Don’t plan on treating a friend to lunch anytime soon.A new rule for meal plans does not allow those with 65 or 85 meals per semester to “treat” a friend or guest. Those with 10, 15, or 19 meals per week can only use meals to treat friends on Friday and Saturday.
The excuse given was that guests increase food consumption and, therefore, increase food costs. But if this were the case, wouldn’t the rule apply evenly to everyone? A friend of someone with an unlimited meal plan does not eat more food than someone with a commuter meal plan.
Besides, the cafeteria is buffet-style. One person can eat as much as three others. Regulating how many “unexpected” people eat at the cafeteria does not regulate the regular influx of students with meal plans eating there, nor the amount they eat. Food services should always be able to provide for that normal influx.
So surely, the real reason can’t be food costs. It must be a generous measure to ensure that students don’t use their meals too quickly (before the end of the week or semester).
Which would be great if I were a five-year-old in a candy store.
If you run out of meals on your chosen meal plan, it’s your own fault, not the fault of food services.
We’re adults. We paid for the meal plan we felt would best suit our eating style. We can tell if we are running out of meals. We can choose whether we want to spend a meal on a friend. And we should be able to choose if we want to use our meals or flex dollars to do so.
