The RIT community works hard to put on events for the enjoyment of students, faculty, staff and the public. Unfortunately, the people that put work into setting up those events can often be overlooked. Who pulls out the bleachers? Who sets up tables? REPORTER looked for the students who work behind the scenes who make these events possible.
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| Nahid Carter - Event Set Up Crew |
| Joshua Kuckens |
Nahid Carter - Event Set Up Crew
Nahid Carter, a second year Environmental Science graduate student,
works as RIT’s Events and Operations Assistant. His job is to help set
up and break down most events held at Gordon Field House. He was
promoted to his current title this fall after his predecessor graduated.
Carter started at the bottom, taking tickets and setting up bleachers
for events. Now he oversees such work and assignes tasks to other
employees. He also manages people’s work schedules, mostly to help
external groups, clubs and fraternities.
Carter started working at the Gordon Field House in late 2007
and has yet to regret taking the job. It is very event-specific,
and what he does depends on what event he’s working. Tasks
range from setting up tables, to taking tickets, to selling DVDs at
graduation. “We don’t handle any sound … or anything really fancy,”
- that’s Tech Crew’s job - “But we work really close with them.”
“Having to really maintain a good customer service,” Carter says,
has been one of the job’s major struggles. “We have to make sure
that we’re [maintaining] a good image for RIT.” Another struggle
Carter has faced is arguments with event attendees or participants.
He’s reminded of one event early on when a coach wanted to put bags
against the pool windows. Carter asked them to move their bags, and
the coach refused. Recalls Carter, “He’s like ‘I’ve seen other teams do
it,’ I said ‘No you haven’t, this has always been the policy, there are
signs right here.’” Eventually, Carter had to get his boss.
Despite the rough moments, Carter believes that working at the
field house has overall been a “very positive experience,” and that he
couldn’t have asked for a better job. “I don’t wake up going ‘Ugh, no.’”
He considers his job to be a “blessing,” a feeling which he contends
doesn’t normally come from typical, mundane jobs.
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| Dan Greenbaum - Master of the Barricades |
| Joshua Kuckens |
Dan Greenbaum - Master of the Barricades
Dan Greenbaum is a second year Chemistry student, and a recently
employed night worker for Parking and Transportation services.
Greenbaum has been working this job since last spring, when a friend
of his went on co-op and needed a replacement. “I know this kid,”
Greenbaum’s friend told his boss, Manager of Parking Special Events
Adam Petzold.
The night before big events, Petzold notifies Greenbaum that a
certain number of parking spaces — sometimes an entire lot — need
to be blocked off. “So I go out there and put up these metal barricades
and then I tape it off so people aren’t allowed to park there.”
Greenbaum does his works during the wee hours of the morning,
from about midnight to 2 a.m. He says he primarily works the night
before big events attended by VIPs, or events like car washes when
space needs to be reserved. He’s also allowed to write tickets for cars
violating parking regulations.
If Greenbaum has an official title, he doesn’t know it. “I’m just like,
‘the kid that does the barricades,’” he says. Sometimes someone will
forget that Greenbaum needs barricades, so he’ll spent hours in a dark
parking lot waiting for someone to bring them.
Greenbaum recalls his most memorable experience happening
during his second night on the job. He was told to block off a large
portion of D-Lot, when some students stole parking tape off the hood
of his car. “I’m like ‘Put that back!’ and the kid looks at me, throws it
on the ground, jumps in [his] car,” says Greenbaum. “They just sped
out of the parking lot.”
