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Your Comments:
I submitted two items for your consideration last week, but did not know where on the web sight are they addressed by you... please advise where the responses are posted
If you go to the Housing and Food Services web site at housing.ou.edu you will find a section called “Kitchen Comments.� You will find the latest issue as well as some back issues of the “Comments.� Your comments will appear there if they were put into an issue. I receive many more comments each week than I can print.
Hi, Dave! I apologize in advance for the length of this comment, but I am combining several weeks' worth of comments into one comment. First of all, let me just say that the Food Services are one of the biggest reasons I moved back into the dorms for my final year of school. I have seen SO many improvements since my freshman year, and I appreciate everything you and your staff have done for the students. Although I really do miss YoYo's...
There are several things I would like to address about the cafeteria. First, my boyfriend and I usually eat at Couch at least once a day, so we notice a lot of things. The breakfast staff is excellent, and the omelet guy is quite nice. They always refill things quickly when they are empty, which is a plus. As for the lunch and evening staff (with the exception of Athen's Cafe) they really do "suck at being nice". I usually eat Greek or Vegetation Station, so I'm not used to going through the regular lines, but I felt compelled to eat some chicken parmesan the other day. I picked up my own plate, like I usually do at the Vegetation Station, and the guy on the bar verbally assaulted me! He yelled (and I mean he raised his voice and spoke in a clearly agitated tone) at me that I wasn't supposed to touch the plates, and then he thrust my food at me so hard that the sauce spilled on my shirt. (By the way, it didn't wash out.) I was so upset, I really didn't feel like finishing my lunch. So yeah, this guy really "sucks at being nice". I would also like to make a few suggestions about some options for non-traditional dieters (like South Beach). At the beginning of the semester, you mentioned getting whole wheat pasta and developing a whole wheat pizza crust, but I haven't seen either appear yet. This would open up a whole new section of the cafeteria for me if you could get them! Also, is there any way we could get some whole wheat pitas for Athen's Cafe? I love gyros, but I have not been able to enjoy them very frequently, since I generally avoid white breads. Finally, I would like to address the issue of leaving your bag at the door. Could you please explain to me why I am allowed to take my giant purse (which doubles as a book bag) into Couch, and my boyfriend has to leave his equally-sized messenger bag with his laptop in it at the cubbies? This seems really sexist. If he called his bag a "man purse" would he be allowed to bring it in? The sign says, "If you have something valuable, take it with you". Why should he have to leave his bag and struggle to carry his laptop around the caf unprotected from food or liquid? I understand you don't want people to steal food, but I promise you Dave, I saw a guy stuffing his oversized pockets with about a dozen oranges the other day, and no one stopped him. Please reconsider your policy, because it doesn't seem to be effective. Thanks for listening, Dave! Once again, I'm sorry about the length. You guys are doing a GREAT job, and I truly appreciate it.
Let’s start with your last question first. I admit that the term “purse� can be used to describe a bag of almost any size. I have a suitcase I use for overnight trips that is smaller than some of my wife’s “purses.� A purse is a personal possession and not something that the average person would leave laying around. So, what is the definition of the purse? I don’t know but I’ll go with the old adage that “I know one when I see one.� Are there man purses? Sure. Is a book bag a purse? No. Is a laptop case a purse? No. We’re not asking you to do anything that you aren’t asked to do at the Bookstore or other businesses but I’ll leave it up to you. If you can with all honesty tell me (or more appropriately our cashier) that what you are carrying is a purse than you can bring it in, women and men. We’ll keep an eye out for the pocket stuffers.
I’m sorry that you came face to face with some unfriendly and unhelpful people in Couch. To set your mind at ease picking up a plate on the line isn’t a major offense, I didn’t want you to lose any sleep over that. Take your shirt to a good dry cleaner to see if they can get the stain out. Bring the bill to my office in Walker. If that fails we can talk about some other options.
I haven’t stayed on top of the whole wheat issue at Couch. I did make some promises that I have not followed through on. I will try to get moving on these issues. I like the idea of a whole wheat pita. I’ll see if we can find one.
Hey Dave, First off I'd like to tell you how happy I am about the choices offered at the Vegetation Station this year. There are, however, some requests that I have. It would be nice to have plain brown rice and some sort of bean more often, not as a main course but just sort of on the side. But most importantly, I was wondering if you could put some natural peanut butter at the end of the vegetation station line. I know you already have regular peanut butter and soynut butter, but I'm into the whole natural foods thing. My suggestion: have someone bring over a jar of the natural peanut butter you sell at Xcetera (awesome stuff)and place it next to the others. Simple as that, and I can tell you you'd make me an extremely happy camper. Thanks for the great service!
I’ll bet we can take care of that.
The black guy in the Pizza place is your best employee ever! He was very nice and even offered to sing me happy birthday. I think he deserves a raise!
That depends on how well he sang you Happy Birthday …….. Seriously, thanks for the positive comment; we appreciate hearing the good with the bad.
I enjoy Roscoe's Coffee shop. I also enjoy the Sushi there. Sushi is usually what I have for lunch when I was not able to make it to the cafeteria due to classes. Although, I am about out of meal plan points because I cannot use my meal exchanges for what I eat on a daily basis. I believe Sushi is one of the healthier options during a non meal exchange time. I understand that there is Sushi in the Union for meal exchange and was wondering if you could make an exception for meal exchanges for Sushi at Roscoe's. I understand the reasoning for not doing a meal exchange for coffee but Sushi is and can be a complete nutritious meal. I understand sandwiches are a pretty decent option but Taco Mayo and Pizza are not always a good choice on a daily basis and I get tired of sandwiches. Please consider doing meal exchange for Sushi at Roscoe's or have the option of buying Sushi in one of the other lines that do accept meal exchange. Thank you for your consideration. P.S. I heard rumors that there are different Sushi makers from last year. They have done a great job both years, but is there any way that you could request that they make the cabbage filled suhi wraps again?
Same company, Sushi with Gusto, but we do have some new production folks. The purpose of the meal exchange is to allow you to get a good meal when you can’t make it to Couch. I still think Couch is your best option but you know what? I can’t think of one good reason why we can’t sell the sushi at Roscoe’s on a meal exchange. I’ll ask the Cate folks to start that on Monday the 6th. ONLY the sushi OK?
Hello! I love Crossroads, particuarly since I can go pretty much anytime to get a meal. However, what's with the lack of BBQ sauce? You have ketchup (although it runs out quickly - and refils take a bit when it's busy), but ketchup gets boring pretty quick. I know that Cate center cafeteria has BBQ sauce in that shared condiment stand - and it's pretty good! Why should Crossroads be left out? In addition, is there something you can do about the lines? Sometimes I'll just want a soda, but that line can get to 10 minutes+, way too long to grab a soda between classes. For a meal, I can understand the wait - they have to cook it afterall. But a soda, or a bottle of juice? That's pretty quick....
I’ve never missed the BBQ sauce there. I like to get a Crossroads burger with pepper jack cheese and then use the picante sauce they have out. Nice and spicy. I’ll inquire about BBQ sauce.
You are not the first to complain about the lines at Crossroads. I’m not sure what we can do to create a drink line or to move the line faster so you don’t have to wait 10 minutes for a drink. As you can see the space limitations at Crossroads makes it very difficult to create any new lines.
Hey Dave-I have a few requests: 1. Could we have Thick and Creamy Yoplait yogurt in the Cafe? There was one blessed day when it was there by the cereal bar but alas no more have I found it. 2. Food temperature-especially-Athen's Cafe is too low. I am always microwaving things, which is a hassle. 3. Could an hourly check-up on the brewed-before-your eyes-tea machines be made? They seem to run out of powder flavor and tea leaves quite often. 4. I think that if you advertised the benefits of the room and board food service program you could have more workers. I worked that program for 3 semesters and made around $9.00 an hour people! Plus you can walk to work and save gas. Thank you and have a stupendous day.
Hi Dave, I hate to make this comment sound so negative, because every other comment I have written this year has been full of nothing but all the things H&F has been great at this year :) It's just a compilation of several things I've noticed over the last few weeks. Most of the issues seem to be at the Sweet Shoppe in Couch. For example, there is always a "special" item most days, which is generally a hot cobbler of some sort (chocolate, apple, cherry). Sometimes, the sign says "a la mode". But the last couple weeks, whenever I have asked for ice cream with my cobbler, I've been told that "we aren't allowed to give ice cream anymore" and "you should go to Freshens". Dave, you should know that what Freshens has is yogurt, not ice cream, and it doesn't go very well with tasty cobbler :( Who has told the Sweet Shoppe people that ice cream is a forbidden treat? Maybe it's the same person who told them to give out tiny pieces of pie! I went with a couple of my friends to the caf tonight; both of them happened to be girls of fairly short stature. We all three went to get pieces of pie. They both got full pieces of their chosen dessert, whereas I-- a guy who is pushing 6'4"-- watched in horror as the girl took my prized piece of lemon drop cheesecake and proceeded to mash (not cut) it into two tiny pieces. What's more, she only gave me one of the pieces. She could have saved herself effort by simply not cutting it at all, and I would have been happily cheesecaked. When asked why she cut it into two pieces-- you guessed it-- "we aren't allowed to give you the whole piece but you can come back". Well, the inconsistency notwithstanding, if everyone came back for the other half of their piece, you would be dirtying twice as many plates and having to process twice as many people through the line! They should at least ask if we want the whole happy piece before mauling it into many tiny pieces of sad, sad cheesecake.
(On a lighter note, could we get the "Milky Way Mousse" pie back? You had it only one week early in the semester and it was great!)
One note about the cereal dispensers-- many of the good ones always seem to be empty. I'll check at the beginning and the end of my meal and they are never refilled (Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Golden Grahams, Cocoa Pebbles, etc.). I know you are understaffed this semester, but maybe you could move just one or two more people to cleaning the tables? I had to walk half the caf tonight to find just one table that was clean. Although I realize that some of my fellow caf-goers compound the problem by leaving their trays / plates at the table instead of taking them to the conveyor... come on people. I realize you've already gone over the point a couple times in the Kitchen Comments, but Kraft Ranch really is an abomination. Many of their other dressings are fine, but I watch my intake of things that are green and leafy decline the longer I go without good ranch dressing. Could you add some packets of Newman's Own ranch, as you did with a few of the other dressings? (Corollary: if you are already adding said packets, there are not enough because I have never found any there when I look.)
Also, I noticed a few weeks back you mentioned changing the policy at xRoads to 2 refills. They haven't updated their sign yet. Finally (I promise), any progress on adding those two new drinks, Coke Zero and Vault, to the dispensers at Couch? Sorry to have so many things to ask about, but everything else is so great and I find new yummy things every time I visit Couch :) Thanks Dave!
I would have to guess that the pies are a lot cheaper than the cakes and that a full piece of pie probably costs about the same as that half piece of cheesecake. Only a guess mind you, I’ll have to do some digging into that issue.
I don’t know of any moratorium on ice cream at the Sooner Sweet Shop so I’m going to assume this was a short lived phenomenon and that we have ice cream back. If it is not there now it will be shortly.
We will do our best to keep the ice tea machines working. Tables have been a problem all semester, I apologize for our inability to get them cleaned in a timely manner.
Finally on the dressings. We have a contract with Kraft this year and it does limit our ability to put other products in at Couch. I’m not sure I have an answer for you on the Ranch dressing. I’m sure the Newman’s Own will disappear soon as well as more Kraft packets become available.
I have a complaint that I think you would like to hear since you always want our opinions. First I would like to say that I have been very pleased with the food service all over campus so far. All of the service has been excellent, and most importantly I have never left anywhere hungry, until today. Sometimes at the the end of the week I have meals left, so I like to go to crossroads during meal exchange hours and stock up on breakfast items; however, this was not the case today. I was only allowed to buy two pre-packaged items per meal. That is only two cereals, or two juices, or two muffins, etc. The last few times I went I was able to buy how ever much of what ever I wanted which I think is how it should be because after all I am paying for these meals. Those cereal containers only hold 1.5 ounces, and if I am only allowed to buy two I am paying fifty cents per ounce of cereal. That is ridiculous! Can you change it where I am able to buy how ever much I want of whatever of Crossroads; I mean what is even the reasoning behind this?
No, not really. Crossroads is not a convenience store. We have very little storage. The meal exchange at Crossroads is a convenience to let you use your meals after Couch closes. We want you to have a full meal. We have a number of meal exchange specials at Crossroads. You cannot use your meal exchange to buy items “a la carte.� The folks that sold you whatever you wanted were mistaken in letting you do that. It sounds to me like that has been corrected. This policy holds true for all of our operations.
I’m a little surprised at how conscientious students have gotten about using all of your meals each week. This is a rather new development, something we haven’t taken into account when we price our meal plans. We expect you to have a meal or two left over each week. You do not pay “door prices� for your meals, they are discounted. On the 12/150 meal plan you pay $6.03 per meal. Door prices at Couch are Breakfast $6.50, Lunch $7.50 and Dinner $8.50. These door prices accurately reflect our costs of doing business.
Congratulations to Daniel Fuller the winner of the Xcetera Sir Jack O’ Lantern. Winning number 357 |
