Activist Proposal as. #3

For my group i would like to collect more members and more cans. The group currently 40 active members. Working members that is, there are several other people in the group but they don't do anything. It would be nice to have alot more members in the group to help out. I would also like to make this group really well known. I want people to collect cans at home to help out the cause. The more people who know about this group and take it seriously the more cans we would recieve. I think flyers and posters would help inform people. I could also put it on my status upate in Facebook. That would also help people to know about it. So then maybe they would want to join the group and help out. I ask around and tell people that they need to save their old aluminum cans. More members would equal a lot more cans. I could ask around at resuraunts or eating places that have drinks served in aluminum cans what they do with the cans. I would also ask them to please save them to help out the cancer patients. Throwing away aluminum cans after you use them is easy. But is it really that hard to have a bag to throw your cans in to save people's lives? Another idea i had for this group to bost the number of cans would be to go to parties and collect the empty beer cans. People drink alot more beer than they do anything else and this would really add up the cans. Not only are you recycling but you are, reducing landfill space, room in your waste basket, and helping out people in Riley's childrens hospitals. You could save a life!

Public Discourse Betches!

The Story

About 4 weeks ago i was at my apartment and there was a knock on the door and the door was locked. So i went and looked out the peep hole and saw that it was USI maintenance so i unlocked the door and let him in. Right when he walked in he said, "where's that broken toilet at!?" i looked down and he had a plunger. I got to thinking and i realized that there wasn't any problem with my toilet or my roommates toilet. Nobody called maintenace and filed a complaint anyways so why was he at my apt. in the first place? So i mentioned to him that he might be at the wrong apartment and he asked me what my apt number is and i said 920. He said, "I am at the right apartment so why don't you tell me where the broken toilet is?" he proceeded to walk into the bathroom and began to plunge an unbroken toilet. I was confused and started to get a little scared. We had had a few problems with our shower so i thought maybe there was confusion and one of my roommates might have called and i didn't know about it, so i told him about it so he could get it fixed while he was there. So i told him the story about how our hot water heater wasn't keeping water hot enough to take a 5 min. shower. It use to work just fine but lately it had been turning cold mid-shower. He told me that i was lying and that we just took showers too long and close together. He was pointing at me and snapping his fingers. He said, "i know i liar when i see one!" I noticed that he was losing his temper and was way too (confused) to know what was going on. I realized tha something wasn't right and i was actually getting scared for my safety I then told him to please leave and that we would get the problems fixed by someone else. He told me that he was only trying to do his job. It took me awhile to get him out of my apartment. I left when he did because i had class i noticed that the maintenace guy was acting enraged yelling the story to one of his co-workers that happened to be in the parking lot. The rest of the day i thought about it, and it really bothered me as i tried to concentrate in class.

Discourse:

After talking with my parents, roommates, and other residents around the area i began to notice that what he did wasn't very professional and was disracting me. My roommate and i made plans to drive to Residence Life and speak with the head of Maintenace. It took alot of time out of both of our schedules' and was extremely nerve racking. My cousin and i explained the main boss (Greg) how one of him employees mistreated us and wasn't very professional while trying to complete a simple task. We told him the whole story not leaving out any details. He was very understanding and told us that he was glad we said something about it. He told us that we would have to write a written complaint. We followed suit and got the situation taken care of in an adult matter.

i am glad i chose to take part in public discourse because:

It was happening to not only us but other people, but nobody had time or patients to deal with is.

I wanted my voice heard.

I pay too much to live in an apartment with negative things occuring all the time.

I didn't want it to happen anymore.

I wanted the guy to face the consequences for his actions.

I wanted to get my shower fixed.

I felt much better after i told Greg the story because i knew he would help the situation.

After i participated in the Public discourse:

I worried for my safety (that guy has a key to my apartment) he could get in any time he wants.

I worried about what the guy would do after he was confronted with the issue? would he know it was my cousin and i that complained or was all of that information kept discreet?

I wondered if that guy would even be punished or hear about it?

I wondered what would happen if we ever called maintenace again for a problem and he showed up. What would i do? would i let him in?...

All together i don't regret a thing, i am glad i did it! :)