I said I would never do it. I wouldn’t sink to that level. I promised myself I would stick to writing meaningful pieces about the quest for truth and human betterment. Or, I would use my journalistic outlet to bring attention to rampant abuse of human rights in totalitarian regimes like Iran and Saudi Arabia.
In truth, I have much more important things to write about than the quality of the food service at Binghamton University, specifically, the incompetence at the new Chenango Champlain Collegiate Center.
But no, the disservice has gone on long enough! Sodexo has brought this polemical tirade upon themselves.
And so, after intensive conclusive research and professional investigation, I present to you, five things you (wish you) didn’t know about dining services at Binghamton University:
1. The new Chenango Champlain Collegiate Center is the royal embodiment of inefficiency.
Just look at its name. Now, at first, when all the ovens broke during the first week at lunch, I told myself, “Give them time, they’re still working the kinks out.” But did Martin Luther King, Jr. say, “Just give racism time?” Was that attitude sufficient for Mahatma Gandhi?
The answer is, of course, no. When mistreatment occurs, we must speak out against it with a unified strong voice.
2. The Sodexo employees.
I’m very apprehensive here. I almost feel bad for them. I want to believe that they are just a part of a larger incompetent system, bigger than them. I want to believe that they are similarly frustrated and fed up. But if it’s going to take you more than 45 seconds to weigh my plate of salad, there’s probably something wrong here.
I hate to be such a snob about it, but maybe, just maybe, the qualifications for working behind the register should exceed: “Must have at least one hand and preferably poor hearing.”
When people are standing in line for so long that they finish their meals before paying, wouldn’t you think that would be a good indication that you should have more than one register going during the prime meal hours? Oh, I didn’t realize it takes four employees to wipe down the soda machine.
3. The french fries are made out of the 2011 academic planners which the bookstore couldn’t sell, plus salt.
Oh, and the fruit is all fake. Sorry.
4. One dining hall. Two communities.
I understand that campus is “in a time of transition” and that construction is a good thing and will allow for more students. As such, it makes sense that there are the two seating sections in the new C4 dining hall. But if you’ve taken into account that you’re going to have all of Newing College and Dickinson Community eating in the same structure, it seems sensible to me that you would need to double everything, not just the seating areas.
In other words, one dining hall for two communities with only one food supply area doesn’t really add up. In fact, at prime meal hours, our local watering hole can look very much like the wild jungle.
5. Timing is everything.
Fact: People have classes that begin at 8:30 a.m. If you say you’re going to open the dining hall at 8 a.m., then do it. None of this 8:09 or 8:12 business. I don’t need those anxious minutes before they lift the metal gate up. This isn’t Best Buy the day PlayStation 3 came out or Macy’s on Black Friday. Getting to Lecture Hall without spilling my bowl of cereal and milk is hard enough already, thank you very much.