Information booth workers secure campus

Don’t mess with Debbie.

On a hot July day, more than 12 cars whizzed by her information booth near the Chi Omega fountain and broke a cardinal rule at Kansas University  no driving through campus without a special pass.

But Debbie Brown doesn’t worry about drivers that don’t follow the rules. They’ll be answering to the university  not her.

“We write tag numbers down with the time they ran through,” she said. “I don’t get mad about it. I just figure, well, it’s a shame they don’t know how to read our sign or that they have $50 they would just like to blow to the university.”

But the four people that guard campus every day aren’t out to play Big Brother to those that want an easy drive through campus. That’s the biggest misconception, said Rita Jordan, administrative officer at KU Parking Services.

“Most people feel that we’re there to keep them from doing things,” Jordan said. “But actually we’re there to see that everyone that wants to get somewhere gets there safely. We restrict traffic for the safety of small children, the handicapped and the elderly.”

Brown has worked at the university for 12 years, including more than four years as an office specialist with KU Parking Services.

“I really like being outside and meeting people,” she said. “When I got a job up on campus, it was all right, but I missed being out and being with people.”

KU Parking Services employs four full-time office specialists that man the four information booths on campus  at Jayhawk Boulevard and West Campus Road, Sunnyside Avenue and Sunflower Road, Mississippi Street and Memorial Drive, and 13th Street and Oread Avenue. The four workers switch booths every month, so that not just one of the workers has to deal with the heavy traffic at Jayhawk Boulevard and West Campus Road.

Besides monitoring traffic, workers also give directions, give drivers parking information and count cars that come on campus.

Workers sit inside the booths from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with an hour for lunch. Inside the booth is a refrigerator, air conditioner, heater and a counter.

“The heater and air conditioner would work better if we could keep our door closed,” Brown said jokingly. “But it’s better than nothing. In the winter, we wear our insulated overcoats and snow boots.”

It can get extremely hot in the booth, Brown said, so she drinks plenty of water. But quenching her thirst leads to another common problem for life in the booth.

“People think it’s a pretty neat job, but I say ‘Well, yeah it is, but wait until you have to go to the rest room,'” she said. “If I have an emergency or if I have to go really bad, I’ll call dispatch and they’ll bring someone out to give us a quick break, thank goodness. There would be no way I could sit out here all day without going to the bathroom.”

With that problem solved, Brown said she enjoyed her job. To pass the time in the booths, she reads, paints ceramics and sews.

But during peak hours, near class time or during campus events, her job can get frustrating when she has to tell people they can’t drive through.

“I try to talk calm and then I give them options, and usually the options help,” Brown said. “Most of the people are nice, but there are some people that just rub you the wrong way. It’s good that they let us read and do things like that to get the tension off.”

Brown said she’d heard everything from students who just want to drive to class. The most common is the old “I broke my leg” trick. It generally doesn’t work. Especially because many of the students that try it aren’t wearing a cast.

“I usually ask them if they’ve seen a doctor, and sometimes they say no,” Brown said. “You kind of get a gut feeling of who’s fibbing and who’s not.”