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It's hard for me to think of a situation where a dorm-room vacancy-notification email to a student would be a good idea. I can think of only sad situations tha

It's hard for me to think of a situation where a dorm-room vacancy-notification email to a student would be a good idea. I can think of only sad situations that would produce a vacancy, in addition to the one in the article (for example, someone having to quit or pause college due to a family crisis, or running out of money to pay for college, or flunking out.) At best, this kind of email should go to a college employee to look into the matter, not to a student occupying the room. This aspect of their system was not designed with much empathy in the first place. Dorm rooms should not be treated as warehouses to be filled with inventory. At the very least a manual override was available.

bil7 7y ago
isn't dropping out far more likely than a sad event?
- domador 7y ago
  Isn't dropping out also a bit sad? (Or sometimes very sad?)
  - lnanek2 7y ago
    I suppose, but in this case the author fought for and got a free upgrade - he got to live in a single for the price of a double using his roommate's death as the reasoning. If the roommate had dropped out it's unlikely the author could have pulled that off since there is less claim to being emotionally unable to accept a roommate that the college has to accommodate.
SilasX 7y ago
>It's hard for me to think of a situation where a dorm-room vacancy-notification email to a student would be a good idea. I can think of only sad situations that would produce a vacancy, in addition to the one in the article (for example, someone having to quit or pause college due to a family crisis, or running out of money to pay for college, or flunking out.) Not true, this happened to me because my roommate found a different dorm hall he preferred and requested a move to it. (Similarly, deciding that you'd rather be in an apartment off campus.) Hey, maybe that was, in part, driven by how he couldn't stand me. Still, not something I'd call "sad".
- domador 7y ago
  Thanks for the additional example of a vacancy situation. In this case, I literally meant it when I said "I" can only think of sad situations", which is why others' examples are helpful. My main point is that this a dorm-room vacancy involves changes in human relationships, such changes are often likely to involve strong emotions, and as such should be handled much differently than say, a notice that says the cafeteria will close half-an-hour early on Friday. There are cases where the remaining roommate is even happy to have their roommate leave (for whatever reason), but it's still best to initially approach the situation with extra care, just in case.
dahart 7y ago
> This aspect of their system was not designed with much empathy in the first place. Dorm rooms should not be treated as warehouses to be filled with inventory. At the very least a manual override was available. Isn't notifying the room's occupant a fairly human thing to do? If they were treating the dorm like a warehouse, maybe they wouldn't have notified Kelly at all, and just sent a new roommate. It seems at least partially empathetic to give people advance warning of a change, even if the system is automated.

bil7 7y ago

isn't dropping out far more likely than a sad event?

domador 7y ago
Isn't dropping out also a bit sad? (Or sometimes very sad?)
- lnanek2 7y ago
  I suppose, but in this case the author fought for and got a free upgrade - he got to live in a single for the price of a double using his roommate's death as the reasoning. If the roommate had dropped out it's unlikely the author could have pulled that off since there is less claim to being emotionally unable to accept a roommate that the college has to accommodate.

SilasX 7y ago

>It's hard for me to think of a situation where a dorm-room vacancy-notification email to a student would be a good idea. I can think of only sad situations that would produce a vacancy, in addition to the one in the article (for example, someone having to quit or pause college due to a family crisis, or running out of money to pay for college, or flunking out.) Not true, this happened to me because my roommate found a different dorm hall he preferred and requested a move to it. (Similarly, deciding that you'd rather be in an apartment off campus.) Hey, maybe that was, in part, driven by how he couldn't stand me. Still, not something I'd call "sad".

domador 7y ago
Thanks for the additional example of a vacancy situation. In this case, I literally meant it when I said "I" can only think of sad situations", which is why others' examples are helpful. My main point is that this a dorm-room vacancy involves changes in human relationships, such changes are often likely to involve strong emotions, and as such should be handled much differently than say, a notice that says the cafeteria will close half-an-hour early on Friday. There are cases where the remaining roommate is even happy to have their roommate leave (for whatever reason), but it's still best to initially approach the situation with extra care, just in case.

dahart 7y ago

> This aspect of their system was not designed with much empathy in the first place. Dorm rooms should not be treated as warehouses to be filled with inventory. At the very least a manual override was available. Isn't notifying the room's occupant a fairly human thing to do? If they were treating the dorm like a warehouse, maybe they wouldn't have notified Kelly at all, and just sent a new roommate. It seems at least partially empathetic to give people advance warning of a change, even if the system is automated.