By Andre Paras
Video Editor
With the end of the spring semester rapidly approaching, I’m facing a big issue when it comes to dining here at the College, and I’m sure a number of fellow students are also going through the same.
I simply have too many flex points to spend, with such little time to do so. As a freshman, I’m currently on the 10 swipes a week at Eickhoff Dining Hall meal plan, which means I started this semester with exactly $534.71 in flex points. And of course, I would not like any of my family’s hard earned cash to go to waste when the semester ends.
Now, if we do the math, so far I’ve spent around $28.68 a week at on campus locations with my flex points — a total of $229.46. To finish my remaining balance of $305.25 before the semester ends, I would have to spend around $50.88 a week over the next 6 weeks to get rid of all my flex points. My plan includes the swipes and meal equivalencies, thus I haven’t had the need to spend too many flex points.
There are other ways of solving this issue, like ditching the dining hall for a few meals, stocking up on sweets for my dorm, or supplying all my toiletries from now on from the C-store. Still, all of these come with the inconvenience of altering my daily routine, which is made quick and efficient with the dining hall, adding unnecessary sugars to my diet or simply overpaying at the C-store for things I could just buy at a normal grocery store.
And so, with excess money and no convenient means of getting rid of it, what’s a better way to get rid of it than to give back? Tips with flex points at Traditions could be a great way of combating this issue, fueling students with that efficacy of giving back in a community setting, and giving workers a well-deserved bonus.
Tipping culture is something that’s become divisive in our nation, and I just want to make a couple points clear with this proposal: I don’t want this to feel like a burden to students, and I only want this to positively impact how the College’s dining workers are paid.
Frankly, my past few visits to Traditions have left me swamped with unnecessarily long wait times from what appears to be an understaffed team. That’s never to say I’ve had a poor experience with dining employees, or ever disliked the food, and if anything I’ve found it all to be positive.
Though, with this in mind, the last thing students would want to see is another place where an employee turns the screen over to you, and you’re met with an awkward encounter, feeling like you should tip against your will.
That’s why I think tipping should be an option, but not something introduced after every order. Maybe there could be a sign saying how, or an unspoken rule where students can say, “I’d like to tip X amount of flex points on top of my order.”
The work these employees do is also typical restaurant work, and in my opinion, very much deserving of the tip. After all, Traditions is a full service restaurant where students place orders brought out to them with staff of waiters and waitresses — whether it be appetizers, entrees, drinks or desserts.
According to Indeed, Sodexo workers at the College seem to all make on average $20 an hour, which appears to be the same across different dining locations. Maybe more workers would be encouraged to staff Traditions with this, and wait times could be reduced in the process.
Some key issues I could see arising from this if it were actually proposed are how the College would feasibly give back to all these workers, and why students should have to give back to a dining plan they already pay lots of money for to begin with.
And that’s why I suggested earlier that this tipping option should never be suggested, but just possible for people to do, and only really be emphasized toward the end of the spring semester when students don’t have anything reasonable to spend points on.
Maybe if it isn’t so feasible for the College to fund, the conversion between student flex point tips to real dollars in workers’ paychecks can be reduced, but still giving that bonus to them in a way after reaching a certain amount of flex points.
Lastly, many students build great bonds and camaraderie with Sodexo workers across the College, and I think this tipping feature could only contribute to a more positive feeling of community in all aspects of the College. It may seem cliche, but the lifelong gift of giving back to others never seemed to hurt anyone before.
