{"id":297,"date":"2010-03-25T18:20:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-25T18:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/2010\/03\/25\/must-be-neat-neednt-be-pretty\/"},"modified":"2010-03-25T18:20:00","modified_gmt":"2010-03-25T18:20:00","slug":"must-be-neat-neednt-be-pretty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/?p=297","title":{"rendered":"Must Be Neat, Needn’t Be Pretty"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most frustrating aspects of running Down Home Ranch<\/a> is trying to find good people to live in the houses with our Ranchers. I\u2019m not saying the job is easy. Jerry and I did it for 41\/2 years, and we know.  Admittedly, it\u2019s a challenge, but what important job isn\u2019t? The years in Gabriel House I still count as among the  happiest of my adult life.<\/p>\n

Being a Resident Assistant is a lot like parenthood in that it requires you to be there\u2014really<\/em> be there. Not sitting on the couch with your nose in a book, or staring out the window pondering your existence. You are defender, teacher, friend, confidant and coach all rolled up into one.  Not to mention chief cook.  If you want to matter in life, be the cook.<\/p>\n

My mantra is this: Being an RA is the easiest job in the world to do poorly, and the hardest to do well.<\/em> That\u2019s because you really have to be self-motivated to keep up the energy level in the home. It\u2019s easy to sit back and do the minimum required, but alas, that\u2019s when the fun (and the effectiveness) drains out of the job.<\/p>\n

So\u2026I got to thinking about the scene in Mary Poppins<\/a>, when the children decide to make up a list of qualifications for the perfect nanny. I thought: Why not ask the guys who their \u201cperfect\u201d RA would be?<\/em> <\/p>\n

So I went out in search of the four men of Barnabas House, who were on morning break from their jobs.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Andrew immediately asked, \u201cWell, Judy, what are my choices here?\u201d Good question, but I was speaking hypothetically.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you tell me, Andrew\u2014what kind of person would you like in the house?\u201d I asked.  <\/p>\n

Alas, Andrew was not up for hypothetical. <\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d he said, raising his hands up in the air in a gesture of impatience, \u201cI really need to know what the choices are, my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked if it was important to have someone who likes to fish, because Andrew loves to fish and it\u2019s his favorite topic of conversation. But no, he said, that wasn\u2019t important. He then named two people he\u2019d had as house managers in the past at other agencies. Coincidentally, I knew them both, so that gave me some idea of what he was thinking.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Michael said he definitely wants somebody who likes to take walks in the evenings down in the pecan bottoms and Alan chimed in, nodding enthusiastically, \u201cYeah, you know, somebody that likes to do that, you know–go for walks and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>Brent didn\u2019t want to be bothered to talk about it, and when I persisted, he said he wanted someone who wouldn\u2019t bother him too much. I took the hint and quit bothering him.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
So what I think we\u2019re looking for is a kind, patient, out-doorsy type with a good sense of humor who backs off when requested. We\u2019ve decided that for this house a couple would be considered,  so two<\/em> kind, patient, out-doorsy types with a good sense of humor might work, too.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Naturally there\u2019s more to the job description, which you can see on the website<\/a> if you\u2019re curious. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Meanwhile, these four greats guys are having to put up with a different staff person every night of the week, and they deserve better than that. So, spread the word, share this blog, tell your friends. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/a>Michael, Brent, Andrew, and Alan are looking for a new housemate, and the person fitting the bill doesn\u2019t even have to float in on an umbrella, although if that could be arranged it would<\/em> be highly entertaining.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most frustrating aspects of running Down Home Ranch is trying to find good people to live in the houses with our Ranchers. I\u2019m not saying the job is easy. Jerry and I did it for 41\/2 years, and we know.  Admittedly, it\u2019s a challenge, but what important job isn\u2019t? The years in Gabriel House…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,13,255],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-life","category-down-home-ranch","category-staff-concerns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dhr.tiltedchair.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}