There's three of them sitting next to me in the computer room having a loud conversation and eating really strong smelling crisps, underneath a notice that says "No eating ... the IT room is for SILENT INDIVIDUAL work". I cant work with their chatter/smell, but I'm too scared to say anything!!

Undergraduates, the bane of communal department rooms the world over...

Yeah I agree tell them to shut it.. I know I would have been scared if a postgrad told me off when i was an undergrad..

Or you could just ring one of your friends up and drop into the converstation rather loudly 'I am finding it hard to work here as there are a couple of kids talking about complete bullsh*t, and from the sounds of them none of them have the communal braincell this week' Might not work but might make you feel better.

Why don't you make up a weird-sounding message pointing out what will happen to the people eating smelly crisps next to electrical equipment and list some strange symptoms; and hang it under that sign?

I was just gearing myself up to speak to them and then they packed up and left leaving crisps everywhere! Sure I never did anything so disgraceful in my undergrad days

Geez, the youth of today

I have to admit I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to these things. Living in London for as long as I have, you get used to the "don't get involved" mentality usually because if you do, it makes things ten times worse and you end up spending the rest of the reflecting on how badly the conversation went (rather than concentrating on the task in hand).

So I usually go and sit somewhere else. Oh dear.

i'll come get tehm for ya wickid, i'll scare em off with strong smelling mints, grrrrr

aww thanks mrchipz. will get you to patrol the computer rooms and libraries when you arrive in cardiff

Some people are so inconsiderate in computer clusters in libraries. Ok, I'm an undergraduate, but I'm nice I have a friend who dreaded going to the library with... just because he spent the entire time in the silent study area listening to music, having his phone on vibrate on the table, eating sandwiches, crisps, chocolate and sweets and then leaving his rubbish lying around. Same in computer clusters. I did try and hint at maybe taking a break to sit down and eat somewhere else.. but he wasn't interested as he didn't have enough time

Undergrads are scary because they hunt in packs, like teenage school kids (the scariest!!!)

Its scary the way kids seem to have lost the childhood innocence.. I was up in Durham at the weekend and I walked past a little gaggle of 4 or 5 young kids prob around 10 years old, sat around smoking.

I have a nine year old sister and earlier this week she was going on about how she wants to go on a raw vegetable diet as she saw something on the TV and she doesnt want to get fat!! I know when I was 9 I was happy to be reading the Beano eating a packet of space raiders watching timmy mallet on the tv.. How times change

From what i can pick up from my little sister she gets most of her ideas from the TV.. Kids programmes seem to have changed alot and a large proportion seem to focus on image and sexual imagery.. She watches alot of music channels like TMF and the videos on there can be very evocative.. Maybe I am being a bit of a prude but i feel the media is playing a part in advancing kids too soon. My neighbours 10 year old son asked my sister if she wanted to have sex.. I don't know if he knew what he was asking, but its a bit freaky! (she said no by the way and said that she is going to wait until they are married and he needs to sign a pre-nup for when she is a super slim model/rockstar)

Bring back thundercats and he-man I say :oP

A2D, you will be pleased to know that shops/newsagents/supermarkets etc will soon be forced to move any papers and magazines (including boys' mags like loaded etc) that contain any form of nudity, to the top shelf. I think they are allowed to keep the daily sport with the papers if its folded in such a way to prevent exposure of the pics.

Something like that anyway!

You'd think he could have waited for me to arrive there in the autumn, wouldn't you? It could have done with some of that to pay my deposit.