Second Class Citizens

Two little things that irritated me yesterday, and I thought were worthy of comment:

1. Some workmen were coming to do something in our set yesterday morning. As is usual among college staff, the courtesy of discovering whether people are in and dressed and ready and willing to answer the door was lost on the maintenance staff. A ferocious knock was followed immediately by the jingle of keys heading swiftly towards the lock. Thankfully I had just finished getting into my jeans, so I was decent, but I quite possibly could not have been. Surely it is common courtesy to wait until you are let in to somebody's room, or at least wait a good few seconds to establish that there is nobody there in order to enter with a master key? Of course, I realise that my room is College property, but think about it - if I had visitors in my house, I would not barge in on the room in which they are staying without knocking and waiting for a reply first. It strikes me as rude, inconsiderate, and potentially very embarrassing for all parties concerned.

2. When the workmen came in, one of them mentioned that there would be drilling, and that he had better go and inform some of the people living around, to apologise. The head of maintenance who was with them dismissed this instantly, saying "it will wake them!". Might I
add that it was 9am. Now, College is an educational establishment, full of hard-working students. The people upstairs from us might well have been up half the night finishing an essay, and using the morning to catch up on some sleep to recover before working in the afternoon.
Surely it should be common courtesy to at the very least apologise to those people that their slumber is about to be disturbed by an 18-inch drill hacking away at concrete walls underneath their beds? No, of course not, we are simply the vermin that inconvenience the staff by occupying their precious rooms, making it more difficult for them to do their work.

So, this is not on. I am sick of being a second-class citizen in what is my home. I am therefore really looking forward to being free of student accommodation next year - I have had 4 years of it, I am a grown-up, and I think it is high time that I become an English(Welsh)man in my own castle.