I tried to let it go, I tried to be understanding about it. But I just can’t stand it anymore.

Why do people think the entire dorm is their playground? How do people justify acting like they do in a public residence? I just don’t get it.

I understand that as a dorm resident, I can expect to give up some of the comforts I have come to cherish while living in my parents’ home. I know I can’t expect as much privacy, especially with community bathrooms, paper-thin walls and having to share my bedroom. I realize I may not get to listen to my music or television at the volume I would like all the time. I understand that everyone else is not on the same schedule as I am and when I get up and when I come home I should be respectful of the hundreds of others around me.

I try to be courteous to my neighbors, but I realize I am not always the perfect person to share a living space with. Sometimes I’m a little too loud early in the morning, and it can’t be the most exciting thing to watch me and my boyfriend say goodbye for 20 minutes in the hall at night.

I’m not saying I’m the perfect dorm resident, but is it too much to ask for some common courtesy? I’m not talking about the occasional loud music or late night outburst of excitement. I’m talking about blatant rudeness and overstepping the bounds of good sense.

Last year, I had the misfortune of living across from the loudest group of girls I have ever encountered. It didn’t matter what time it was or who might have been asleep or studying, they would make their presence painfully known. After every outing to The Dollar Nightclub or a frat party, I had to hear them scream about the night’s activities to one another.

Granted, as a night receptionist, I kept some fairly weird hours, but I tried to let some things go. I talked to them multiple times, I called the then-titled resident assistant and I tried to ignore them. But they never seemed to shut up.

This year, with the implementation of the “community standards” system, I was sure I had it made. At our first floor meeting, I was ready. When some of the girls on my floor hesitated to set what I considered to be very reasonable quiet hours, I told my horror stories and made it abundantly clear I would not leave unless there were quiet hours that would allow me to sleep and study with minimal interruption. That’s not to say I didn’t have my supporters, but with or without them, I was going to have a comfortable environment.

At first, things seemed great. For the most part, everyone was very respectful of quiet hours, and my room is in a secluded part of the hall, so I heard very little of what went on anyway. But then it started, and it went well beyond noise. I must have missed the memo, because somewhere along the way, the hallway became a private playground.

There was a small group of girls, whose names remain a mystery to me, who decided their rooms don’t end at the doorway. They have had loud conversations complete with snacks and pajamas in the hall. This wouldn’t be so bad, except that their voices carry and they just happen to block both the stairway and bathroom doors. Not only that, but when I step over them to get to my room, they give me dirty looks.

Excuse me, I wasn’t aware that I no longer have the right to use the hallway to get to my room.

These little parties usually didn’t extend past quiet hours, but they were still very annoying. I was even willing to overlook it for the most part, beyond shooting a few dirty looks their way.

But then they did it. The last straw. I don’t know why I never said anything. I guess I’m taking back my lost opportunity now.

They took a small combination TV/VCR and plugged it into an outlet in the hall. And not just in any place in the hallway, right between the doors to the stairway and the bathroom. They gathered in front of the screen, blocking the entire hallway and gave dirty looks to everyone who came up the stairs or out of the bathroom and blocked their view. Beyond that it is completely rude and annoying, it’s a total safety hazard.

And this is where I think the flaws in the “community standards” system lay. In this system, residents are supposed to talk to one another about problems and mentors are only to get involved if that doesn’t work.

I didn’t say anything to those girls, even though I was absolutely infuriated. Why? Because I had a hard time telling them what I thought to their faces. I had to cop out and use this forum, and many people don’t have something like this to get out their grievances. They live in an uncomfortable environment because they, like me, don’t have the courage to confront the people bothering them.

The system is backward. I don’t need a “mentor” to go to for advice and to be there only as a last-ditch effort if I have problems. I need someone to enforce the “standards” I’ve helped set and who will be there for advice if I need it.

If the university guarantees me the right to sleep and study in my dorm, it should give me someone to help enforce that.

Michonne L. Omo, State News opinion writer, can be reached at omomicho@msu.edu.