RC Open Office Hours
Hosting RC Open Office Hours
Since September 2025, Ridgewood Commons has hosted open hours most tuesdays from noon-6pm.
It first existed as "Coworking Open Hours", with a focus on recruiting new paid coworkers, then "Organizer Office Hours", with a focus on making space for community and mutual aid organizers, to now Open Office Hours, which is meant to be broadly welcoming space where folks can come work on their own projects or figure out how to contribute to RC itself.
The role of hosting Open Office Hours is mostly that of welcoming people into the space and making sure it's a comfortable and chill environment. Besides opening and closing the space, the main responsibility is noticing when someone walks in and seems apprehensive, saying hello to them, making them feel welcome in the space, orienting them, maybe giving them a little tour, showing them the event flyer & website, etc. This is a potential onboarding opportunity.
Opening
If you're getting there close to noon, it's likely that there are already some coworkers in the space working with very low light because they don't like to turn on the overhead lights but also don't turn on more than a couple of lamps. It's difficult to get the room bright enough with the number of lamps remaining in the space but it's also a painful transition to turn on the overheads, though they're much less harsh than they used to be. Good luck.
Wipe off the tables, they're often dirty. Make sure they are spaced out enough that people can sit back to back between tables and someone can walk between them. I recommend pulling the table nearest the couches all the way out to the vertical beam.
I find that the couches feel the most open to the room when they're in a U configuration where the open part of the U is facing the tables.
Put the sign on the door. It lives in the orange cabinet
Make a pot of coffee with the Ninja Coffee Machine. There is a spoon attached to the machine that will show you the ratio of grounds to water.
Hosting
Be chill and welcoming. If you see someone come in who seems uncertain or is just reading all the signs on the wall, say hi, ask how they found us, tell them what's going on at RC, how to find it, maybe give them a tour. Mention the coworking membership https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe-KTStIjgG-xy3K72R-ourO073Gsnsfpo3p0iHyPjPplvzPg/viewform
Closing
Bring the sign inside, do / encourage others to do dishes if they're left in the sink. There is almost 1-3 event going on tuesday after open hours so there isn't usually a need to ask anyone to leave-- though I sometimes wonder if the bleed-over of people just hanging out coworking while an event is happening will become a problem.