Picture this: Heubeck, Stimson, Pearlstone, or Alice's filled to capacity, little room to walk around, or a long line of ravished students that seems to expand right before your eyes. If you can imagine this horrific scene then welcome to my nightmare. It seems over the four years of my stay here at Goucher, the lines and crowded crevices of each dining hall have multiplied.
Goucher has in fact grown since my arrival four years ago. The growth, though does not justify standing in line at Pearlstone for fifteen minutes. Defined as a "grab-n-go" dining hall on Bon Appetit's website, fifteen minutes for me or many others does not embody the image put forth by the company. Why just today, I waited in line for 5 minutes, but waited another 10 minutes for my food to be given to me. If I had not been returning from class but simply was on my way to a class, I would certainly have arrived late.
Alice's, the newest addition to the Bon Appetit team, has only exacerbated the endless line situation that first occurred at Pearlstone. A line, which far exceeds past the red barricade displayed to create some semblance of order. Go to Alice's between 9 and 10 pm and you'll be exposed to a perfect example. Even when I have encountered this eatery during daytime hours, most specifically between noon and 1 pm, I find myself impatiently waiting to be served.
The crowded dining halls is not only the result of long lines or hordes of students but the inability of the staff to move in a swift manner and keep the lines and hordes moving. This is evident more so at both Pearlstone and Alice's, but Heubeck and Stimson don't escape without being scathed. Listen, I'm not trying to put down all the work the Bon Appetit staff do; I've worked in the food service industry in the past, at a Carvel slash Cinnabon no less. It's not a pleasant experience, but what I learned from my own fruitless encounters, it's a job that someone has to do. Although I consider my job at Carvel one of the most disastrous attempts at an after school job, I made the best with what I had. An improvement in the overall service, in terms of efficiency, will help ease the horrific overcrowding and lines in all of the dining halls.
The growth also does not explain why eating at Heubeck or Stimson between the hours of 5:30 and 6:30 pm turns into a dining jungle. There is a primal fight to weave in and out of people, get to the line first, grab a table with a prime viewing location, and in the case of Heubeck, if you choose to utilize the grab-n-go option getting your food efficiently and leaving before the throngs of students descend upon the cramped space.
Stimson does not provide much better options. Stimson, although larger and easier to navigate, becomes a place where it is easy to spend a considerable amount of time scanning the room for friends to sit with or if you are like me, finding a place where 5,6,7 people can sit comfortably together. The room scanning is typical not only of dining for dinner but also on the weekends during brunch. Who wants to spend time looking for a place to sit and scarf an omelet when hung-over?
The overcrowded dining halls inevitably has led me down the path of trying at all costs to avoid them; I spend time ordering in, cooking, or enjoying breaking the Goucher bubble and dining at various off-campus eateries.
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