As a member of the Dining Services Commission, I feel it is necessary I dispel things that were said about Dining Services here at GW. The Hatchet’s front-page article (Lines plague J Street) and staff editorial (Dining disservice) in the Dec. 7 issue have their merits while also having their flaws.
I would like to comment on a quote from freshman Kelly Robinson – who doesn’t seem to own a watch – who said, You wait in line for like an hour. Now like an hour is more like the 13 minutes that is the longest wait in J-Street according to The Hatchet’s data. These freshmen obviously enjoy sounding like idiots. Sorry girls.
In The Hatchet’s wait-time table, all but two of the venues reduced the wait time, most notably the Pan Geos Pizza wait decreased six minutes. The two venues that showed an increase did not increase by much. To place these findings in context, I would like to know the times when the data was taken.
Many things said in the staff editorial were blatantly false or misconstrued. First off, the managers are aware that there are complaints. The DSC meetings, which the Dining Services staff attends, voice student concerns about each venue. Each manager listens to the complaints and tries to address them. If any student finds an employee who does not practice satisfactory customer service, they can ask for a manager and tell the manager their concern and have it addressed. That is more productive than not saying anything and then wondering why nothing is being done. The supervisors and managers do care. They are always looking for ways to please students and ways to improve service.
Directly after saying that the supervisors were apparently ignorant, The Hatchet added insult to injury stating that Something must change. Things have changed! Even the front-page table showed that wait times decreased. Still, I would be more satisfied with data that was taken over a period of a week and then averaged than with data taken on one day. We on the DSC take data on a more periodic basis. When we look at data, we see things the way they are, and then we see how we can improve where we can. Improvements are being made.
The Hatchet mentions steps Aramark has taken to improve service, and then goes on to say that adding staff during peak hours, offering grab-and-go options and better training employees do not solve the problems at J Street. The grab-and-go options do not have a line. Offering more staff at peak hours is proven to decrease time in line and having better-trained employees leads to better customer service.
As if The Hatchet has not grossly misrepresented the situation already, the article refers to employees screaming at students. I have never heard of such a thing. Quite possibly the employees were trying to respond to a student and had to raise their voice to be heard over the J-Street loud buzz.
If you know of an employee who does not adhere to high customer service standards, ask for a manager or e-mail [email protected] and your concern will be addressed. The students and the supervisors are working together. We are making progress.
-The writer, a freshman, is a member of the Dining Services Commission.
