Dear Duty Phone,

I think I hate you. I know you are necessary for the job, but my lord you are loud and terrifying.

You ruined the ringtone for me. I can be out in a different state and if I hear a ring that even remotely sounds like you, I jump and start looking for you. But you aren’t there, cause I am not on duty. It’s annoying.

You remind me on my first phone which was a flip phone in like 2008. That phone didn’t cause me as much panic as you.

I never thought that one phone and one ringtone could literally have me mentally preparing myself for literally to take on the worse thing in the world. It’s weird.

Whether you ring at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday, or 1 a.m. on a Friday, I always think of how I will deal with whatever lies on the other side on the phone. Different situations run through my head of what could be happening and how I will deal with the situation. Nine out of 10 times it’s someone just locked out and the ringtone alone just leaves me full of anxiety for roughly 23 minutes.

Although I hate you, probably, it’s not fully. I love being an RA, I love building bonds with residents and programming and even sometimes (emphasizing the sometimes) enjoy being on duty. I want to be there for my residence whenever they may need me, so I need you to let them contact me. You are part of the job, so even though you annoy me and ruined that tone for me, I can never hate you fully.

It’s a love-hate relationship between us, but although you annoy me, I can’t imagine myself not an RA in college, so I can’t see myself not carrying you around doing rounds and sleeping literally cuddled up next to you. So thank you for helping me do my job, even though you annoy me sometimes.

Love,

(via Pinterest)