Imagine it’s a Monday morning and you’re getting ready to head to your first class of the day. You mentally go through your checklist to make sure you have the right textbooks in your bag and of course, your phone. You walk out of your dorm room and right as the door clicks shut, it dawns on you that you forgot your room key.
Natilee Grover photo by Dani Easterday
This situation happens to students all over campus. In almost every case, it’s an honest mistake. Some students, like Natilee Grover, have found this to be a common mistake.
“When I realize that I have forgotten my key, I go into panic mode,” Grover said. “I think, ‘Oh God, what am I going to do?’”
While no one likes to forget their key or lose it, the most common solution is to go to the resident adviser on their floor. The RA is able to let them in with their master key. Most RAs are understanding.
“When a resident knocks on my door, I understand,” said Brittany Huff, the Neufeld hall director. “It happens to everyone at least once while they are in college.”
Jena O’Brien, RA for the women’s floor at Hirschy Annex, acknowledges it can be a little rough when someone knocks on her door early in the morning or late at night.
“If I hear a knock on my door early in the morning or late at night, the first thing I think is, ‘Ugh,’” O’Brien said. “Once I go and see that person, I’m usually very understanding.”
Sometimes, it can be a little frustrating for RAs if the same person forgets their key multiple times, O’Brien said.
“If the same person knocks on my door early in the morning or late at night, it can be a little frustrating,” O’Brien said. “However, I remember that it happens to everyone and I end up being very understanding.”
Grover often finds herself stuck in a situation where she doesn’t remember where she put her key.
“If there’s one thing I can say confidently, it’s that I have lost my key temporarily,” Grover said. “There will be times when I have no idea where I put it. I usually pray about it, and then a couple of hours later, it’ll show up.”
If a resident does end up losing their key, the fee for a swipe key is $10, while the fee for a hard key is a little more expensive, O’Brien said.
“That should be motivation to not lose your key,” O’Brien said. “Think about what you could use that money for.”
In order to save the money for other uses, O’Brien, Huff and Grover give a few tips to help residents remember their keys.
“I have a command hook on the door that holds my key,” O’Brien said. “When I leave the room, I see it and am able to remember it.”
“I would try to find a lanyard or something along those lines to try to catch your eye before you leave the room,” Huff said.
For some residents like Grover, remembering their keys is a much harder task.
“Nothing really helps me remember my key, unless my friends specifically ask me if I have it,” Grover said. “I have recently been putting it in the back of my phone case to help me remember it.”
“The most important thing to remember is that you can always come to your RA if you forgot your key,” O’Brien said. “It’s one of the easier parts of our job.”
