Tara,
We at PariSoMa had a small coworker party about a month ago. I knew
pretty much every one there, except there was one tall, balding guy
kind of lurking around that no one knew. He introduced himself as Ryan
and said he was interested in renting a desk from us. I asked him how
he knew about the very small gathering and he just kind of mumbled
something incomprehensible about a website. For the next hour and a
half, he hung around our office and kind of creeped about and made
everyone uncomfortable. When the party was over, a handful of us went
to dinner and of course someone invited Ryan. Throughout dinner, his
erratic behavior really weirded us out. He got up about 3 or 4 times
to use the bathroom announcing loudly I GOTTA PEE, disappearing for
10 minutes at a time. He knocked over his glass of water and then
pushed the water onto the floor. After I'd finished my meal there were
still some scraps left (mostly chicken bones and a pile of greasy
rice) and he asked my boyfriend if I was going to finish my plate. He
then ate the tiny bits of chicken left on the bones and scarfed all
the rice. We all pretty much sat there WTFing the whole time. The next
day, I told everyone in the office that if a guy named Ryan came by
looking to rent a space, to politely tell him no. I felt bad because
he seemed kind of lonely and lost, but he obviously has problems and
made everyone really uncomfortable. He must be hitting up all the
coworking spaces in SF. I wonder if anyone else has had any
experiences with him.
Anyway, wow. I will definitely be on the lookout.
Melanie Berlin
PariSoMa
On Oct 1, 2:31 pm, Tara Hunt [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hey all,
So, I thought I'd relay a story...not to freak anyone out or change
anything, but just as an experience that others can learn from.
For about 6 months, there has been a guy who drops in regularly at
Citizen Space for free - almost too regularly at times - and would
fall asleep at the communal tables in the back. I thought, Whatever,
no biggie, really, until I got a complaint from my landlord that,
when CS wasn't open, he would sit outside of our door or wander around
the building for hours. So, the next time I saw him I told him that he
isn't allowed to be in the building hanging around when we aren't
there. So, that was problem A. But he didn't really listen and we
would still find him sleeping outside our door. I must have told him
about 10x personally. Then he hadn't come around for a while, so I
thought that the issue was done.
But no. One day I received an email from Eddie from The Hat Factory
asking me if Ryan Cook ever hangs out at Citizen Space and that they
had to finally ask him to leave and not come back because he was doing
the same thing - sleeping in the building - as well as bringing his
clothes and showering there. Eddie and another guy had taken Ryan to
lunch to get more information from him and didn't find much out.
According to Ryan, he had a job and a place to live. So they said he
would have to limit the times he dropped in and no more showering or
sleeping there. But he continued, so they finally threatened him with
calling the police if he returned.
After that point, he stepped up his presence at CS again, this time he
had no laptop with him and people in the space (renters and other
dropins) were starting to complain about his presence. He would come
in, eat stuff from the cupboards, make coffee and leave a mess, then
sleep at the table. So, I told him he couldn't come back to CS without
his laptop - This isn't a shelter, it's a workspace. I said. But a
couple of nights later, I came into the office to check on a package
at around 10:00 pm and, after unlocking the security door, I found him
behind it, hanging out. Of course, this freaked me out a bit, but I
firmly told him he wasn't allowed to be there, to leave and not come
back until he gets a computer.
A couple days later, Jonathan, one of the desk renters, found him,
again, behind the locked security door and observed a pile of luggage
and clothes. This was early in the morning. He instantly left and
called me, telling me he didn't want to have to deal with this any
longer. I was very angry at that point and went directly over there,
but he was gone. Later that day, I caught him in the building again
and told him to take his clothes and leave and that I would call the
police if he returned. That was last Friday.
On Monday, I wasn't at the space, but Arne told me he came in to
gather 'some of his things that he had left' at the space. CS is NOT a
storage locker. Arne supervised him and walked him out of the
building. I thought that was the end of it. But no again.
Today, I stopped by CS to check on a package and, lo and behold, he
was there again. I totally blew up and told him I was going to call
the police and locked myself in the office. The police came by and he
was STILL hanging in the building. The officer talked to him, then
