University students have found a way to put excess meal swipes to good use.
Last semester, a group of West Laville residents started swiping their hall’s custodial staff into the nearby 459 dining hall.
The practice started as a way to use meal swipes that had accumulated over the semester and put the unused money to good use, according to Marlee Pittman, political science and international studies freshman.
Pittman said the idea to swipe in custodians evolved from an original plan to use leftover meal plans to feed the homeless.
“So many people don’t use their meal swipes, and I thought, ‘Why don’t we just swipe in homeless people? They’d love it,'” Pittman said.
She said the show of goodwill was prompted in part because the custodians are always cheerful and in good spirits.
“No matter how much I hate the world because of finals week, they renew my faith in humanity,” Pittman said.
Approximately 15 students, according to Pittman, began spending time and meals with custodians in the fall semester and since then, the group of students has enjoyed lunch with “pretty much 100 percent” of the West Laville custodial staff, as well as additional staff from Blake Hall.
Pittman said the luncheon usually occurs on the last Friday of the month, but April’s meeting had to be cancelled because of the chaos of finals week. She said she hopes the monthly lunches will continue into the next fall semester.
However, students looking to swipe custodians into the dining halls recently hit a snag.
Because students in the dorms weren’t coordinating their efforts with Dining Services, Jason Tolliver said employees in the dining halls weren’t letting students swipe custodians in for meals.
But Tolliver said the issue has since been resolved, and students should be able to swipe the custodians into the dining halls.
Despite the setbacks, Pittman said employees of the University’s dining halls have been cooperative even though the luncheons usually take place around peak lunch hours.
Pittman said the custodians have a number of funny life stories, and she’s always glad to get to know the friendly staff who cleans the residential halls. She said she’s always entertained.
Mechanical engineering freshman Gerry Knapp, a member of the West Laville lunch group, said the events offered a personal experience with the custodians.
“You see them a lot in the residential college, but you don’t really interact with them,” Knapp said, mentioning the lunches gave him a chance to get to know the custodians.
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Contact Kevin Thibodeaux at [email protected]
Students swipe staffers in to dine
April 30, 2012