2009 Unit 3 Publications

Unit 3 Publications Spring 2009

COVER LETTERS

Get Your Foot in the Door

While on shift, you may find yourself looking up potential summer internships, or even job hunting if you’re a senior.

This publication will inform you about some of the basics for writing your very own professional cover letter!

Happy hunting!

What is a cover letter?

A cover letter is a document sent to potential employers, usually as an accompaniment to a resume.

How important are cover letters?

Presenting a superior cover letter can be the difference between being hired or having your application materials put in the recycle bin.

Is there a difference between a cover letter and a resume?

The cover letter is your opportunity to expand upon your experience. Oftentimes, the one-page constraint of a resume doesn't give you enough license to delve into exactly what you did at your previous jobs. The cover letter should by no means, however, replicate your resume.

(Detail how you organized that conference. What skills did you learn from creating that new program?)

The cover letter is just the place to thoroughly explain the what, how, and why.

Typically, cover letters follow basic business letter format. The body generally answers these three questions: 1. Introductory Paragraph-Why are you writing? Why are you applying?

2. Middle Paragraphs-What do you have to offer the employer?

3. Closing Paragraph-How will you follow-up?

Example Letter Your Name Your address, phone number, email Sender's Name Title Company Address Dear Mr. So-and-so: Begin your letter with the introductory paragraph stating which position you are applying to. Don't Start with a Weak Opening: Grab the reader's interest! Harness your creativity. (If need be, you may want to come back to the beginning when you have finished the rest of the letter.) Try to get your employer's attention by avoiding statements like: My name is _____ and I'm applying to the _______ position. Let the employer know why you are interested in working for their organization.

The body is meant to show the employer that you are a valuable hire. You can have as many paragraphs as you wish (but they should be sizable) and you can talk about what you want to. Usually, you detail the ways in which you are the right person for the job. Avoid duplicating your resume: You could explain exactly what you did at your last place of employment and what skills you picked up along the way. You may even use the cover letter to share a personal story or experience (as long as you are still able to showcase your skills and abilities). Tell the employer what they will gain from hiring you (although subtly). But don't undersell yourself: You are trying to get an interview. How else could you do this without including your top accomplishments or explaining exactly how you match the job description? At the same time, don't Overuse "I": Remember to focus on how you meet the employer's needs. Reduce the number of times you use I, especially at the start of sentences. The cover letter is not intended to tell a potential employer what you hope to gain from the experience. You are more likely to be seen as a serious candidate if you tell the employer what you have to offer them (the employer's self interest is much more relevant than your self interest).

Tailor your cover letter to each job opening. Sending out the same cover letter is lazy and doesn't sell you as effectively as a well-thought out and specific cover letter does! Explain how you specifically fit the criteria for the position. The content of your letter should explain how you fit the requirements of that particular job and are valuable to that particular employer. This requires you being highly familiar with the expectations and duties of the position you are applying to!

In the closing, give a brief (sentence long) summary of everything you said above (i.e. why you are the person for the job). You can also inform the employer of what dates you will be available for, how they can get in contact with you and what you plan to do next--perhaps you will call the employer. Most people, however, prefer to say that they look forward to hearing from the employer. Others may make a commitment to follow up. If this is the case, you may want to slip in a comment such as: I will contact you in the next week to answer any preliminary questions you may have. Thank the reader for his or her time and consideration.

Sincerely, Your Signature

How I Pass the Time on Shift Without Doing Homework

by Cas

So it’s the beginning of the semester and the no-homework policy is in place for the next couple of weeks. What are you going to do with all that free time on your hands? If you’re anything like me, you are well-versed in the art of procrastination and you have found that the internet is a great enabler in that regard. I actually have a list of great websites that I use to pass the time. Let’s get to it.

Digg: Read the most interesting articles on the web and feel smart, especially about stuff that you didn’t know interested you. You can always bring up the useless information you learned at a party and convince others that you are well read and interesting. A great alternative to Digg is Reddit.

Facebook, Twitter, Myspace: I tend not to like to stay on these websites for too long because I have learned that they turn you into zombies. But still, if you want to know what’s going on in everyone else’s life, nothing kills more time than these.

Fmylife.com: Stories from other people about why their life sucks. It’s sad, yet endearing and entertaining.

Blogging: The best part about blogging is that you can talk about anything (that won’t get you in trouble) and at least a couple people will read it if you post it in your Gchat status. I’m sure SOMEONE out there would like to know what you’re thinking.

Hobby Websites: Do you have a hobby? Everyone should have a hobby. If you do, there are most likely websites for your hobby. Currently, I check websites that involve up and coming music, fashion, and snowboarding.

Online shopping: This is probably the worst idea on this list, but it’s a favorite pastime among the consultants. There’s nothing that gets the excitement going than looking at the same item for hours on end wondering if you’re ever gonna buy it or not.

Gchat or meebo: There was a time when we Café staff couldn’t chat. Now you can’t open your e-mail without chatting with someone.

And Finally, Doing your job: Just kidding, this should be your number one duty when you’re on shift and wasting time should be a 2nd priority. I find that when there’s nothing to do, I roam and check printers REPEATEDLY. It might sound pointless especially if there’s no one in the lab and on one’s printing anything, but you never know people’s intentions and it sucks to write an e-mail informing Café staff that a pair of headphones went missing or someone’s laptop was stolen on your watch.

Here’s to not doing your homework!

W&MF: A Great Place to Make Friends! Who'd A Thunk It?

by Cas

If you didn’t know already, there’s more to Café than just roaming, replacing toner, dealing with clients, and running waitlists. Café is a great place to make friends (Hey that’s the title)! I know you might be asking, “Why make friends at my place of work?

Shouldn’t I be devoting all my energy to make sure that I’m doing my job 100% perfectly?” Well, not exactly. You should be doing your job to the best of your ability, but if you had not noticed, the job is about interacting with people. And if you don’t enjoy the human interaction, how well are you really doing your job?

Probably not that well.

It’s really not that difficult.

Just introduce yourself to the consultant next to you. Ask he/she where they’re from, what their plans are, how they like the job. Make small talk. Not every consultant will pour their life to you the first time you ask them. And sometimes, you might catch one of them on a bad day. But no one’s going to hate you for showing some interest in them. And it should work more often than it doesn’t. As an added bonus, the job is a lot more fun when you’re working with someone you know instead of a stranger.

By far, my favorite part of this job is the

people. I’ve made a lot of friends while I’ve been here.

Some have left for other jobs or life opportunities.

Some have stayed, but I have learned something from every one of them. And the dynamic of your relationship changes with a person when you get to know them, just like any new friend.

But when you’re on the job, you’re not just sitting next to another coworker. You’re sitting next to someone who has an interesting story and interesting life outside of work. It’s a great opportunity to expose yourself to something like that.

There are many social functions to interact with your coworkers. Sometimes the supes will organize game night. There are usually café outings where a group of consultants will go eat out at dim sum. I remember going rock climbing with some fellow consultants.

It was definitely an experience I will never forget. I’m invited to parties that my coworkers throw and I invite my work friends when I go out. We’ve all formed bonds and are a lot closer because of it. I truly believe our work dynamic in Café allows the staff to create these bonds more so than in most work environments.

I highly recommend making friends at Café and getting more out of the job than just $9 an hour.

Café Publication

by Charles Wong, Unit 3

Printer Troubleshooting In a jam? Get used to it printer troubleshooting is one of the most common tasks you will perform at Café. The first thing you should not do is to panic or get nervous. Although the heavy-duty printers appear mechanically complex, most of the common problems that arise are relatively straightforward and can be easily resolved by following the instructions displayed on the printer front panel LCD display. Here is a quick reference guide for solutions to common printer problems that I have encountered.

Refilling paper:

->Tip: manually fan the entire paper stack seated in the tray itself; this will help prevent paper jams

If printer continually jams:

-> Open trays and assure paper not overfilled (remember trays are to be filled ¾ full) -> Manually fan paper in trays (as described above) -> Open door A -> Assure that the small comma-shaped black tab on the fuser is freely movable - Gently move back and forth to loosen -> Gently press down on the green handle on the righthand side of the fuser a few times

General notes on clearing paper jams:

-> Do not open doors/trays and/or power cycle while the printer is actively printing, this will jam the job in progress and may lead to the loss of client’s print jobs -> Gently remove all paper jams, will be problematic if paper rips and gets stuck in machine -> Remember to always gently open and close printer doors/trays -> Sometimes you need to open and close all doors/trays to clear the error message

-> Make sure doors/trays are closed all the way -> If paper jam error message persists despite clearing jam, sometimes power cycle will clear the message

Common warning messages:

->”Toner Is Low” - Note that unless the print quality is very bad or a client complains about the poor quality, you do not have to replace immediately -> “Drum Cartridge Is Near End Of Life” - Note that unless the print quality is very bad or a client complains about the poor quality, you do not have to replace immediately -> “Maintenance Kit Is Near End Of Life” - Email Unit Supe and FC -> “Tray 1 (MPT) Paper Guide Does Not Match Size Menu” - Common solution is to open MPT tray and reset paper guide back to letter size (8.5 x 11”)

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Café Publication

by Charles Wong, Unit 3

Roaming

The most important task as a consultant is to continually roam the computer labs in order to maintain high facility quality and to enforce facility regulations. Although the general rule-ofthumb is to roam every fifteen minutes, however you should also roam outside those intervals, as needed, especially when there are many clients are coming and going.

Roaming Tips:

-> Do not make roaming times and frequency too predictable - Rule breakers use this to their advantage -> Make sure you get a good look at aisles - Clients will often try to hide their food drink behind computer tower and monitor -> Pickup and recycle of unclaimed print jobs - If unclaimed jobs begin to accumulate, I usually set jobs in a pile to the side of the printer and wait for a while before recycling and/or refilling scratch paper bin -> Look for electronic devices left plugged into USB ports on computer tower, monitor, or keyboard -> Empty the 3-hole punch clip tray -> Check Status Indicator LED on front panel displays on printer: - If steady or blinking green, everything is normal - If steady or blinking yellow, check warning condition (does not require immediate attention) - If steady or blinking red, check error message (immediate attention required)

What to do while on shift?

So you are on shift and are contemplating what to do during your shift. There are many things you can do with the following exceptions: illegal downloading, watching videos, playing games, and anything that involves headphones. Remember that your Café responsibilities take priority over all of these “extra” things you can do while shifted and that these privileges can be revoked at any time. Here is a list of things that I find most useful and practical to do on shift, while still being able to maintain all Café responsibilities.

Best things to do while on shift: -> Plan out following weeks activities, make personal schedule, and fill out BOA -> Prop up your reading material such that you can better monitor the facility and seem more approachable to clients - Ideally, you should use a bookstand, but if you do not have one, you can also prop up reading material on the staff desktop tower -> Get all of your printing done (remember you should not be printing out school-work if you are on probation) -> Keep up with news and favorite websites via RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds (e.g. Google Reader) -> How to setup RSS feeds in Google Reader?

1. Go to your favorite feed-based website (e.g. CNN, ESPN, etc.)

2. Search on the website for “RSS” or “RSS Feeds” or the following icon 3. Copy the URL for the RSS link of choice (link should end with “.rss”) 4. Go to http://reader.google.com 5. Click the “Add a subscription button” 6. Paste the link into the window and click “Add”

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How to Create a Peaceful Desktop Workspace

Of course, everyone will have their preference as to what web pages they use during shift, but hopefully sharing some of the tricks I use to organize my desktop workspace will still be informative and helpful.

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(1) First off, the trick to having an organized web page is utilizing both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox simultaneously. This allows me two have two different gmail accounts open at once.

(2) I also utilize "tabs" to help arrange the various Internet pages I have open with minimum clutter.

(3) I reserve my Internet explorer window for cafe related web pages. I always make sure I have these pages open

(in order): cafe gmail account, staff web page (open to the general information page of the specific facility I am working in), the waitlist, and BOS. (4) Then in my Firefox window I have in this order: igoogle, google calendar, gmail, calmail, and facebook (5) Lastly, I make sure I have pharos open, ready and logged into.

How to Clean Computers Properly and Efficiently First off, make sure you have all of your materials: spray bottle, cleaning cloth, and monitor spray/wipe.

When cleaning multiple computers at once, I like to begin by doing the monitor first. I prefer using the monitor spray/wipe because it is streak free. A few sprays will do, then using the attached cleaner, wipe from left to right making sure to cover the whole monitor area. You also may want to go up and down across the screen as well, until all the excess wetness is gone.

Next, I fold the cleaning cloth twice over, so it is 1/4 of its original size. Then, making sure I’m away from the computers, I spray the cloth with the simple green cleaning solution, I usually begin with wiping the tower. similar to how I clean things at home, I start from top to bottom so that any dust particles from the top will fall downwards. I start at the top, make my way down the left and right sides, wiping evenly. Then I use the cloth in a dust rag fashion to lightly dust on the front and back of the tower. I also make sure to pay careful attention to the grooves on the front of the monitor and take my time carefully with those areas.

Next is the monitor. By this time I have taken my cleaning cloth, opened it and refolded it so that a different side of the cloth is exposed. I again spray this new "clean" side and wipe all around the edges of the monitor, work my way to the back, and finally the “stand” part. Don't be afraid to carefully move the monitor's back towards you, this will make it easier to clean the back and the stand.

Then the keyboard is next. First I lightly shake any dirt or randomness out of the keyboard and onto the table. I find another clean side of the rag, spray once more and gently wipe in between the separation of the keys. Then I take my cloth and run it in sections of the keyboard from top to bottom. This is the natural slope of the keys and thus you cover more surface area of the keyboard with ease! Then in the same fashion of refolding and respraying the cloth wipe, I use this clean edge to wipe down the mouse (top and bottom) and the headphones.

Lastly I wipe down the table area of the computer from debris. Then I make sure the monitor, tower, keyboard, mouse, and headphones look neat and inviting for usage.

“He who wants to change the world should already begin by cleaning the dishes.”

- Carvel Paul Carvel

faq’s

Q: I’ve never printed here before, what am I supposed to do?

A: Sign onto a computer using your CalNet-ID and Passphrase. On the desktop, there will be an icon that says Add Paper. Click the icon and follow the instructions on the page.

It will charge $12 to your CARS account for 250 single-sided black and white printing, or 167 pages of double-sided printing. You will also be given an additional $3 as a buffer for any printing problems that may arise.

Q: How do I only print on one side of the paper?

A: On a PC On a MAC 1. File.

1. File 2. Print.

2. Print.

3. Properties.

3. Under Copies & Pages, 4. First Tab on top will be Layout. select Layout.

5. Choose NONE for printing on 4. Select OFF for two-sided both sides. printing.

A: Down1. File. load from bSpace 2.

Print. and save it into My Q: I am 3.

Under Page Scaling, Documents. Once trying to print out select “Multiple pages per downloaded, open them lecture notes from sheet”. bSpace, but I want to using Adobe Reader.

4. You can change the When printing the have multiple lecture Pages per sheet right document, this is sides per page. How under that. what you will do I do this? do: Q: How do I print in color at Moffit Library?

A: On both PC and MAC, chose File and then Print. You will see a pull down menu at the top of the window to choose which set of printers the document will print to. Change the printer to MMF Color Queue. It will charge $0.60 per page and will come out of color printer Astraeus. You can also print double sided! The default setting has it printing on one side of the paper. To change it to doublesided printing, follow the instructions above, except change the option for doublesided printing so that it’s ON

CUSTOMER SERVICE CUSTOMER SERVICE Easy as

Black and White...

One of the most fun aspects of being a Consultant is customer service. I mean…you all applied to this job because you are people-loving…right??? If you are sitting there staring at your computer screen, and a client comes up to you, you better be greeting them with a smile!

Here’s some tips for body language that will let the client know that you are not only willing to help them, but you are more than happy and glad to provide service to them.

1.

SMILE – A mean and boring looking consultant will automatically give the client a bad impression about our facilities. With that beautiful smile on your face, how can anyone resist your help? That way, even if you don’t know the solution to a problem, the client won’t be as likely to be angry at your or the facilities for your brain fart.

2.

GREET NICELY – If a client comes up to you with a question, and all you do is smile, they will think you are nuts! Please greet the client, and let them know that your attention is all theirs. Depending on the age of the client, a nice “Hi, maybe I help you?” or “Hey, what’s up?” will suffice.

3.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T, FIND OUT WHAT IT MEANS TO ME! – You must must must respect the client! After all, you, as a consultant, a customer service provider, and they are your client. Never roll your eyes at a client, brush them off, ignore them, or give them short and rude answers. Even if their questions are ridiculous, remember to smile, greet, and answer respectfully.

4.

GET EXCITED! – Lastly, don’t be somber while on the job! Although Café is a really chill job, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take it seriously!

Never come to work with a negative attitude, or bring down the positive moods of fellow consultants. Café is equivalent of a real job…you wouldn’t ever make a bad impression on co-workers or the boss in a future job, so don’t do it now! Get in a positive habit!

You may be thinking that these tips are ridiculous. In actuality, they are essential to better customer service. Imagine yourself going into a professor’s office hours, and the professor was gloomy the whole time, never smiled, didn’t even say hi, and treated you lowly. You would feel disgusted. That is not that atmosphere we want in our computing facilities, follow these rules and provide clients with some darn good service!!!!

Senior Publication

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Senior Publication

cont’d.

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Ann Long, Unit 3 Senior

The Tan lab is usually quiet and not much happens there, but occasionally things do come up, so here are some things to look out for: 1) Common clients: Tan is near the ChMF lab and the chemistry folks from Latimer. Some of them come into Tan to work in groups. This can cause the noise levels to go up fast. So watch out for these folks and if the noise levels go up, ask them to whisper. The signs of noise levels being too high are: other clients looking disturbed and glancing at the noisy group once in a while; YOU getting disturbed; and the obvious out-loud talk. (You can also suggest group work areas for them to go to such as EMF or ChMF—(for chmf, they cannot log into the computers if they don‛t have a class log-in) 2) Common programs: Chem folks also bring in questions about Excel, so it would be good to know the basics, i.e. plotting a line graph, functions, duplicating a fn across cells. Other programs of interest are more common among all the labs, i.e. pdfs, Powerpoint, and Word. On rare occasions, some people ask for the Matlab program. We don‛t have this program in our general facilities, only in our instructional labs. Tell the student to ask his/her professor to sign up for a login if it‛s required for class. http://facility.berkeley.edu/reserve.html 3) Environment: Tan has an automatic cooling system that can cause the room to be too cold sometimes. You will not be able to adjust the temperature because Tan shares the room with another facility, the molecular graphics lab run by Professor Kathy Durkin, so we need consensus for any temp change. The windows are usually closed in Tan, thus the reason for the AC. The best thing to do is to bring a sweater in case it gets too cold. BRRR ICEICE BABY. 4) Other Resources: If people need to know where the restroom, phone, etc. is located, the information can be found on the café website Facilities‛ tab under Tan:

LW, U3--2009

So you probably reviewed filing tech reports in training, but this here, my friends, is something that will help clarify your understanding, resulting in less confusion when you actually have to do one all by yourself!

Common Tech problems to file (usually have to do with hardware, network problems): • Computer/monitor will not turn on • blue screen of death • unable to log in • printer jams continuously Things to do BEFORE filing tech report (this is listed on Café‛s Tech Report site): • •

Restart (example: for blue screen of death) Check cables: (The following are common cables that cause problems) * Monitor power cable (example: monitor will not turn on) * Ethernet cable (example: for log-in issues, internet issues)--looks like a bigger version of phone-line cable * Headphone cable, keyboard/mouse cables * The main electric cord should be the last resort because it‛s hard to reach (example: computer will not start and you have tried all other cables).

• Check email for similar cases and solutions, or other similar tech reports • Make sure there isn‛t already a tech report on it • If you‛re shifted with others, ask other consultants if they know any solutions. You could also email out if you are unsure. Gmail chat is handy.

If all else fails, then let‛s file that Tech Report: Filing • • •

the Tech Report Go to café website.

Click on Tech Report on the left side toolbar box under “Useful Links”.

Fill in the information: * What lab?, * What kind of computer? (PC, Mac, or even a Printer), * Which computer? (client or staff), * Service #s, Express #s (both numbers are usually on top in a corner of the CPU/Tower), * The nature of the problem (what‛s wrong with it, use as much detail as possible i.e. for printer problems, don‛t just say it will not print: say what tray it‛s jammed in, any weird blinking lights, etc.), and * Explain what you did to try to fix it (i.e. restarting, check “BEFORE filing Tech Report” above, etc).

• After you submit the Tech Report, check your email for your Tech Report.

• Print out a copy and post/tape it on the computer‛s tower or monitor, some where noticeable on the equipment surface, so clients will know not use it and other consultants coming in after you, know it‛s broken and someone already reported it. Alternatively, you can make your own “out of order” sign, AFTER you filed the Tech Report.

In a day or two, you will get a reply to your Tech Report from the awesome techs saying that it‛s FIXED!

And, that‛s it! Thanks for reading & reporting!

LW, U3--2009

A Quick Webpage Generator in Ruby Matthew Pies In the world of rapid web page development, the programming language Ruby and the framework Ruby on Rails (RoR) has become the favorite platform for quick dynamic website development. But who needs this when we teach a perfectly good Dreamweaver Webpro right here in Café? The reason is simple: the HTML that Dreamweaver generates and which is displayed by your web browser is static. In other words, from the time you edit your site to the time a web browser displays your webpage, the HTML never changes.

So then, what is a dynamic webpage you ask? Instead of having a webpage stored as a file on a web server somewhere, a dynamic webpage is generated by a web server each and every time a user requests views it. Typically, a programming language is used to turn information in a database or information entered by the user into HTML that a browser can then display, giving the user the perception that they are interacting with the website.

Ruby on Rails comes into the picture as a way to quickly and easily integrate these dynamic websites with the (sometimes staggeringly) complex databases that house the information they display.

For instance, you could rewrite bearfacts.berkeley.edu using RoR in probably one tenth of the time it took the original creators. However, RoR is out of the scope of this article, so we will focus on the language it utilizes: Ruby.

So how does this apply to Café? Instead of creating your website in Dreamweaver, we’re going to write some simple Ruby code that will ask you a few print 'Enter you name: ' questions and do the whole webpage requirement name = gets for you! print 'Enter your unit #: ' unit = gets print 'Enter your Cafe email: ' email = gets print 'Enter your favorite quote: ' quote = gets print 'List your major(s): ' major = gets print 'Filename of your picture: ' pic_fname = gets

This text block of code to the left does two basic operations, it prompts the user for input and then stores what they type. The print command prints the quoted words to the screen. For now, we’ll use single quotes to create strings of words. The gets command saves what the user entered into the variable in question. In this example, name = gets saves your name into the name variable. After the user has entered all of this information, Ruby will generate the webpage.

The heading variable stores a bunch of gobbley-gook that must preface our XHTML webpage. For now, ignore how all that heading stuff is constructed. heading = '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />'

Then, things get interesting with the title. Double quotes are used here because we want to insert our own information into the title. title

= "<title>#{name}'s Webpage!</title></head>"

The #{variable} syntax essentially inserts the variable name into your website’s title, creating “Matthew’s Webpage!” if your name happens to align with mine. Again, double quotes should be used when information needs to be inserted into strings otherwise single quotes will suffice.

Finally, we need to discuss the File, out, and ‘w’ business: out = File.new('index.xhtml', 'w')

This line creates a new file called index.xhtml. The ‘w’ means that we would like to overwrite whatever index.xhtml file already exists in our directory. Out now represents the file that we can write to, just as if we were typing in a word processor. By calling out.write(‘hello world!’) it is as if we opened index.xhtml in a text editor and typed out “hello world!” Again, the same double quote and insertion rules apply to what we write to this file. out.write(heading) out.write(title) out.write('<body>') out.write("<p>#{name}</p>") out.write("<p>Unit #{unit}</p/") out.write("<p><img src="#{pic_fname}" /></p> out.write('<hr/>') out.write(email) out.write('<hr/>') out.write('<ul><li>') out.write(major) out.write('</li><li>') out.write("Favorite Quote: #{quote}") out.write('</li></ul></body></html>')

Put all of the above code into a text file, and save it as “webgen.rb” Then figure out for yourself how to run the code and voila! you now have your webpage requirement done for you!

Though this is a trivial example, you can see how this can be built up to create a much more complex webpage. Though the Ruby on Rails framework is far more complex than this, all of these basic features of Ruby are used to generate the actual HTML. Check out these websites for a plethora of more information: www.ruby-lang.org www.rubyonrails.org

When you are on shift, most of the questions that are going to be asked are common questions. These are usually about adding paper credit, signing into computers or print jobs. By the end of your first two weeks, you will be masters at answering these questions. But patience and clarity is the most important part in dealing with clients. Often times you will encounter clients that have never used our computer labs, thus it is crucial that you know how to answer these questions.

Examples of common questions: 1)How much does it cost to print a page? (know the price for single sided, double sided and color pages.)

2)Until what time is the computer lab open? (always refer to the open/close hours schedule for each comp lab.)

3)Can I borrow one of these computers and take it home…I promise I’ll bring it back? (always no!)

COMMON QUESTIONS

CELL PHONE USAGE

In the computer labs, especially at MMF, there are huge signs on the walls that say “No Food, Drinks, Games, or Cell” are allowed. If the client refuses to follow these simple instructions, then the consultant has the right to ask the client to leave the lab. But since consultants are also students, we are reluctant to ask our fellow students to leave the lab. But it’s crucial to act like a consultant rather than a friend when it comes to keeping the computer labs in order. I, personally, like to start off with a warning, and if the client refuses to listen, then ask the client to leave the lab during the cell phone conversation.

Don’t be mean, be logical!

FRUSTRATED CLIENTS

Most clients at our computer labs are sane, normal, respectable students. But they occasionally get frustrated because of the intensity college life.

Usually these frustrations come from long waitlists or tech problems. Especially during finals and midterms, the clients get very frustrated and knowing how to deal with them would save you a lot of pain and suffering.

Again, patience and understanding is of utmost importance. By simply showing that you care about the situation, you can eliminate the clients’ frustration. “Frustration, sometimes the clients have to just let it out.”

Tips on Becoming an FC So you’re a senior, and there’s an FC spot opening up. Do you want it?

Maybe… What exactly do FCs do? How can you make yourself the best candidate for the job? Here’s some insider info from your FC, Renee…

What does the Facility Coordinator do?

EMAIL As a senior, you probably get twice the amount of email that you used to.

As an FC, you might get twice that or more. You’re corresponding with the entire staff on a regular basis- juniors, seniors, other FCs, and supes.

PREPARE, SCHEDULE AND FACILITATE MEETINGS Depending on how you and your supe divide up work, you may have a larger or smaller roll in coming up with weekly senior meeting and unit meeting agendas. It’s up to you how much control you want to have– if you want to, you can run the whole show.

DECIDE HOW TO MANAGE YOUR UNIT How will you monitor consultant progress? Will you assign teams? How will you deal with underperforming consultants? It may seem like there is already a procedure to follow for these circumstances, but it’s up to you to decide what’s best. If what was done in the past is not the best solution, then dump it! Try something new!

MONITOR SUPPLIES Pretty simple- make sure the lab is always stocked.

LEAD YOUR SENIORS Give them clear guidelines about what you expect of them, a timeline of the semester is helpful, and reminders of upcoming events and deadlines.

SOME OTHER PROJECT It could be anything. This is an on-going semester-long project that you work on it whenever you’ve finished all of (or most of) the above. It could be managing Webpro classes, heading a new training program that you came up with, remodeling the labs, etc.

...Tips on Becoming an FC Okay, that sounds cool, so how do I get the job?

Be on top of all your duties: deadlines, the status of every person on your team, come prepared to meetings, etc.

Being organized is a necessity when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re supervising other people.

Tell your FC and Supe that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re interested in promotion. They are the ones who you need to have rooting for you, and they will know the exact areas that you can work on.

Pick up some kind of cafe project and see it through to the end. Show us your motivation and creativity.

Prove through your relationship with your juniors and the other seniors that you are a strong leader. Work to motivate junior consultants and fellow seniors and maintain a positive work environment.

Command authority. The candidate should be so familiar with the ideas behind our policies that they can make unwritten policy calls in the absence of a supervisor Establish a relationship with the supes through project work, unit presence, and meeting participation.

Show that you really have a desire to hold this position. Be able to explain why it is in your best interest professionally to get this job.

Have a plan for what you would do differently as an FC.

May 2009

Renee Bautista

mischievous clients and awkward situations: While working on our WMF labs, you’ll come across some very interesting and equally mischievous clients. Although most situations involve the client surreptitiously eating or drinking in the labs or taking phone calls while at a station, you should be prepared to encounter a different breed of delinquents.

Remember to...

Always be vigilant!

The Love Struck: The most unsightly actions clients perform is making out in the lab. Yes, although this may sound like a myth, there have been situations where clients have complained about couples petting in the lab. You may feel extremely awkward interrupting but as a consultant you have an obligation to uphold the integrity of the lab.

These affectionate people should be aware that they are not alone when using our facilities. If it obvious that their constant show of affection is bothering other clients, you should openly approach the couple and overtly explain that they should discontinue their non-scholastic studies of the human body and either vacate the premise or resume their work.

Usually, a firm warning is enough. However, there are some people that simply refuse to listen. Rather than becoming confrontational, it is best to call a Supervisor on duty immediately. However, if there are no supes on duty, call the UCPD (or the library staff).

The Sleeper: Say a client comes into the lab, pulls a group of chairs together, and sleeps. He may even log onto a computer, puts on a pair of headphones, and pretend to work.

Although there is no lab policy against sleeping in our labs, if the client is taking up more than 1 chair or 1 station, you must ask him to relinquish those additional chairs / spots. However, if there is a waitlist at the time, you can indeed ask him to vacate the premise in order to make room for other clients that need the computer of school related work. If the offender adamantly refuses or simply tries to ignore you, there are some proven ways to assist in his removal.

1) Make loud noises to get his attention and wake him up 2) Do not touch the client, but shake or tap the chair or desk he is working at 3) Call a supe on duty 4) If the client becomes violent, call UCPD immediately If the offender is a repeat offender, check to see that he is indeed a registered student. If he is not, you can call the Supes or the UCPD to escort him out for trespassing. If he is, you can ban his ID from being able to access the lab computers.

The Perverse: Yes, it has happened before, and it will probably happen again… clients watching pornographic material on our lab computers.

Technically, there are no lab rules against it.

Furthermore, there are sex education as well as gender studies courses that require view such material as part of the curriculum. So make sure to ask the client if it is for school related work.

However, if they are simply watching for private entertainment, it is extremely easy to tell. They will turn flush red and exhibit the usual signs of guilt. If this client’s activities are offending or even distracting other clients, you should ask him to turn off the material. If he refuses, it is time to turn to a Supe.

?? ?

infrequently asked questions: Client: “I typed up an Ms Word (Excel) document here at the lab, but I can’t open it on my PC / laptop!”

Situation: With the WMF facility wide upgrade from Microsoft Office 2003 to 2007, a lot of clients have been having compatibility issues with their documents. Most common problem occurs as an “unrecognized format” error when they attempt to open a document that they have created and saved on our machines in the WMF labs on their personal machines. This situation is simply a backwards compatibility issue. There is a high probability that the edition of Office or Word that the client is using at home is outdated.

Solution: Thankfully, clients can save documents on the Office 2007 in word 97-2003 format. All they have to do is click in the new file icon (the one that looks like a flower on the top left of the page) and mouse over the arrow next to “save as”. They can access a pop-up window that allows them to save the document in a Word 97-2003 format. The only issues they may have are changes in font or layout when they attempt to access their document at home due to the fact their system does not have the newer fonts and formats.

Client: “I’m trying to open and print this PDF file but I can’t!”

Situation: The problem here is two folds and reason that the client cannot open or print a PDF file is numerous.

Solution: 1) First check to see if the PDF file is indeed a PDF file. All you have to do is look at the extension for .PDF. Often times, you can simply right click on the file, scroll down to “open with” then open the file either with Microsoft Word or Word Pad. If the file is a .jpeg or an image file, you can open them with Adobe Photoshop or even MS Paint.

2) Second, check to see if the PFD file is copy protected and requires a special reader / viewer to view. Most often you will need to install adobe’s digital edition. You can quickly install the Adobe Digital Editions reader here. http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/ 3) Third, the PDF file may require a password to view. Sometimes professors attempt to copy protect their works by using the password security feature. There is no real work around this situation. The file can only be opened with the password supplied.

As for printing, the protocol is pretty standard 1) Make sure that the print job does not exceed 20 pages. If it does, ask the client to break up the print job into smaller groups.

2) If the client is on a Mac attempting to print, have them save a copy of the PDF file to the desktop. Then open the file from the saved copy and print.

3) Have them check for insufficient print credits.

Client: “I have Microsoft Works, not Office on my brand new laptop!On my brand new laptop I don’t have Microsoft Office but Microsoft Works.

When I try to open a document I saved on my computer in the lab, it says that the format is unrecognized!”

Situation: Many of the newer retail computers such as HP, Dell, Toshiba, and Sony VIAO do not come with Microsoft Office 2007 installed as part of their system package. In order to have a valid copy of Microsoft Office, the client needs to pay additionally and have the Office programs installed as an option. Although Works 6-9 functions similarly to Office Word and is even able to view Office Word documents, they are two different programs with different formats. Office saves as a “.doc” (Word 93-2003) or “.docx” (Word 2007), but Works saves files as “.wks”.

Solution: There are a few solutions to this situation.

1) If the client is short on time and they have their laptop or source machine where they made their original document from, all they have to do is copy / paste their document onto the body of their document and email it to themselves. Then they can open Microsoft Word from out computers and copy / paste the text from their email and save it as a Word document.

2) If they do not have their source machine but only have a copy of the document, follow these steps to enable file format converter in Microsoft Word. a) On the File menu, click Open. b) In the Files of type list, click Works 7.0 / Works 9.

If you don't see this option in the list Go to this hyperlink to install Microsoft Works 6-9 File Converter for Microsoft Words. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/ details.aspx? FamilyId =bf41401e-70fa-465d-ae2e-cf44dbf05297&displayLang=en Once the file format converter is installed, c) In the File name box, enter the name of the file that you want to convert, and then click Open. d) On the File menu, click Save As. e) In the Save As dialog box, make any changes that you want in the File name box, click the file format that you want in the Save as type list, and then click Save.

4) Make sure that there are no copy protection printing restrictions. All you have to do is right click on the file and hit properties to check.

Remember to always be polite to clients!

5) If the client is attempting to print from a Mac, have them wait for a few minutes before attempting to reprint. Quite often the file transfer queue time is long and a print job sent dialogue window does not pop-up. Ask them to check the printers incase their document did print.

Please ask fellow consultants or supervisors for assistance when needed!

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The role of the Senior Consultant is not well defined. This often leaves new (and old!) Seniors with the difficult task of determining their role while on the job. To help Seniors of all ages, here are a few guidelines based off an old Senior’s trips around the block…

The Senior Consultant’s duties can be divided into two: the duties towards Junior Consultants, and the duties regarding higher level staff (e.g., Supes). Often you will find overlap between the two. First let’s take a look at the former.

A Senior’s duties including Juniors revolves primarily around the management of his team of Juniors. The Senior is responsible for training, testing, evaluating, and molding Juniors into excellent consultants. To carry out these duties, it is necessary to interact or observe your juniors at least 2-3 times a month. This can be as simple as being shifted with them, but for those of not born under the perfect-schedule star, it is necessary to track down where your consultants are working, and to drop by at those times. While working with Juniors, one should take care to work at your peak—Juniors watch Seniors, and if the bar is set low, there will not be much incentive for them to work hard.

Because Seniors will undoubtedly be working with Juniors during most shifts, Seniors should plan on not completing much homework, and to be up and about quite a bit. Remember that exemplary Juniors are selected to be Seniors—just because the title changes doesn’t mean the work ethic should change with it.

The other dimension of a Senior’s duties involve working with the Supes and FCs. This occurs mainly during the weekly Senior-Supe-FC meeting. Each Supe will run their meeting as they wish, but expect several things: 1) Seniors, due to their high level of contact with Juniors and the labs, will function as the eyes and ears for the Supe. Seniors should report on recent trends in the labs (eg, paper is being used faster than normal, noisy clients, increases/decreases in consultant morale). In addition to this sensory role, Seniors will take part of strategic planning: Supes like to have feedback from those still “serving in the trenches” on new projects. Seniors should not shy away from voicing their opinions during meetings.

This should provide the basic framework for what to expect about being a Senior Consultant. Of course, there is still room for further defining the Senior Consultant as you see fit, but using this as a guide will help you cover the essentials.

HOW TO OBSERVE YOUR JUNIORS

A key component to the Senior Consultant’s duties involve following up and keeping track of their Juniors. This cannot be done without a healthy dose of direct observation. However, how is one supposed to find the time to follow up on each consultant?

Should the consultants know that you’re there? Questions like this can be tough, and scheduling time to meet with all of one’s Juniors can be overwhelming. Let’s see if we can make it more manageable.

First, recognize that it is not necessary to visit every Junior every week. Strive to visit at least half of your Juniors once a week, on a rotating basis. This way, it is possible to visit every Junior every 2 weeks or so. Use this as a guideline; if one Junior is performing poorly, it may be necessary to visit them more frequently, while visiting a more reliable Junior less frequently.

When is a good time to visit? The easiest and most direct way is to be scheduled with your Juniors. This is why it is important to pick Juniors for your team that have similar schedules as your own (based on their BOAs). This way, you can observe your Junior on shift, act as role model, and dispense advice to them all at the same time. Very convenient!

When not scheduled with your Juniors, you must drop in on one of their shifts. An easy way to do this is two look up the Juniors’ schedules who you will be visiting (based on the strategy above), and then bring homework/study materials to the lab.

This way, you can both observe Juniors’ work performance and complete some homework at the same time. There are two basic strategies to “dropping in” on Juniors: the first is make your presence obvious (by greeting them when you arrive, for example).

When doing this, you can converse with your Junior about work or non-work related things, and get to know them a little better.

Additionally, it allows your Juniors to become more comfortable with you. Finally, if you stay in the lab (as a “client”), your consultant should act on their best behavior since they know that you are in the lab. The second strategy is to be incognito. Try to slip into the lab and take a seat quickly. The basic concept here is to try to observe your Junior when they don’t know they are being watched. This may provide a better insight in their abilities and attitudes while on shift.

T E R E C E Y S L P ON O T ES EY

While in the labs as a “client”, try to count the number of times Juniors roam, see how attentive they are to the lab environment, and see how they interact with clients. Additionally, use this opportunity to observe the lab itself—is it dirty, is the lab equipment in good shape, etc. Finally, try to make notes on Juniors outside your team. Your fellow Seniors will be grateful for your comments come evaluation time.

7.

Regularly procrastinate greatly over the things we have to do. In school this results in incomplete grades, at work in projects that get delayed or dropped, at home in a disheveled place that we are embarrassed to bring people to.

8. Tends to put off making decisions. Many decisions are made for us by the process of indecision.

9. Tends to stay single to a late age or not to get married at all, tend to greatly delay breaking off inappropriate relationships, and/or tend to avoid committed relationships.

10. Tends to avoid concentrating on projects at hand, engaging in daydreaming or switching to other less important tasks.

Now that you have a slightly better understanding of how procrastination works, you can now learn how to greatly reduce the room for opportunities for procrastination and its influence in your life.

While there are to-do lists, Procrastinators Anonymous, self-pity and self-help books, one of the best approaches to procrastination that I have come across (ironically on the internet) that seems to work is to: Run a dash.

According to its creator, Merlin Mann, a dash is “simply a short burst of focused activity during which you force yourself to do nothing but work on the procrastinated item for a very short period of time—perhaps as little as just one minute.” Mann reasons that this is effective and works because “[b]y making even the most modest bit of progress on your hated task, you’ve done what once seemed impossible: you got started.”

Three Kinds of Dashes

1. Time-based dash - Most jobs lend themselves this type. Pick an amount of time that gives you enough room to do something but that’s brief enough to seem completely unintimidating. Eight minutes works best.

2. Unit-based dash - Working through a random number of pieces associated with your project (such as pages to read, words to write, glasses to wash, etc.).

3. Combination dash - stop working on the task whenever you reach either the time or unit goal first.

Remember

It is important to keep in mind that overcoming procrastination calls for dedication, patience and personal power. Overcoming chronic procrastination is a lifestyle changes so even if you do not notice any immediate progress, keep working on it! You may still procrastinate from time to time, but now you will be able to settle the situation much more quickly which in effect will increase your feelings of self-confidence. For those times when you do succeed, always remember to take time to glorify the moment so you will remember how great it feels. This will rally round the next time you need a bit of encouragement.

Because Stuff Happens Some last minute advice on battling procrastination from a veteran slacker.

W

orking as a Junior Consultant, it can be almost too easy at times to create opportunities for procrastination. A procrastinator is well versed in sitting around and looking for excuses to put off completing planned tasks and activities. Eventually, they may start reading pointless websites about the unfortunate and wretched lives people on the Internet â&#x20AC;&#x201C; only to find that in the end nothing has been accomplished. Sounds too familiar? I know it is tough for you to hear but it is a harsh reality that many people need to resist and embrace. With finals looming about, it was the perfect opportunity and time for me to speak out on something that matters to all of my slothful friends out there; it is time to lift ourselves of our badonkadonks and to unite behind a common problem: procrastination.

Procrastination is more than a five syllable word for sloth. According to prominent procrastination research, there is no gene for indolenceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it is a learned behavior.

It is a complex and chronic inability that affects everyone, to some extent or another, from getting things done. For some, it can

By Stephanie Vu

be a positive reinforcement in their life, while for others it can become a source of relationship issues, great stress and anxiety, compulsive behaviors and a lack of motivation. Fortunately, many experts have devoted their energy into the research of lollygagging and have given us guidance on how to recognize and overcome the problem of chronic procrastination. Once you can avoid this behavior, you may feel more relieved, notice less gray hairs, and a sense of greater selfsatisfaction.

According to Latecomers & Procrastinators Anonymous, there are ten common characteristics and manners inherent in a chronic procrastinator.

COMMON CHARACTERISTICS

1. Disappointment is a way of life.

2. Constantly seeking excitement and attention through negative attention generated by passive aggressive behavior.

3. Constantly placing people in a position of power over them by default.

4. Takes on the role of nice but ineffectual people.

5. Does not like to be depended upon.

6. Tends to be a perfectionist. Making a mistake can be almost physically painful.

Get [Time] Organized Time management is key to getting work done, having

fun, and accomplishing goals. As a senior consultant, you now have new duties that allow you flexibility and more self management but they also take time off of a work shift to carry out. The following are suggestions of how to more adequately utilize your time when you are on shift as well as off.

Organize: The simplest way to time management is

through organizing. Organizing consists of tossing out what is unnecessary and cleaning only what you truly need and want. In this case, you can focus on your backpack and desk.

When you don’t have to search everywhere for a single piece of paper, you will have much more time to accomplish your duties and goals. It may be hard to part with certain articles or objects, but if you’re not using it regularly, it’s just weighing down your backpack and taking up space in your desk. Once you have organized, be sure to return whatever you use to its designated place.

This small amount of time replacing the object can save you a headache when you need to use the item next. Organizing is a way of life, not everyone is a natural at being organized but it can become a part of your nature. It can be hard to get into the swing of having an order to things but you must be willing to train yourself to be actively aware of what you use and where you put it.

Plan: Dust off that paper planner and grab some different colored pens. If you

don’t have a planner, go out and buy one. Choose one depending on how often you’ll need it such as daily, weekly, or monthly. If you choose to be more tech savvy, you can also use google calendar. Just be sure that you’re on the computer often and remember to check it. First off, put down your most important events (classes, work, and internships). Remember, as a sr consultant, you must factor in time to check e-mail off shifts, stop by your team of jr consultants, and meet with your unit once a week. You can use different colored pens to label different kinds of events. Now, after these events, choose times where you have gaps and are able to study. By writing down a designated time to study, you are taking an active step to actually study. Finally, add your social plans and marvel at your crazy Berkeley life.

Get [Time] Organized Execute: This is where actual life

comes in. Now that you’ve spent so much time clearing out your backpack and desk and you have a visual guide to your week, the next step can be the hardest part of time management. You have to actually follow through with what’s written out. Keeping up with your plans is easier said than done, many find it hard to start but once you’ve taken the first step, it is much easier to follow through with the next.

Don’t let time slip away from you!

*Many times (almost always) something out of your control

comes up and you find you’re behind schedule or have not accomplished what you planned. C’est la vie. All you can do is inform whoever is in charge that you are aware of the deadline and ask for extension. Life doesn’t always fall into place but finding the motivation to pursue a more organized life helps a great deal when things don’t go as you’ve planned.

How many consultants do you really KNOW??? As you have seen and experienced, not knowing the names of your fellow consultants can be a bit problematic, especially if a problem arises and you need help but don’t know how to approach them. This problem can easily be avoided by meeting and socializing with your fellow consultants in café. Hopefully, by the end of this publication, you will muster the will and eagerness to meet those unknown coworkers!

Every time you meet or are working with a new consultant you should introduce yourself. There are several ways to initiate this process. First, is the standard, “Hi, I’m _____.” Other ways to spice up the introduction is complimenting the consultant and then stating your name. This is one of the better techniques since it presents you in a positive light. Another strategy is asking a question about their day or other general questions. This method usually helps initiate conversation between you and your coworkers.

Confidently, you might try one of these introductions in the future to get to know your fellow consultants!

Does it get kind of lonely on shift and you’re bored out of your mind? Try talking to your fellow consultant to pass the time by during long or late night shifts! From personal experience, it is one of the best ways to interact and to discover interesting facts about a coworker. Usually asking a question is a good initiation to a conversation. Once you start chatting, you might want to try tossing around an eraser or a small item to keep the dialogue and interaction going. Plus, it’s a great way to improve your hand-eye coordination skills.

Hopefully a new or improved friendship is established after your conversation.

Do you want to get to know more about your consultants? Why not try hanging out with the consultant outside of café! Some activities to consider are going to grab a meal or drink together, outdoor excursions such as a hike to the Big C or rock climbing, or simply just studying together. To build off of that first conversation, aim to ask another question relating to the first dialogue exchanged to show your fellow consultant that you remember their name and the fact that you paid attention to your discussion. With a bit of luck, you and the other consultant will know about each other a lot more than before and will be able to joke around each other at café.

How do you maintain your new friendships from café? A good way to keep in contact with your fellow consultants is through g-talk (google talk). Since most consultants have an account through gmail, the ability to chat with your consultant on shift is a great method to further build upon your friendship and knowledge about your coworker. Also, if you have any problems and situated in a different location, you can always ask your friend for assistance. G-talk is the way to go!

Through this publication, I hope you learned some new techniques on how to approach those unknown consultants and perhaps form new café friendships. A better work and enjoyable café environment can emerge from interacting with your fellow consultants. Hopefully by the end of each new conversation or introduction, you will have a Facebook friend request .