That was exceedingly awkward.
I’m in the uni computer labs. I’ve been here since about 10 AM. When I arrived, I sat down, logged in and started working. I glanced up and did a double take. A girl sitting about four metres away was looking at erm, naughty photos and videos. Every now and then, she would look around (nervously) then go back to her monitor. The other five people in the lab had their eyes fixed on their own monitors with studied concentration. I shook my head and went back to my work.
As the minutes wore on, more people filtered in. People would walk in, stop in disbelief then sidle away. Other people walked in blithely and sat down but it wasn’t long before they had clued in to what was going on and began whispering to each other in incredulous tones.
An hour ticked passed. There were now thirty people in the room. By then, the girl seemed to have forgotten to check that she wasn’t being watched.
Come on, girl, this is a public lab. What’s going on in your head? Don’t you think people can see what you are doing? Please, you’re embarrassing yourself.
Finally, I got up, walked across and tapped her desk. Nine quiet words.
“I don’t think you should be doing that here.”
She ducked her head, nodded and quickly closed the windows. By the time I had walked back to my seat, she had gathered up her belongings and was hurrying out the door.
I’m not sure I quite agree… at least not if she pays for her internet usage; porn certainly isn’t intrinsically wrong in my opinion, but admittedly she could at least have had the courtesy to sit at the back of the lab where no-one would see it…
Probably the university wants their internet connection to be used for educational purposes only, but maybe she’s doing a thesis on porn…?
Rohan
Oh, I’m liberal enough to accept that people can enjoy porn. And I did consider that maybe she was investigating porn for the design of a steel-framed carpark. In the end, three things made me decide to talk to her.
1. All students here have signed agreements not to access porn at uni. There is clear signage in the labs.
2. Porn is very offensive to some (many) people so is unacceptable in a public space.
3. Everyone was laughing at her.
Funnily, Reason 3 was the most important. If she had been blatantly looking these things up without caring what others thought, then I probably would have left her alone. Hey, it’s your internet usage quota, your privileges being risked, and I can avoid looking.
But she looked like she honestly thought that no one had noticed what she was doing. Poor thing! This is why I could just murmur something to her and she would depart. Her embarrassment was enough to make her run away. If she wasn’t embarrassed (and if I was determined to make her stop), I would have had to make a scene. I might have enjoyed that — I like being self-righteous 😉
I almost had the same situation just now, looking at the email Daniel sent me with his idea for the Paradox (Melb Uni Maths Society magazine) cover. The girl sitting next to me looked over and looked a bit shocked, so I quickly hit “back”.
Damn you Daniel! =p
joee
Did anyone get this girl’s phone number?
2C
ahaha I just saw this, figured it was appropriate:
http://www.bbspot.com/News/2004/09/top_11_just_saw_porn.html