Last Friday I learned a valuable lesson: always check hours of operation before entering a building.

I am a member of the Mugar Student Work Group. This information would make you think that I had some general knowledge about how Mugar operates–think again.  This summer I’ve been working at Mugar (doing graphic design projects) from about 10am-5pm Monday through Thursday, and then on Fridays I usually work from home because no one else comes in on Fridays and our isolated, box-of-a-room can get lonely. But this past Friday I switched things up– switching things up rarely ends well for me.

On Friday I scheduled lunch with a few friends at the GSU and thought it was just too convenient to not work in Mugar that day. (That was my first mistake.) So after lunch I arrived in our cozy little room around 1pm and got down to business.

side-note: I am currently working on a coloring book for Mugar to distribute at Comm Ave Fair. You can all get one on September 5 at 2pm by the Law Building where we’ll be stationed!

Anyway, I was making a lot of progress on the coloring book. Then 5 o’clock rolls around, and I think to myself, “Just push through until 6pm and finish up this section!” (That was my second mistake). Just a little background on the room I work in: other than our room being isolated and and kind of cramped, it only has one 8″x10″ window that looks out into the stairwell, and it is not equipped with a speaker for the library’s P.A. system. SO little did I know that there had been multiple announcements warning the library inhabitants that Mugar Library was closing at 5pm. I also could not see any sign of the library becoming deserted through our little window.

Oblivious, I finally left our room at 6pm to find all of the computers empty. This seemed reasonable to me because who really wants to spend their Friday evening at the library. But then I took a few more steps into the main area to find the IT Help Center AND the front desk abandoned with the lights slightly dimmed. “Hmm… this can’t be good,” I thought. And then for some reason I became more worried about a serial killer popping out of a dim corner than getting out of the library. (Years of scary movies and crime dramas will do that to ya.)

When I finally tried to leave, I was relieved that I could open the door and then immediately struck with panic when the alarm went off. I instinctively called my boss for help. Thankfully she picked up on her day off (because she’s awesome), and she suggested that I call the BU Police to assure them that no one was trying to break into the library. So I did just that, and of course it all worked out fine in the end. But it’s funny how a few decisions can really spice up a Friday evening.

And for all of you students out there, during the summer Mugar closes at 11pm Sunday- Thursday and closes at 5pm on Friday and Saturday.=)