A Day in the Life: A Campus Activities Desk Worker

If the University of Richmond had a Gossip Girl, it would probably be Charlie Kline.

Not only does he know what movie is playing at The Pier, who is looking for a babysitter and where apartments are for rent, he also may know what you did last weekend, where you bought your shirt and why you broke up.

Tucked behind the blue counter of the Campus Activities Desk, located at the valve of our campus' aortic Commons, Charlie is unintentionally the C of many A and B conversations.

"I hear some random, random bits of conversation," he said. "Lots of it is bizarre taken out of context. ... you hear some good stuff. It's just like a two-second window of the conversation and people kind of forget we're here."

When he isn't tuned into the chatter of passing students, Charlie said he often got pulled into helping organizations set up chairs for events that were going on in the Alice Haynes Room. He is also responsible for checking out room keys, updating the babysitting and housing bulletin board, managing the hanging banners and answering the phone.

Although most people who call are asking about coming events, the babysitting book or directions around campus, Charlie said that sometimes people called looking for students to do random one-time jobs.

"Last year I said yes to one lady, and I ended up moving the Jacuzzi in her house with two other random guys," Charlie said. "Yeah, it was a little weird."

Charlie also is in charge of guarding the lost and found.

"We get a lot of nice stuff," he said. "People always turn in iPods, Blackberries and car keys."

Charlie, an environmental studies and geography major, has been working at the Campus Activities Desk since he was a sophomore. Now, as a senior, he has been promoted to Campus Activities Evening and Weekend Manager.

"I used to get a pager," he said, "but we lost it."

Charlie generally works Wednesday and Friday nights and Sunday during the day.

"The Friday shifts kind of suck," he said. "You see everyone going by having fun and you're like. 'Ugh, I'm here until 1 a.m.'"

But one good thing about working at night when there is less traffic is that Charlie is able to change the television channel and listen to music on Pandora radio. He said during his shift last Friday he was able to watch the presidential debates.

He used to be in charge of locking the Commons' doors at the end of his shift, but this year the administration invested in automatic locks that make an impressive clicking sound, he said.

When Charlie isn't behind the counter, he is probably working somewhere else on campus: In Booker as a musical technician or interning for the geography department. Charlie thinks that after graduation he may stay in Richmond, but eventually wants to go to grad school and possibly join the Peace Corps.

In his occasional free time, Charlie said he hung out with his Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity brothers (he's the president).

So, the next time you're trudging through the Commons with your best pal, swapping scandalous gossip for juicy details, you may want to turn down the volume as you reach the double doors. After all, you never know who's listening ... xoxo.

Contact staff writer Emily Viviani at emily.viviani@richmond.edu