There are not many jobs on the 黑料不打烊 campus where the office cheat sheet includes items like 鈥渃logged toilet,鈥� 鈥渉ot office,鈥� 鈥渂roken garbage disposal鈥� and 鈥淨uad event set-up.鈥�
The Facilities Services dispatch team includes Eileen Simmons, operations manager, and dispatchers Laurie Poirier, Michelle Grosso, Vickie Crawford, Vernessa Honor and Melissa Stocking.
The list of potential mishaps is at least 10 pages long and growing, judging by the cramped handwriting in the margins of the pages. The minor calamities and major emergencies of a bustling campus make up the daily lives of the five Facilities Services dispatchers鈥揗elissa Stocking, Vickie Crawford, Vernessa Honor, Laurie Poirier and Michele Grosso鈥搘ho work out of a second-story office on Ainsley Drive. Poirier, the longest-tenured amongst them, has been at the University for 42 years and two are relative newbies, having been at the University for only a couple years.
Students, faculty and staff members all reach out to Facilities Services when something needs fixing. They call, email or submit a request through an online form. The dispatchers are on the receiving end of each request. Over the years, they鈥檝e learned to be prepared to hear anything when they answer the phone鈥搃t could be just another request to raise a bed in a residence hall room (there were 160 of those in August 2021), or it could be that water is gushing from a broken pipe. A recent trip to their office to listen in on their work revealed the immense amount of behind-the-scenes labor it takes to keep the University running smoothly.
After a phone call from a staff member at Falk College, the radio dispatch goes out:
鈥淐ould you go to Falk and assist in the Dean鈥檚 office?鈥�
On the other end of the radio call are a variety of workers, 鈥渢rades鈥� and 鈥渟hops鈥� in the lingo of the office. These are the University鈥檚 plumbers, electricians, HVAC staff and janitorial staff, dispatched across campus to address each problem in turn. It鈥檚 an operation that, very literally, keeps the lights on at the University.
Each request for service results in a work order, an entry in the Facilities tracking system directing the work of the tradespeople. The sound of the work order printer rarely ceases, as the orders 鈥渂roken window, second-floor bathroom, Shaw Hall鈥� 鈥淏linking lights won鈥檛 stop 鈥� private dining, Goldstein Alumni and Faculty Center鈥� pour in through email, phone calls, and their online form.
鈥淪queaky door, could you hit that with some WD-40?鈥�
Their work involves constant triage鈥� vomit clean up in a fifth-floor bathroom is important, but it will take a back seat to a burst pipe, broken glass or anything that may cause harm to people or property.
This is what they find so difficult about their work鈥搕hey want to be able to tell the voices on the other end of the line that their problem will be addressed quickly, but sometimes that is just not the case. Sometimes, chipped paint will have to wait a couple hours to be addressed.
鈥淣ot everything is an urgent situation,鈥� says Eileen Simmons, operations manager for Facilities Services, who supervises the dispatchers. 鈥淯nfortunately, sometimes we have to tell staff or faculty that their issue falls behind a campus emergency, and we will get to their concern as quickly as possible.鈥�
At any given time, there are only so many workers available to address issues, and several may be dispatched together to deal with a crisis. Meanwhile, the calls keep coming.
A slow month, in the summer after the majority of students have left for the year, might see around 1,000 calls to the office. In a busy month, like August 2021, that number will rise to over 2,500 calls, roughly 85 a day.
The joy in their work comes from knowing they鈥檙e making a difference on campus. Sometimes, they鈥檝e even coached students through rudimentary life-skills courses, like the time Grosso spent 20 minutes on a call with a student, teaching her how to use a plunger.
鈥淪ometimes I feel like a mother to these students,鈥� she says. 鈥淭his is what I would want someone to do for my child, so that鈥檚 how I feel about the students that call us.鈥�
Advice for Calling Facilities Services to Report a Problem
The five staff members of the department collectively offer a few recommendations for making a report to Facilities Services. The best way to have your problem addressed quickly is by having the following information on hand:
Call Facilities Services any time to report a problem at 315.443.1234. Requests can also be submitted through their website 鈥� just that best meets your needs.
