They're the ones who would usually take care of that.
Me (what about when they're closed you yahoos, like now??): Okay, fine. (Rolling my eyes even more now, I hung up the phone.)
As I was relaying the conversation, my friend shrieks again. The mouse had scurried out of hiding and exited our office area, heading left (she said) down to the row of offices to our left! I peeked around the corner, hit the trash can to scare it out of hiding, but to no avail. It had outsmarted two Ph.D. students and gone undercover again. We decided to leave - it was 10:45 p.m. anyway. So I left a note on the door about a mouse-sighting to warn others who might come in during the weekend and also be taken by surprise by a little culprit (oh I forgot to leave the description....that it was brown....). So even though I identified the culprit, at this very moment it is still on the loose somewhere in our department or in the building for that matter, running from the University Police who now have a description but may not forward it to Environmental Health and Safety on Monday, and instead may have just shaken their heads and laughed at the girl who called emergency about a mouse. Maybe I should have hyperventilated on the phone....Or told them about the mouse's smart antics - playing dead, going back into hiding when we shrieked, and using Google Maps to navigate through our department....
Anyway, this is a story of what made me laugh last night, and earlier this afternoon as I talked to my friend again (who was with me last night when this happened). I guess that's how life is - tears of sadness and tears of joy exist in harmony because without one you might not really know the extent of the other.
OK, sorry to keep diverting to something more philosophical as this incident really is not philosophical at all! It happened after 9 p.m. last night in the School of Social Welfare (my department). Being kicked out of the library (apparently it doesn't matter that finals are drawing near....Friday nights everyone must stop studying in the library by 9.....), we decided to go to the doctoral students' office in my department because there are 3 computers there and a large enough area for two of us to spread out and work. So we had been in there about 45 minutes, had a discussion, done some work, and I was busy listening to my music and writing my paper when my friend makes this noise; it's that noise when you're a bit scared but trying not to panic, or when you've found something gross all of a sudden (or maybe a combo of both). So I was like "What's wrong!?" And she points to this furry little thing that was curled up near where she was sitting. It was literally by where her feet had been! It was a MOUSE!
OK, so I shrieked a little. That's my initial reaction. If I have to, and if I have appropriate equipment and strength in numbers (of people), I am able to calm down and try to help catch something like that. But the key here is IF I HAVE TO. We couldn't figure out if it was dead or not. My friend was sure it was dead; I wasn't. I threw (yes, cruel I know) balled up post-it notes in its direction but of course my aim was terrible. Then I found an M&M on the floor, so I picked that up and threw it; it ended up hitting the cabinet right by this mouse, and the mouse FLINCHED! But it didn't move. I yelled, "It's alive!" Then my friend stepped closer and she exclaimed, "It IS alive! I can see it breathing!" So we looked at each other wondering why on earth it wasn't moving. Since we are in the Health Sciences Center, my first guess was that it was a lab mouse that had escaped and found refuge in our department (come on, we ARE after all Social Welfare people....). But I did not want it running around in our department all weekend! People ate their lunches here, had food around I'm sure (which might have brought it here to begin with), and I didn't think it was sanitary. So my bright idea: look for someone (a guy because girls would shriek too much in addition to trying to catch it) to help us capture it and take it outside.
My quest for help was completely useless because a student (from the Nursing Department I think) pointed me to the security guard office, the security guard looked at me half-amused and told me to call a couple of numbers because he didn't know what to do with it, and then on my way back to the office the same student after asking if everything was OK and if I had obtained help just apathetically said "Oh sorry". What on earth?!? Was he sorry about his apathy? Or his total lack of gentlemanly behavior? Evidently he wasn't interested in doing something chivalrous for a semi-distressed semi-damsel. Ha ha ha.
So, upon returning to our office, my friend told me that she saw the mouse crawl out from under the desks and when she screamed, it scurried back under the cabinet! Oh my goodness!! OK....I decided I'm going to call all those numbers the security guard gave me (btw, I really don't feel safe in this building anymore....ha ha ha!). The first #, being Pipes and Plumbing (?) in boredom told me to call Environmental Health and Safety; so I called Environmental Health and Safety but apparently nothing related to that occurs on the weekend so they wouldn't be open until Monday. Finally I dialed the last number - emergency. Yes, it sounded a bit ridiculous but I really felt like this mouse needed to be taken out! My friend suggested we do it, but I was a bit scared about trying to catch it without a container that closed. The last time I had to corner a mouse, I had 2 other guys with me, and my co-worker did the capturing in a box. So here's my conversation with the University Police:
Operator: University Police, can I help you?
Me: Yes, um....I've talked to the security guard in the building and I've dialed a few other numbers but everyone directed me to you. I'm in the School of Social Welfare in the Health Sciences Center, and....(pause)there's a mouse in our office.
Operator: A mouse?
Me: Yes, a mouse. I don't want it to be running around in here all weekend. I think it might have escaped from a lab or something here.
Operator: What did it look like?
Me (thinking incredulously, "a mouse?!?!?" Is this a trick question?): (hesitation)
Operator (obviously my pause was too long for him; maybe he realized it was a lame question....): Is it white, black, brown?
Me (dryly): It's brown....
Operator: You have to call Environmental Health and Safety for that.
Me: I already did.
Operator: Wait. Where did you say you were?
Me: The Health Sciences Center, in the School of Social Welfare.
Operator: The School of Social Welfare? Oh yeah....the Health Sciences Center. Oh, you're on the Hospital side of campus?
Me (rolling my eyes now): Yes.
Operator: What's your contact #?
Me: Well, I don't know the direct line into our office but here's my cell phone #.
(And I gave that to him.)
Operator: And your name?
Me: Eun-sil
Operator: Spell that for me.
Me: E, U, N, hyphen, S as in Sam, I, L as in Larry (I think I lost him here, at the hyphen....)
Operator: And your student ID #?
I gave it to him wondering why I needed to do that. Legitimize that I'm a student I suppose.
Operator: Could you hold please, ma'am?
Me: OK.
And all this time I was looking at my friend through the glass partition that separated where I was from where she was (inside the doctoral students' office cubicle area while I was at a phone on the other side of the partition). All of a sudden I saw the mouse scurry out again. I shrieked, and so did she. And lo and behold! The mouse turned right around and scurried back into hiding!
The operator came back on the phone: You're gonna have to call Environmental on Monday.
Me: You mean I'm gonna have to just let it run around all weekend in this department?
Operator: Yeah, cuz Environmental is not open on the weekend. (Nah! You don't say! I wanted to say....) There's nothing we can do about it. They're the ones who would usually take care of that.
Me (what about when they're closed you yahoos, like now??): Okay, fine. (Rolling my eyes even more now, I hung up the phone.)
As I was relaying the conversation, my friend shrieks again. The mouse had scurried out of hiding and exited our office area, heading left (she said) down to the row of offices to our left! I peeked around the corner, hit the trash can to scare it out of hiding, but to no avail. It had outsmarted two Ph.D. students and gone undercover again. We decided to leave - it was 10:45 p.m. anyway. So I left a note on the door about a mouse-sighting to warn others who might come in during the weekend and also be taken by surprise by a little culprit (oh I forgot to leave the description....that it was brown....). So even though I identified the culprit, at this very moment it is still on the loose somewhere in our department or in the building for that matter, running from the University Police who now have a description but may not forward it to Environmental Health and Safety on Monday, and instead may have just shaken their heads and laughed at the girl who called emergency about a mouse. Maybe I should have hyperventilated on the phone....Or told them about the mouse's smart antics - playing dead, going back into hiding when we shrieked, and using Google Maps to navigate through our department....
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