Gourmet Dining Services has started using a new system for taking orders in areas outside the buffet dining room such as the Cove and Leafs & Grains.
Students and employees seem to agree that the change, which allows students to receive numbered receipts, is a positive one.
In the past, when a student wanted to order a wrap from Leafs & Grains, they would fill out a form with their name on it specifying what they wanted. If they were ordering from the Cove, the employee would take down the students name and then announce the student's name when his or her meal was ready.
Now, however, students give their orders to the employee, who prints out a receipt with the student's order number. The student gets a copy of the receipt, which also tells them how much money is left on their Pirates Bucks or Gold account, as well.
When their food is prepared, the order number is called out for the student to get it.
Sophomore Sarina Roth said that she really liked the new ticket system.
"I can tell how much money I have left in my account without having to stand on my tippy toes and look over the register."
"It's nice that…they finally give their customers a receipt," Roth said.
Freshman Nadeen Ibrahim agreed that the change was a beneficial one.
"I feel like it's a lot easier than filling out a piece of paper," Ibrahim said.
He added that the change also tends to make the lines at the popular eating venues move more quickly.
Junior Akiti Kohli also felt the changes were helpful.
"I actually got my food (today), so that's a start," she said of ordering in the Cove.
"It's easier because you don't have to listen for a name," Kohli said.
Kohli added that many times it is loud in the Cove and difficult to hear names, especially for students who have names that are difficult to pronounce.
Kohli also said that using the number system lessens the chance someone else with the same or a similar name would accidentally take someone else's food.
"I'm a commuter so ordering (at the Cove's) a big thing," Kohli said.
First year graduate student Anna Avanseyan, who has ordered from Leafs & Grains, said she didn't think the numbered receipt made a big difference, in fact, she hadn't even really noticed the change.
She did, however, feel the receipt system was greener than filling out a big piece of paper.
"It conserves paper and saves trees," Avanseyan said.
Gourmet Dining Services Employee Jim Festa, who works in the Cove, said the change has helped employees as well.
"It speeds the process up," Festa said of the numbered receipt system.
The receipt system was introduced for a limited amount of time at the very beginning of the school year, however it is unclear why it was taken away and then introduced again, or why Dining Services decided to make the change.
Calls to Dining Services were directed to the Office of Business Affairs, but representatives were unable to respond by press time.
Caitlin Carroll can be reached at Caitlin.carroll@student.shu.edu
