It's not really wealth, but I spent a lot of time this morning in my university office. It's a horrible office,cramped, dirty, and tiled, and I've been there 15 years. I share with another instructor, and we've got lots of stuff. If the janitorial staff clean it twice a year, we're doing well. The state budget cutbacks seem to have hit our cleaning staff hard.
But I got scrounging today and donated an extra (circa 1969) yellow steel desk to one of our teaching assistants who has no desk, making room for a surplus (again 1969) gray steel bookcase I scrounged from the janitor's surplus furniture haul. A co-worker donated an old typewriter table that will house our PC. She got a lamp left by a former office mate, and we got a free calendar from the bookstore. An hour with a roll of paper towels, some picture hangers, and some Windex could really help the place.
I cleaned out files, emptied three ring binders never picked up by students, and gave them to our office manager who was happy to have them. I'm no economist (actually I did an econ minor in college), but it seems as if there's enough stuff to go around here--we just need to reallocate it!
Sharing the Wealth
September 3rd, 2010 at 07:14 pm
September 3rd, 2010 at 10:40 pm 1283553632
September 4th, 2010 at 01:17 am 1283563021