Cockroaches. Mice. Broken light bulbs. These are some common problems that Northeastern students are facing everyday. Luckily, Northeastern has a work order program in place that can come to the rescue.
Many students wonder, however, if it is effective.
“I came across a mouse and ended up chasing it around for an hour or so because I didn’t know if putting in and waiting for a work order would be worth it,” said Chris Sabanty, a freshman computer science major.
The response time for a work order varies, as it is not uncommon to have over 500 placed in a given week. Orders can be placed online, through workreq.neu.edu, over the phone or by contacting an RA.
Ahsan Habib, the second shift coordinator for the work order program, says that despite the fact the number of orders queued up by students and faculty at once can’t be controlled, the service is reliable.
“Whatever the nature of the work, we respond,” Habib said. “We will always provide service for the entire university community.”
In some cases, the problem is taken care of the next day, no matter how seemingly desperate the situation.
“When I saw something crawling around on the floor of my room I thought it was my worst nightmare — bugs. The last thing I wanted was to live in a room infested with cockroaches and I assumed that nothing could be done to get rid of them,” said Janet Kenny, a freshman history major. “My suitemate told my RA about our little friend and I was shocked the next day to open the door to an exterminator; I had planned on waiting at least a week for anyone to respond to a work order.”
While an early response might be welcomed by some people, others have received unwelcome awakenings by the knocking of a campus employee on the door.
“I woke up to a banging noise and tried to ignore it because I wanted to sleep in that day, but then the guy said who he was through the door and I realized my prayers were being answered a little sooner than I wanted them to be,” said Carolyn Andrews, a freshman engineering major.
Not only have prayers been answered too early, but also excessively in the case of Sarah Desilets, a freshman art major.
“I had bees in my room and knew something needed to be done, so I placed a work order online,” she said. “They answered it alright – three times. After the first guy came, he sprayed and said it was all taken care of, so I went back to bed. Two more men came over the course of the morning, forcing me to get up for the day earlier than I had wanted to.”
Desilets speculated that the order was never entered in as complete by the first exterminator.
Joanna Gingold, a sophomore communications major, said that she was “not satisfied at all” with the work order system.
“My cable wire wasn’t cut so I put in a work order,” Gingold said. “An electrician came to fix it and he said he needed permission to do what was needed and would either come back or it would be Comcast’s responsibility. He never came back and Comcast said they weren’t allowed to handle it.”
Later, Gingold checked the Web site to find that even though her problem was not resolved, her work order was listed as completed.
“I called them and they told me I’d need to place another order and that it would take another two weeks,” she said. “And that was just to look at it.”
Habib insisted that each order, particularly those placed by students, is important.
“We want to make sure everyone’s needs are taken care of,” he said. “Our main priority, though, is the students. We will even take care of unusual circumstances. One time, a girl called because she couldn’t open her pocketbook. We ended up having to call a locksmith for her.”
While some students have their complaints, others are satisfied. Kenny noted that she felt pleasantly surprised by the helpfulness of the worker assigned to her order.
“Not only did the exterminator quickly set traps for the little vermin, but he also gave me an education in insect elimination,” she said. “Now all I have to do is just get up the courage to check those darn traps.”
