The proof is in the yogurt...

Just so you are forewarned, I am going to complain, that is what this posting is about, if you don't like that, you don't have to read it, I just want to vent... it is selfish, I know, but it is also cathartic. I know how blessed I am, and I know how much worse other people have it than me, so please dont leave angry comments saying that I should be thinking of the plight of others before myslef, I already know what a horrible selfish person I am.

I live and work on a college campus. I eat 9 meals in one of the "on campus" dining locations every week. why only 9 you ask... that is the amount of food that my services are worth to campus living and dining, and that is how much they provide. Don't get me wrong, I am very well compensated for the work I do... a generous stipend, housing in one of the dorms, (er I mean "Residence Halls"...common campus living, lets call a spade a spade) and those 9 meals per week. If you do the math that is 1 meal per day every week day, and 2 on the weekends, this isn't what I am complaining about. Generally speaking, I eat well, and why shouldn't I, the plan that I am on would cost a regular student about $1,200 for a semester. Sadly, I eat well (we're talking quantity, not quality) because I eat as little campus food as possible. Some of the food on campus is truly great, but for the amount of money people are shelling out for this food, I would expect the greatness factor to be much, well, greater than "sometimes". I spend the majority of my meals at one of the subways on campus. 95% of the time I am disappointed with the sandwich I get, but I eat it. It isn't so much the poor construction of the sandwiches that bothers me the most, or the fact that "a little mayo" some how means "Pile it on ma'am, I want that sandwich to be swimming in that mayo!". I'm not really even bothered by the fact that they treat you like you just smacked their favorite niece, there is no accounting for customer service. No, what bothers me the most is that they almost never wash the utensils. Gross! I used to love meatball subs. Not anymore. that spoon they use to scoop the meatballs is caked with layers and layers of dried on grease and marinara sauce. The knives they use, just as bad. Oh yeah, and the flies... little tiny fruit flies EVERYWHERE! And yet this is where I spend the majority of my meals. once again you may ask, why? The dining hall is worse, that is why.

It isn't necessarily for the same reasons. The people, as a whole, are much kinder, just like you'd expect cafeteria workers to be... and there are the ones that everyone seems to know, and like... Mrs. Bernice we'll call her. As nice as the people are, the food is usually just plain bad. I once had carrots that tasted like paint thinner smells. In a recent foray into the dining hall, brought on by a massive lapse in judgement which I can only attribute to the fact that I had not yet had coffee that day, I decided to get some yogurt... mondo mistake! I think where I went wrong was that I went late in the "Brunch" meal period, nothing was what you would call fresh. Long story short those weren't berries in the yogurt. I should have known better, 9 times out of 10 I leave the dining hall only because I hear the call of nature -- I'm pretty sure they use laxatives as baking additives. Also, once in my freshmen year, I got a cup of coffee out of the "dispenser" thing and found something that looked suspiciously like a lugie in the bottom of the cup... but that might have just been spoiled cream... either way, it was Dis-Gust-Ing! I have never had dining hall coffee since, I'll just stick with my dollar and a half cup of coffee from Starbucks, thank you very much.

I know why the quality of dining on campus is so abysmal... they can get away with it. They have a captive audience. the students aren't going to do anything as long as they go back to their dorm rooms with full tummies. Oh sure, we whine and complain and stomp our feet and throw little tantrums but at the end of the day we are more or less fat and happy.

I suppose I should be counting my blessings, I mean, I at least have food. There are plenty of people, here in this town even, that go hungry. They, I suppose, would be happy to eat the food that I so often complain about. But, that doesn't change the fact that I feel gypped every time I use my compensatory meal plan on food that I find deficient... not to mention, hazardous to my health. Besides, those who go hungry are not the problem, they are a symptom, of a much greater problem, to borrow from the words of the infamous Dr. Horrible... "The fish rots from the head."

On a happier note, the food from the dining hall today was actually not too bad, Chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, corn, and broccoli from the salad bar.