2008 Woodie Awards
Whitney Dining Hall Should Keep Trays
Our Opinion
Issue date: 1/28/08 Section: Commentary
In an experiment to "conserve water," Dining Services is going to cease using trays at Whitney dining hall - the East Campus all-organic dining unit. This is a big mistake for a number of reasons. Trays are an essential part of the dining hall experience. They make it less difficult to consolidate a meal, and they make life better for the legions of workers that Dining Services employs. In addition there are other ways that Dining Services could conserve water that would be more convenient for everyone involved.
Trays make getting your food at the dining hall much easier, even if it isn't realized now and people just take them for granted. Think about it; the majority of people only have two hands. Without a tray, everyone would need hands for their drinks, soup, salad, dessert, the plate plus another hand to serve. Add those up and without trays everyone would need six hands. There is probably not even one person among the students, faculty and staff of this university who has six hands. So, this means at least two, maybe even three trips up to the food lines in order to get all the parts for one meal plus additional inconvenience to serve the food.
The people who work at the dining halls also benefit from having trays around. Think back to your last meal in a dining hall. Imagine how the tray looked afterwards. There was probably some sort of ketchup or salad dressing that had fallen off the plate or maybe some spilled soup or sauce from the mozzarella sticks. Without trays, all of that would have been spilled onto the floor or the tables of the dining hall, leaving the workers with an extra mess to clean up. Also, without trays, plates, bowls and cups would all have to be sorted before they go into the dishwasher room, since all the conveyor belts are designed to carry trays.
There are several other ways that Dining Services could save money without removing trays, which make this experiment seem even more ridiculous. If they simply used sectionalized trays, they would only have to wash trays, silverware and cups instead of all the plates they wash now. This would also eliminate the problem of kids who drop plates and break them, sending ceramic shards flying across the floor of the dining hall. Getting new trays would require a good size initial investment, but if the people at Dining Services are serious about saving water, this is a better way to go than eliminating trays. In addition, a new dishwashing machine, recently installed at Whitney dining hall, uses significantly less water than those in other dining halls.
It doesn't make sense to cut trays out of Whitney dining hall when there are other, better options available to save water. All that removing trays will accomplish is making visiting the dining hall a more unpleasant and time-consuming experience than it already is.
Trays make getting your food at the dining hall much easier, even if it isn't realized now and people just take them for granted. Think about it; the majority of people only have two hands. Without a tray, everyone would need hands for their drinks, soup, salad, dessert, the plate plus another hand to serve. Add those up and without trays everyone would need six hands. There is probably not even one person among the students, faculty and staff of this university who has six hands. So, this means at least two, maybe even three trips up to the food lines in order to get all the parts for one meal plus additional inconvenience to serve the food.
The people who work at the dining halls also benefit from having trays around. Think back to your last meal in a dining hall. Imagine how the tray looked afterwards. There was probably some sort of ketchup or salad dressing that had fallen off the plate or maybe some spilled soup or sauce from the mozzarella sticks. Without trays, all of that would have been spilled onto the floor or the tables of the dining hall, leaving the workers with an extra mess to clean up. Also, without trays, plates, bowls and cups would all have to be sorted before they go into the dishwasher room, since all the conveyor belts are designed to carry trays.
There are several other ways that Dining Services could save money without removing trays, which make this experiment seem even more ridiculous. If they simply used sectionalized trays, they would only have to wash trays, silverware and cups instead of all the plates they wash now. This would also eliminate the problem of kids who drop plates and break them, sending ceramic shards flying across the floor of the dining hall. Getting new trays would require a good size initial investment, but if the people at Dining Services are serious about saving water, this is a better way to go than eliminating trays. In addition, a new dishwashing machine, recently installed at Whitney dining hall, uses significantly less water than those in other dining halls.
It doesn't make sense to cut trays out of Whitney dining hall when there are other, better options available to save water. All that removing trays will accomplish is making visiting the dining hall a more unpleasant and time-consuming experience than it already is.
Be the first to comment on this story