Continuous hours are possible

When it comes to discussing the dining hall situation, I am left with mixed emotions. I must admit, the food quality and choice has increased to the point where I don’t eat the same thing every day. The pricing is also great for our visitors. Chartwells has accomplished many things as far as taking care of their customers; however, the students of Piedmont College are left with distasteful feelings. The question is not, will Chartwells ever open all day for us, instead, how do we adjust our schedule to work with the dining hall in the future? To my amazement, Chartwells is the catering company at Louisburg College. Their operating hours are nearly identical to Piedmont’s with the exception that, at Louisburg, they only close for thirty minutes between breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday. Chartwells also operates at Marietta College where they have continuous hours Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The dining hall management receives a harsh load of complaints from students on a daily basis because the students are not completely satisfied. The students feel as if they are inconvenienced by the operating hours. Whether it is closed after class hours or not operating between some class hours, the students feel they are being treated unfairly. I felt that I didn’t have a say in when the cafeteria should or shouldn’t be opened. Neither did any of my classmates. Who is going to the cafeteria three times a day to eat? The students; so doesn’t it make sense that we should have a say in when the dining hall should operate? After attending the dining hall meeting, the operation hours was clearly the main issue at hand. The students want the dining hall opened all day because they want be able to sit in there between classes to get an apple or fresh water for that matter. However, Chartwells as well as the executives of Piedmont believe leaving the dining hall opened from 7 a.m. to 7p.m. will create a cleansing problem. If that is so, what’s being done to make Marietta’s continuous hours successful? As a student, my solution for this problem between students and the management is to try to work with the students, their customers, in ways that are highly manageable. Maybe opening all day for one week as a trial run could help us see if continuous hours would actually work. It would satisfy the students to see that it was an option.