It has been a few weeks since I stepped down as a cashier supervisor for Brown Dining Services, and I am still feeling the gaping hole in my life that comes from not having this huge responsibility and time commitment. I find it strange that I no longer receive emergency phone calls in the middle of the night, no longer teach students to count coins and no longer run back and forth between Josiah's and the Gate to fix machines and customers' attitudes.
I hate to sound uncool in a publication with such a large circulation, but something needs to be said about being given the opportunity to actually have a really useful part-time job as a student. In a dorky way, it feels good to be trusted enough to handle cash, train new cashiers and work toward creating new policies to make on-campus dining better, even if these responsibilities cut into my Friday nights.
It was difficult for me to read Sissi Sun's '12 column ("V-Dub machine crisis," Oct. 22) in its entirety. From what I can gather, her article narrowed in on three main assertions — the card-swiping machine is past its prime, BuDS student workers have no work ethic and the BuDS student management is enigmatic, invisible and ineffective.
I agree with Sun's criticism of the Verney-Woolley Dining Hall card machine, but one minor concern about the University's electronics is hardly worth an entire opinions column. What made it so difficult to reach the end of Sun's column was that her legitimate claim about the need to update some Dining Services equipment became progressively undermined by her lack of thorough research about BuDS and student employment and management.
In order to write with sincerity, I will draw mostly on my own experiences working with cashiers at Jo's, the Gate and the Ivy Room to explain my arguments. I wish to make no generalizations about how all BuDS units function, but I trust that my fellow student managers and supervisors are as invested in doing their jobs well as I was and would agree with me on most points.
The majority of BuDS student workers are in close proximity to student or professional managers as they do their jobs. For cashiers and cart workers who may be on their own for most of their shifts, supervisors regularly conduct checkups to ensure that things are running smoothly.
It is definitely not acceptable for cashiers to hold up long lines in dining units by talking extensively with their friends and to prioritize homework and texting over serving customers. I can assure Sun that I have personally issued verbal and written warnings to students in violation of these policies. I have also written commendations for workers who have provided exceptional customer service, are willing to help out above and beyond their official duties or are never late.
If patrons of Brown eateries ever feel the need to ask for clarification on BuDS policies, compliment or criticize a student worker or make recommendations about menus and policy for the future, there is always a student supervisor present in the dining unit who would be happy to address any customer concerns. At the Ivy Room, the supervisors' photos and names are even posted on the bulletin board next to the cash register, so an instant customer-supervisor friendship can be forged to eliminate any awkwardness.
In answer to Sun's query about the composition of BuDS student management, unit managers' names and e-mail addresses can be found on the Dining Services website. For those who are faint of heart with technology, face-to-face interactions can be had at the Student Management Office, located conveniently underneath the Sharpe Refectory and adjacent to the women's bathroom.
Dining Services is an impressive and massive business run by professional managers in close collaboration with students. To students who complain loudly about long lines at the V-Dub or attempt to pull every trick in the book to use more than two meal credits per day at Jo's, I urge you not to automatically assume that there is something intrinsically faulty with the student management. Instead, why not try talking to some of us — or even working with us — before you pass judgment?
Sarah Yu '11 knows that cashiers can be very therapeutic listeners for stressed customers but will notice if you try to steal. She can be reached at xia_yu@brown.edu.
