They say that death is an equal opportunity merchant. Turns out, hunger is, too. It unites doctoral and master's students, from every program and ethnicity, as we flock toward unattended (ergo free for the taking) food at school. It's easy to see why Dining Services would be annoyed with students. We're liability issues, and impediments to clean up. Plus, we're always grabbing greedily in packs and often eating food meant for those revenue-generating symposium attendees.
But it's even easier to see why we're preying on tables. The school has so much food that's free. Better than what we'd eat on our own. And oh that's right, I just paid out about $48K*? This evening, emerging from the micro lab, I came upon a subtle leftover feast as people methodically snatched up as much food as they could. There was hummus and dip but no bread. No worries, bring it home or mix it with the salad. Dining Services had taken away all silverware, but folks managed. Stephanie found a fork. Some kid was using skewers as chopsticks. And then someone found takeout containers. So we all took home boxes of random salsa, tabouleh, and some sort of wild rice salad. Plus hummus. A Dining Service guy started pulling the trays from us, literally as people were still grabbing food off of the plate, but we didn't fight him. The battle may be over, but there will be free food again, School, and we'll be ready to pounce.
*Not sure of the amount, but at this point, being off by several thousand dollars no longer matters.
PS. The week may be a ceaseless wave of work, but the weekend promises coffee with the Band Man and breakfast with Riles, i.e. nerd nirvana.
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