Endangered GWorld

“Greetings to the GWorld Card Office Staff at the George Washington University”… We’d like to acknowledge the receipt of your letter stating that we, the misinformed students, now owe you money because the proper authorities failed to fulfill their obligation and give students correct information on the use of the “new and improved” GWorld cards.

We, in a word, are outraged.

We understand that you’re in quite a predicament after shelling out too much money for the pretty yellow graphics on these cards and all the laundry facilities that don’t work. But let’s get real. There’s a certain legal term called “ex post facto” (those Romans were astute lawyers), which basically means that this certain “off-campus restaurant” and this certain “University card office” cannot hold students responsible after the fact because students were not aware of their “rights.”

Who would have actually gone to this “off-campus restaurant” and paid actual money for this food? Had we known that the institution in which we give our parents’ life savings to was not competent enough to form a real business merger, we would not have trusted the promise of “Yes, we take points!”

Now while you may believe that we are wealthy people who want to buy more gates, we are actually poor folk who have to buy books. Now let’s get our priorities straight here. You made a mistake, now pay for it. Take the holds off our accounts and sell back the hippo!

We apologize for any inconvenience we may cause you by not paying for this ridiculous new farce to try to suck the last penny from our pockets. But we have more important things to do with our “state of the art program” of a card, like burning it.

-Jennifer Shanks, Elizabeth Taylor, Todd Rouse, Carol Capecesophomores

GW’s new “repo man”

I was a bit disconcerted Monday when I received a letter, like several of my friends, from the GWorld card office requesting that I pay my outstanding balance on a debit account. After all, I had read in The Hatchet that Mick’s would be held responsible for invalid transactions, and figured that students misinformed by the restaurant would not be held liable.

So I was surprised when I got the letter that opened with a greeting, but more or less threatened to put a hold on my account, and not allow me to register for next semester if I do not pay GW more money. Heck, paying GW money is what I have grown fond of in my three-and-a-half semesters here thus far. But I wonder why GW insists on collecting the money – and why all checks must be made out to GW for all the meals consumed at Mick’s.

But this is not the heart of the issue. I do not think students who ate at Mick’s last semester should be responsible to pay GW by either cash, check or charge, when they were told that at the time that Mick’s was accepting meal points.

I do realize that Mick’s made an error, but that does not mean GW should take on the role of “repo man” and collect. After all, when I went to Mick’s for dinner last semester, I had my own skepticism as to whether or not they were taking meal points. But when the waitress said “meal points” and not gold card or debit card, I was convinced. What’s more, the card was swiped after the meal, and I signed the receipt, thereby allowing the cost of the meal to be deducted from my meal points account.

However, if I had known back then that I would be charged by GW for that meal, I would have either not have eaten at Mick’s or paid in cash at the time of purchase. But when I was given the receipt to sign, I ended that transaction, and allowed it to be deducted from my meal points account. And that is the heart of this issue.

I am perfectly willing to have GW remove the cost of the meal and the tax from my meal points, but any other form of payment is unacceptable to me, as I am sure it is for the many other students who have had this same exact problem.

While I am sure that at this age I should take responsibility for my actions, this is an action for which the University refuses to take responsibility. After all, not just me, but many, many other students also were misinformed – and should not be held liable for what happened.

-Brandon Mosssophomore

Shifting the blame

As many of us hungry saps learned Monday, the University has found yet another way to pass its mistakes along to the students and further drain our finances.

Last semester, many of us ate at Mick’s under the impression that we could use “meal points,” as well as debit points, whichever we preferred. Why did we have this impression? Because the staff of Mick’s gave us erroneous information regarding the payment options.

Each time we ate there, we had to give the staff at Mick’s our cards. Each time they would take it to the cash register or somewhere else in the store. I assumed they were verifying that the card had enough points to sustain the charges. Each time they came back saying that everything was in order. It is certainly not our fault that the staff of Mick’s gave us incorrect information.

When Mick’s takes our GW cards and tells us that we can use regular points as well as debit points, we can NOT be held liable. The University, when it sets up a program with Mick’s, is responsible to ensure that the program is implemented effectively. GW, by forming a partnership with Mick’s, is basically extending the authority of the University to Mick’s employees and thus GW is responsible for Mick’s mistakes.

The University is also at fault by not adequately educating Mick’s employees and following up so that problems were corrected. Both times I ate at Mick’s were very late in the semester. Problems of this nature should have been cleared up by that time. We should not be held responsible for the failures of Mick’s and the University.

Now the GWorld office has sent all of us tired of cafeteria grease a bill for these meals to be paid for by cash or credit card, although not by meal points. I (and I’m sure all students affected by this) am willing to pay for this out of “meal points,” but why should we have to pay for the University’s negligence? GW officials urge us to spend our money responsibly and take control of our finances. It’s time for the University to correct this hypocrisy.-Nathan Campeaufreshman