This is the debut post of "This Week in Dining," which will be a reoccurring theme every week. This is an effort to continue my vendetta against the UNH dining system because it is time someone puts them in their place.
But this week they struck back.
For the first time in the history of the blog I have finally made an actual difference on campus. I am pretty confident that the following sign in HoCo, which describes their new policy, was set up specifically because of my past newspaper column.
Well fuck a duck! I must say that I am very disappointed in dining's decision to release this new policy. Obviously they realized that when I issued a vendetta against them all of UNH would soon turn against them. They are actually just trying to discourage my "massive" following on campus from coming together. So, actually I am pretty honored because they acknowledged how influential I have become. (What?) I guess this sign has been up for a few days, but I didn't notice it until today when my roommate pointed it out as I walked out with a banana.
First of all, who the fuck would support this? "We appreciate your support and understanding." I am pretty sure that every student will be pissed about this (my bad, I appologize if it really did have anything to do with it. I apologize to the students that is. Dining can fuck themselves). I highly doubt any one student would support this. Most students probably haven't noticed the changes because we don't read signs, but eventually our voices will be heard. Hunter S. Thompson once said "It is very important to learn, early in life, that you can beat City Hall and that You can change the System. You might be beaten and gassed by Police a few times before you succeed, but that stuff goes with the territory. And you will be proud of it later, just as you will make many smart friends who will stand with you all your life." It is time we make those swines at Dining here our rage. I ask everyone of you to listen to Rage Against the Machine and then write one of those napkin letters and demand that we have the right to take one piece of fruit and a mug full of a beverage out of the dining halls. First they waste OUR money with the stupid salt and peppermills, then they take away our trays on Tuesdays and now this!
Our money from meal plans allows the dining system to run. Therefore we should have a say in the decision making process. It is the same problem with the entire Smith Hall fiasco, most students probably wouldn't have cared if the administration discussed it with students first, but they acted without communication. I guarantee that if dining asked for student input not one student would have said "I think we need $32 salt shakers." Because only a douche who only cares about their image would say that. Right, dining? I have said it before and I will say it again, they only care about their image. Every year UNH dining is considered one of the tops in the country. This is true only because they have longer hours than most dining halls, we have unlimited meal plans, they are "green" and they have a buffet style (some schools you can only pick one type of meal and others are set up like the MUB food court). Those are really awesome things and the food usually is pretty decent, but I feel like the past few weeks there has been a terrible selection. Anyone else notice that the further away from a holiday, parent's weekend, or local harvest day the worse the food gets? Dining thinks they are hot shit, but in reality, they only cause hot shit.
Stay classy, not UMassy.
have you ever considered running for student senate?
ReplyDeletelegit dude
that's a joke, they'll eventually reverse that tho
ReplyDeleteYeah, dining did the same thing last year. After a few weeks they allowed fruit to be taken and mugs to be filled.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to tell you that I think you are doing a great thing calling out dining services. I went to a different University for my undergrad (Don't worry, it wasn't UMASS) and we had a 'chik fil a' among other dining options in our MUB type building. Long story short, you couldn't get waffle fries as part of a meal plan swipe you had to get the fries from the no-name grill (read: they were gross) The student senate brought the issue forward and got the waffle fries to be part of meal plan. As far as drinks and fruit go: I think one, even two, pieces of fruit aren't really thievery but rather students utilizing their meal plan option. Especially seeing as for many students they go in and eat a bowl of cereal and take an apple and a banana? Doesn't really add up the same way as a hockey player who comes in and eat three plates full of food. I also think as far as drinks go, that the University (and dining services) ENCOURAGES the use of "Mug Club" which is sustainable and all that, but if I bring my Mug in, you better believe I"m refilling before I leave...and your Mug tells me I can! I think if you have real concerns (and I think you, and others, do) that you should go to the Student Senate and bring these issues forward. As students, I don't think you realize the real power that you have. (Remember, the University can't function w/o you) And while you're there, the Student Senate should probably take a stand on this whole professor strike thing....whichever way they go will likely make a difference in how the whole thing pans out...President Huddleston has to talk to you (he can't site legal reasons like he can with Professors)
ReplyDeleteDining's policy on food leaving the dining hall has not changed. You may take one hand fruit, fill your mug club travel mug with a beverage or take a cookie/brownie from one of our locations. The sign pictured above was meant to remind guests that things should not be taken from the dining hall (other than what is listed above)Things like full bags of cereal, bagels and prepared sandwiches. If you would like to address your concerns with UNH Dining Services, it might make more sense to communicate directly with Jon Plodzik (jon.plodzik@unh.edu)rather than in a blog of this nature. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI actually did find that out this weekend and was going to make the correction. On the large sign above it says"Our new policy requires that all food and beverages be consumed within the dining hall" so I guess I misinterpreted what "new policy" and "all food and beverages" meant. I did notice the smaller sign on the door the says mug cups and fruit ect... can be taking. The new bigger sign made me assume that the policy had been changed.
ReplyDeletehey dipshit, do you even know what a vendetta is? get over yourself already. If you don't like dining's policies, don't buy a meal plan and eat there. quit your whining, grow a pair, and grow up already.
ReplyDeletewhile I don't fully agree with the comment above this one, I do have to say I think you took it a little far in your post.....
ReplyDeleteI'm a transfer student who went to Alfred University in upstate NY for two years before transferring here.
UNH has some of the BEST dining food ANYWHERE. You get diminishing quality of food after holidays and breaks just about any college you go to. If you stop and think about it, some reasons why become pretty apparent pretty quickly.
Meals around holidays and before breaks often include special meals, like holiday themed foods or late night breakfast for those who have been studying, so the food ordered for that time usually would be of, if nothing else, a differing nature. I.e. "better" food. As you get away from these re-stock periods, food supply (of these "specialty" foods) would tend to dwindle, until the next major holiday/break/event. I.e. diminishing quality of food. It happens with ANY food service, think about any time you went to KFC, BK, McDonald's and your food was wilted or stale or a similar situation (granted this is not ALWAYS the case but....) it's cause they had nothing else but the last of the lettuce for the day.... would you have preferred to go hungry? maybe, but thats beside the point. point is, they run out of some foods sometimes, or at the very least low on the foods.
Hopefully, and respectfully, i hope i didn't piss you off with that, cause this next point is really, I feel, key.
Regarding the trays; A similar thing happened at Alfred, (great university by the way, lacking in night life though you can always find something going on if you know the right people) Only get this, it was STUDENT driven.
Thats right, the STUDENTS of alfred were some of the ones behind the decision, and get this, we didn't just give them up for tuesdays, we gave them up entirely.
Yes there was a lot of grumbling, yes it was a pain at first, yes I went to the transfer-station where they were being recycled and lugged home a stack which i passed out to the student body and we continued to use them independently for awhile.
But the fact of the matter is this; It's simple phycology, if you can cary more food back to your table with you, chances are you will, whether or not you can eat it. This in turn means more food gets wasted, more dishes need to be cleaned, which drives up costs for the dining services, which drives up meal plan prices (which, it was 12$ or 15$ for dinner @ alfred, i duno which, but the price seems to be pretty normal) and in general increases bad shit happening. Not even going to mention the environmental damages.... but at any-rate, you take away trays, you use less food, you save money, everyone wins.
Yes it sucks not being able to cary your 2 plates of food and your 2 drinks back to your table while your silverware carelessly slides around on your tray, but you know what? It's a few extra seconds out of your day, and the pay off (both in terms of cost and environmental factors) is HUGE.
I wish i could remember the statistics for alfred, but I know it was thousands of something saved, which you figure UNH is 5 times the size of Alfred, so you multiply those stats by 5 and you REALLY see an increase in savings....
Hell with all the money saved from getting rid of trays, maybe the dumb-asses could afford those salt shakers right!?
Anyways, love the blog man, keep up the good work
M
Obviously you have grandiose delusions about the cause and effect of your disturbing rants. Your parents must be very disappointed in your behavior, and if they are dead, I imagine they died with hopes that you would someday overcome your profoundly disturbing anger issues. (Slaps you in face) Grow up. There are more important things in life you can apply all that misdirected hate towards. You are embarrassing yourself, your family, and your fellow students. Simply Disgusted.
ReplyDeleteYou obviously have no understanding of the university and how business works. UNH dining generates millions of dollars for the university, all of which is reinvested back into the university because it is a non-profit. Any decision made by dining is to the benefit of the students because we raise money for the university which is continually investing in the students. The people on the board of directors for dinning down to the managers of each hall have decades of experience running multimillion dollar foodservice operations and at the least level each manager has no less than a master's degree. The effort and the genious demonstraited at UNH is clear from the sidelines to anyone with a brain. You obviously need to grow up and one day can learn to appreciate a good thing. Every undergraduate thinks they are einstein, Your not. Your just some punk kid with enough money to get into a state college that's obviously too good for you. You try feeding 5 thousand people a day, make sure you wash your fucking hands first. Prick.
ReplyDeleteMy parents are still alive and love me very much. Thanks for commenting on a two-year-old post where you obviously don't understand the situation, the point of this blog or sarcasm. Sarcasm can be tough so don't beat yourself up over it, everyone makes mistakes.
ReplyDeleteI'm dying at the fact anon here doesn't know the difference between your and you're. Pure gold.
ReplyDeletehahaha, I overheard a UNH dining employee telling another employee that there was a whole page of a blog bashing UNH dining and he admitted that he wrote a comment back but kept his name anonymous so no one would know it was him... yet 10 hours later I see this post and I know it was him? smooth move.
ReplyDeleteI bet it was the guy with the white beard, or the guy that always talks like he's yelling. Or Ralph, I just think that he has a goofy name and hat.
ReplyDelete