Today, I fully came to understand something that I knew in my head, but never really thought about: Stevens Dining Services does not care about you. The cause is clear—they have no reason to. Those who are forced to purchase meal plans are captive customers. We have no recourse; it’s not like we can just stop going to their establishments.
What brought this letter about was simple: I walked out of Pierce with some food. Like many of us, I was used to the previous setup where take-out was fine. The worker was quite rude, and when I decided to press the issue, they grabbed my food, brought it back into Pierce, and called a manager over—two, actually. It’s obvious in hindsight that they wanted to gang up on me, so to speak.
The managers argued quite vicariously. Not once did they attempt to reconcile the situation in a positive way. They most certainly never made me feel like a valued customer. It is clear that they went in with no intention of trying to make me happy—they just wanted to “win” the argument, to “put me in my place.” Needless to say, this is not acceptable customer service. I left feeling absolutely dreadful. If I had a choice, I would never go to this establishment again.
No restaurant that makes their customers feel awful ever stays open for long… except ones with captive audiences. No one likes being captive. This is what separates them from other restaurants—other restaurants are forced to compete for their customers’ loyalty. In a free market, Pierce would never exist.
Not to mention the mysterious disappearance of Washington Street Wednesdays… I think they are just hoping we will forget.
The good news is that there’s a way out, and it’s not off-campus housing (though that’s another way). There is a bill currently in committee in the New Jersey Senate, A2811, that would ban the practice of forcing students to purchase meal plans. It has already passed the Assembly. If you, the reader, permanently reside in the State of New Jersey, I urge you to contact your state Senator and demand that they push this bill through committee. Contact info can be found at www.njleg.state.nj.us/SelectMun.asp.
