I am paying 2,000 dollars—well, okay, my parents are—to eat here on campus. I have a silver meal plan, meaning I can eat at the Quad or the Rock whenever they are open.
A bonus to that was walking into my dorm on the first day of fall semester to find a Quad takeout box. Sweet! No more lunch rush anxiety for me! Or so I thought, anyway…
A while ago, I took on the role of room service extraordinaire for a friend who was bedridden due to a longboarding accident, meaning I was getting takeout food for him and myself around three times a day.
Every time I went in, I presented both of our IDs, explained the situation and went about my business.
Another friend attempted to get food on her account for herself and her suitemate who was unable to sit and eat due to her schedule for that day. There was at least a three-hour gap between the two times she went to the Quad. She was told that she couldn’t takeout food again because, apparently, the takeout box is only supposed to be used once a day per student. This was news to me.
Now, if you have made it all the way to the back of this newspaper and are properly reacting to this article, then you have the same face of disbelief my two friends and I did. We pay for our food, and I don’t think that this policy is fair. College students live extremely stressful and busy lives, and I should be allowed to use a take out box whenever I would like.
Don’t dangle a carrot in front of our faces and not expect us to try and utilize the takeout boxes to their full potential. We’re starving adults leading stressful lives and we want food however we can get it.
As told to my friends and I after a call to Dining Services on campus, the limit on the takeout boxes is apparently to “cut down costs.” I don’t know what costs Dining Services thinks they’re trying to cut back on, but it definitely isn’t the two grand I’m paying to eat cafeteria food that is half a tier above what I choked down in high school. For everything we pay, we deserve better.
I would think that taking food from the café would be cheaper for the university than gorging ourselves on buffet style foods. It’s easier to portion foods with a takeout box. Chew on that for a minute.
Stick a fork in this opinion, Ferris, because it’s done. I am sick and tired of rules that don’t benefit the consumer.