During a Student Senate meeting three weeks ago, a student complained of the limited seating in the Stations Dining Hall in Bridgeway Commons.
After looking into the space available, Dining Services decided to place a table of five near the burger grill.
“Most fine-dining restaurants these days have seating in the kitchen, to put on a show for the customers,” Dining Services staff member Helga Unger said. “We thought a similar approach would be good for business, but since our customers can already see workers cooking their food, we thought it would be great to put a table closer to the grill.”
Nearly 95 more chairs were squeezed into the dining hall, causing students without rich parents to knock elbows before every bite.
“It sucks to eat out in the common area, but those five kitchen seats seem like a good idea,” one student who regularly eats at Stations said.
Aside from the spats of grease burning students at the reservation-only grill table and the lingering smell of french fries following them for weeks after, the seats were a success at first.
However in recent days, Dining Services has reported an 80 percent sales decline, after one student worker pulled out a pan of one-week-old, moldy patties.
“We thought the cooks would only pull out the uneaten food in the morning, when no students were around,” Unger said. “This just makes us look bad.”
The student worker that pulled out the patties said he did so because the less people showing up at Stations, the less he has to work for his $7.25 an hour wage.
“What’s really disgusting is how much we are paid,” the worker said. “I eat ramen noodles every day, and meanwhile I’m serving rich students who don’t have to work poor quality, frozen mystery meat. It’s basically slave labor.”
Student Senate and the administration have planned a four-course lobster dinner meeting to look into alternatives.
