New Recording 34

Jacqueline, a student at the Mell Room, interviews Fatih, an international student from Ghana. Fatih started working at the Mell Room in his freshman year due to financial package requirements. He found the Mell Room fun and exciting. Fatih didn't feel like he found a community on campus but rather shifted between existing ones. The mailroom stood out with its vibrant atmosphere. Fatih described the busy and chill times during shifts. He highlighted the entitlement of some students picking up packages. As an international student, Fatih didn't feel left out not receiving packages from his family in Ghana daily. Okay, so I'm Jacqueline, a fellow student working at the Mell Room. I'll be interviewing you about your experience as an international student at the Mell Room. Can you introduce yourself, your name, where you're from, and how long you've been working at the Mell Room? Hi, my name is Fatih. I am a Ghanaian, and I've been working in the Mell Room since the gen-tide of my freshman year. Interesting. What year are you in right now? My senior year. I am a senior, and I cannot believe it, but I have been working in the Mell Room since freshman year. Wow. What made you decide to apply for a job in the Mell Room? Okay, first of all, I really had no idea we had to work, because I sort of missed the orientation part of coming to Colby, and campus, what do you call it, the SPS, the Student Financial Office, reached out, and they were like, oh, as part of the financial package, you have to work and make student contributions, and I'm like, what do you mean I have to work because I'm an international student, and I know I'm not allowed to work, and so we had a conversation, and they told me, oh, there are job openings on campus that allow students to work, or student work, right, and so, yeah, I had to, and I'm also a chronic order, like a person who orders a lot of packages, so they already knew me from that time, every time coming to the Mell Room to pick up packages, and Mell Room is all about the fun, and then the excitement. They like exciting people. They're able to pay off other people, right, and so, yeah, that's how I ended up applying to work in the Mell Room, and then I got in. I see. What was it like coming to Colby and to Maine for the first time as an international student? For me, coming to Colby was just another school in the name, because I went to high school in Connecticut, and so I didn't come to Colby as a fully international student. I came to Colby from a high school here, so, I mean, I came to Colby from a high school here, so it wasn't giving the international students, because there were some people, Ghanaian kids, who flew all the way from Ghana to Colby, and so one thing I would say is it was a little different, because I've lived in the U.S. for, at that time, four years, and so I sort of knew a little bit about New England, but I had no idea what Maine was like, so, but the closest thing I would say to Maine is going to New Hampshire. I went to New Hampshire for a summer camp my freshman year in high school, and so I sort of knew how the North was, but I didn't know if it was farther from anything else, but yeah, exactly, and colder, but coming here, though, it was fall, so it wasn't that cold yet, and then winter hit, and I'm like, oh, my God, what did I sign up for? And everybody keeps asking me, how is a Ghanaian here? Like, why did you choose to come to Colby of all places? I'm like, well, they told me it's one of the happiest campuses on the American soil, and I am a happy person, so I guess it was the best fit for me, so, yeah, but it has not disappointed me at all, yeah. Before working here at the mailroom, how did you feel about finding community on campus? I think community, you don't find community. The communities exist, and so you just shift between them, and you are a community yourself. I mean, nobody ever talks about themselves as a community, but however you put your brand out to be and how it invites other people, I mean, if you saw me and I wasn't laughing, would you come talk to me? No. Then you would not join my community, right? Yeah. But now we're having this conversation because we've already, like, that community already existed, and then you just decided to join, so you don't find community, it's just existing places where you just coincidentally mingle with those of us, you know, and so, but if we're going to be talking about it, like, systemically, like, the Pew Center is a community, and so through orientation, they talk to you about that, and the mailroom, everybody that works in the mailroom is such a generous sponsor, and that is a community. Yeah. Colby as a whole is a community, and for me, I was part of the soccer team, and so that was a community that already existed that I was a part of before I even stepped foot on this campus because I'm a recruit, right? Yeah. And so, yeah, I feel like I didn't find a community, community kind of found me in some way, and I just bound between them. That's a great answer. Thank you. Did the mailroom feel different from other campus spaces when you first started working here? Absolutely, absolutely. The mailroom has the most fun people on the Colby campus because everybody that walks into the mailroom, they come in trying to pick up their package, and so you and how you let people pick up their packages is what they're going to be talking about because they come in with the fun of, oh, my goodness, I've got a package, I need to pick it up, and then you give them the, what do you call it, the fun because you are picking up the fun and handing it to them, right? Yeah. And so I think the mailroom energy is one of the things people talk about, and if I am going to tell anybody to apply to any job on campus, I mean, if they want to sit on a desk, fun desk, and whatnot, maybe the mailroom is not for them because we keep picking up packages and all that, so we don't really get to sit and then do nothing, but if you want a place where everybody is genuinely fun and easily outgoing, I think the mailroom is the place, right? I mean, you can say the same thing about it, right? Exactly. I mean, I just started working, and you're already, like, it's tangled with me and everybody else I know that I've introduced you to, so that's how it is. Yeah. And it's been like that since I joined the mailroom, and I've tried to carry that on, right? Yeah. And I know you're going to carry it on, too. Yeah. It's been four years, like, different people, but they're all bringing in the same thing, which is great. Can you walk me through what a typical shift in the mailroom looks like for you? Also, I would say it depends on the time of the day you're working, because, I mean, the mailroom opens at 8, and it closes at 4, but there are certain times that are rush hours. Yeah. There are certain times where everybody comes to pick up their packages at noontime. Everybody's in the mailroom because that's when they've just finished with their classes or they're going to lunch, so they're picking up their packages, and so you get a long line, and the times when packages actually get delivered by the carrier companies, maybe UPS, USPS, FedEx, they have their own times, right, by 11 to noon, it's so busy. Yeah. If you get a shift at that time, it gets really, really overwhelming because you cannot sit down to get a break. Yeah. And the 29ers, the freshmen are always the ones getting so many packages, so you have to keep going back and forth. But mostly during the evenings, it's just one or two people coming to pick up their packages, so it's more chill. It's more just sitting down and talking to, yeah, everybody else. What parts of the job do students picking up packages not usually see? What part of the job? I don't really know if this is what you're asking, but people picking up packages sometimes are too entitled, and then they don't see how we have to come in, put their packages, like, check in their packages, put them on the shelf, and then some of them come in, and then they just hand you their ID, like, pick up my package for me, you peasant, or something like that. I'm like, I mean, I'm trying so hard not to curse or anything, but I'm like, are you actually kidding me? Yeah. The least you can do is respect, you know? Yeah. And there's some people, they'll be on their phone, and then they come and they toss your COVID ID on the counter, and picking up the ID is so hard. They wouldn't even tell you their class. Exactly. They wouldn't tell you anything, and you're like, what do you want me to do? It's one thing if you're a freshman because you're learning this thing, right? Yeah. But it's another thing if a senior, a junior, or a sophomore who's been picking up their package all this while, doing the same thing. I'm like, come on, guys. You know better than me. Yeah, I know. But yeah, so I think the labor that goes into it gets undermined or overlooked. Yeah. Or just people just don't care, you know? At most, people just don't care. And I think people think it's easy. It's like, okay, just hand me the package. They don't actually see that we are doing that. Yep. They don't see that. They don't, exactly. How does it feel being the person who gives everyone their mail every day, but then sometimes, as an international, even though you live in the U.S., you don't get packages from your direct family in Ghana every day. But then there's a lot of people, oh, I got a mail from my grandma. And they're like, oh, I can't get a mail from my grandma. She's all the way. How does it feel in those type of situations? I mean, my host family have been really generous to me. So they must have sent me packages. And they are not less than my parents at home. Every single time, I refer to them as my parents. And so they send me packages, so I don't really have the feeling of being left out. Oh, does that mean my parents don't care about me? I mean, when I was in Ghana, I wasn't receiving packages from my parents. It's not part of my culture. If somebody else is receiving packages from their grandma or the pastor of their church, that's got nothing to do with me. And so I really don't get bothered by that. But then I can see how that would be like excluding, right? You start thinking about so many things. This is off topic, but I was talking about how some people's parents just drop them off at school, right? And they're leaving and they're crying. And they know that their parents are going to come back every weekend. And they're crying. Girl, why are you crying? But I feel all the way here by myself. So I have gotten to settle with that. And so to each their own, right? If the parents are sending you or grandparents are sending you packages, good for you. I mean, I can buy my stuff online too. I see. What does mail mean to you personally as an international student? Is it important? Having the mail room in general, do you think it's an important part of COBE? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if there isn't a mail room, where else am I going to put my packages or my letters? And so for an international student who doesn't have a mail address, like a mailing address outside of COBE, if there's no mail room, are they going to get their packages? Maybe they're going to be mailboxes. Just having the interaction with people. I mean, there's so many kids who come into the mail room. They come because they know somebody who works in the mail room at that time. Yeah. And so it's just like building a community at that point too. I mean, you're talking about finding community, right? But then that's a way of building that community for somebody else who can't find. And so as an international student, I think it's really important for me because it's not only inbound, right? It's also outbound. We get to send letters to our friends. And maybe sometimes even though it takes too long, it gets there, right? And so having the mail room means that there's that connection that is outside of the social media platform. Yeah. Because my parents can send me a letter and then others, they don't have to, like, do a voice report on WhatsApp or anything like that, right? Yeah. How authentic of you. How would you describe the community among student workers in the mail room? I'd say it's a tight community. I think I'm closer to the people in the mail room than I am to some people on my talker team. Even though they're the ones that I spend most time with during the talker season. Yeah. And my biggest community. Yeah. And so that is because when we're sitting down, we're talking to each other. When we're sitting down, somebody brings up a joke. And I'm also a doggy person. Like, I always talk. It doesn't matter. It's not anybody's fault. Yeah. I always try to keep the energy going. Yeah. Also, the supervisors in the mail room, they act like my parents. Yeah. Like, my parents on campus. Lori, oh my goodness, God bless that woman. Lori will sit down and listen to any trash I come to tell her and she'll be on my side. Like, she is immoral. Yeah. And so I wouldn't have been part of that community if I wasn't working in the mail room, right? Exactly. Yeah. So the relationship is really tight. There's, like, the professional part of it, but then there's also, like, the deep personal part of it. And I'll use Tijani as an example. Tijani is the biggest energy and he has nicknames for everybody. And so you see Tijani, how can you not be happy, you know? Yeah. And so, yeah, that is the community that you will not find outside of the mail room. Yeah. Exactly. Have you formed friendships with local students here that you might not have formed elsewhere on campus? Local students? When you say local students, you mean Americans? Yeah. Yeah. Because the support team made it easy. And also, I've had roommates, even though my freshman roommates were my friends. Yeah. And she's not a local. But, yeah, absolutely. And that stems from just me being outside and being out there or me knowing somebody who knows somebody. Yeah. Because friendships forms like that. So, yeah, I have a handful of locals who are black, white, Asian, Hispanic. They can meet up with me through everything. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think, like, the mail room helped you form these connections or you just mostly met them in class, in the diner? The mail room absolutely helped me with some friends. But then other ones, I'll say the soccer team is the biggest. Yeah. And also the during orientation. Oh, yeah. Exactly. Who did all that. Exactly. Yeah. What do you think makes the mail room a space where local students and international students connect more naturally than elsewhere on campus? The thing is, in the mail room, there's no international because it's local. It's the mail room. Exactly. But then other spaces like the Pew Center, it's like a minority. Yeah. And then, I don't know if you ever heard of how the art that used to be the forfeit. Yeah. Yeah. Where the local students will be like, oh, you cannot have the flash students in this cozy space without, like, excluding us from it. Yeah. And talking about how inclusive the school should be. Yeah. And so that sort of like that divide, that space where it's only these type of people that are supposed to be here or this demographic that's supposed to be there is like a little bit excluding. But then the mail room is more that place where we sort of like see diversity. Like we sort of like see diversity as something with our attention to everybody as a human being. And if you're working there, you're working there. You work in the mail room. Yeah. It's not like international students' mail room. Yeah. Or like, you know. Yeah. So. Yeah, I like that. Can you share a moment when you felt especially supported at home while working here? Absolutely. Well, I can tell you, like, this one, I can ramble and ramble and ramble about it the whole time I've been here because, oh, my goodness, God bless Laurie. Yeah. Every single time. My roommate, I had a roommate, and she was the one, like, supporting me through that whole thing because I'm like, oh, my God, I'm not going to pick up my phone and call my mom and complain about it. Gosh, she doesn't know. Yeah. But I can go to Laurie and complain a lot, and I know, even if I'm not wrong, she'll be like, I know you're wrong, but I'm self-supporting you. Yeah. And to Johnny and I talking about what we were going to take for Jamf Plan, even though we didn't end up being here, the same thing. We were planning on what Jamf Plan was going to be like and that support and what's-his-name-should-be-who-is-not-here this semester. I mean, this Jamf Plan is always talking about how, oh, you should save money, you should do this, you should do that. Yeah. That type of, like, support, you know, people looking out for you, watching out for you. Yeah. Or maybe, like, just testing the group chat and being like, okay, guys, something came up, please pick up my shift, and then somebody is like, yes, I will do it. Yeah. That's, like, the support, right? Yeah. And so I don't think I've ever felt like an idol being different in the middle. I see. Again, you talked about glory and how do the managers contribute to the sense of belonging and fairness in the middle. Like, just in general, I guess if someone can't make it for a shift, but then they are not going to lash out and, like, make someone else feel less at all. You even told me earlier that they're going to get to all of us at an equal scale, regardless of your freshman year. Yeah. Like, how have you seen that play out over the years? I mean, I never, like, felt that I was let down because I was a black or I was a freshman or I was a girl or I was anything. Yeah. Like, excuse me, the middle room, I don't know. Even if you have seniority, the only way we know about seniority is if I know that you're a senior and I'm going to give you that respect. Yeah. It's not like, oh, Laurie or Deanne is going to be like, oh, this person is a senior, so respect her or, like, give her your seat when she comes or anything like that. So it's like one of those places where everybody is everybody. Like, I mean, I'm no bully, but I always make fun of Deanne, and Deanne makes fun of me. Yeah. The same with you when you come to the middle room. Yeah. And so are you going to think I'm a senior? No. Like, the first time you walked into the middle room, did you think I was a senior? No. Exactly. And so nobody's walking around with, like, a brochure that says that, oh, I'm a senior. Yeah. Yeah, don't talk to me or anything like that. So, yeah, I don't even know which grade everybody else is. Yeah. Like, I only know my grade, and then that's it. I really don't. And I know Rose's grade because she's a grade below me. Yeah. But apart from that, nothing. Yeah. There's no seniority. There's no segregation of some sort. Like, that's one thing I really think about in the middle room. Yeah. Because, like, in other jobs, there's even this, like, all supervisors and something. So you always have to know the supervisor. Yeah. So there's always, like, oh, I can't really talk to this person above me. But in the middle room, it's like... Oh, I don't want to... Especially at the... Not to point fingers or anything, but in the athletic center, right? We both work there, and we have the supervisors. Yeah. When you look at the picking of the... What do you call it? The sheet. Yeah. You see how there are loopholes with where some supervisors are. Yeah. Because other people are scared. They don't want to work on the same shift as the supervisor because they don't want to make a mistake and then have to be held up for the lectures. Yeah. It's the problem of what they pick and what time they pick. Yeah. But, yeah, middle room, I'm not a supervisor on the senior. Yeah. Like, there's no supervisor in there. Exactly. It's like everyone's just... It's a true definition of equality of comfort. Exactly. How has working in the middle room shaped your experience at COPE beyond just having a job? I got to know everybody. Okay. That is so true. I got to know almost everybody on campus, and some people are perpetual pickers. So when they come in, we don't even get their student ID. We just walk to go get the packages. Yeah, exactly. So I think it has absolutely, like, I'm sort of, like, forgetting the question you asked and what I want to answer, but I just think... Wait. What was the question again? How has working in the middle room shaped your experience at COPE beyond just having a job? Right. So, like, as I was saying, it's let me know so many people. Yeah. People who are introverts, people who are extroverts, people who I wouldn't have talked to, but freshmen. Even though I was a CA for freshman dorms, but now I'm not, so I don't know the current freshmen. And the only time I get to, like, even have a conversation or have two words with them is when they come to the middle room and I have to ask them, class here? And then they tell me, and then I'm like, oh, my goodness, you have this many packages. So I have this tiny package. And have a great day or something like that. That's, like, a little conversation. And the next time they come, they'll probably, like, say hi and then, you know. Yeah. I agree with that. The last question, what do you wish the rest of COPE has understood or appreciated more about the middle room and the people who work here? I think people should just appreciate us for giving them their packages. I mean, I'm not trying to say that, oh, if you can't see, yes, I must have something like that. Just being a little respectful. It's, like, cordial. Be too cordial. Because we are the ones taking your packages from, like, the carrier, putting them on the shelf, arranging them neatly. And then all that you have to do is come hand out your COBE ID, and then we go get your package. Tell us your class year, if it's a letter or whatever the e-mail said, you know. People will come in, and they have this shitty attitude. Yeah. And I'm, like, you're not the one who employed me. Even if you're the one who employed me, like, be respectful. Be more respectful, yeah. Exactly. And so I always – and my mom, I'm one of those people who cannot keep things inside, so we just rent. So when somebody comes to the middle room and they drop their student ID, they're like, oh, package, and then they drop it. I'm like, okay, I'm not going to pick up your ID. I'm just going to look at the name, go grab your package, and then you have to pick it and see how hard it is to pick up just that tiny thing. Yeah, because I'm never going to hand it to you, right? Exactly. And also, it doesn't really matter if we're doing work or we're not doing work. Like, we are helping you. Yeah. And so just the respect. And if they know how much packages they order and what we do on a day-to-day basis, arrange their packages and have them hand it to them. I could pick your package and smash it on the ground, and then when you come, I'm giving you, like, a smashed package, right? But then I give your package so much respect. Give me the respect. Yeah, like with care, you can drop it. Some packages are even heavy. And, you know, you're like, oh, I don't want to drop it. I don't want to drop it. So sometimes you feel like there's a gas bubble inside of them because they're like, I can't drop it. And then they just act like they don't care. Yeah. They just feel disrespectful. I'm like, okay, you're not my employer. Like, even Deanna and Lori are so respectful to us. Yeah. And we're all students. It's not like, you know, I'm a worker here, but I'm a student like you. It is, I'm a worker here. You have to be respectful. Exactly. When people help you, you show them gratitude. And so I think probably the African me talking, like, some people just don't care. They don't respect at all. And they think they're entitled. Like, nobody's ever entitled to anything. Yeah. It's like a community. We're all helping each other. Right. Like, if they don't have packages, then they don't get it. But if you don't give them their packages, they don't get it. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. We're done today. Thank you so much. You're welcome. You're welcome. I hope I was helpful. Hello. Very helpful. Yeah, I love to rant. Thank you. Thank you for your work. So rude. Yeah.