Food Findings: Dining changes cause chagrin

This year, I and many other students were shocked to see that the kiosk machines in Cranberry’s had disappeared. Now to place an order, slips of paper and dull-pointed pencils are used at the grill station, creating unnecessary problems. Along with the removal of favorite stations, Cranberry’s has undergone a bit of a bad facelift. The exclusion of the ordering machines and the implementation of paper ordering slips is inconvenient. Taking away the pasta station and moving around the other stations was also very confusing for those who were used to the old layout. I believe some of the new additions should be traded in for cherished traditions.
Despite the long lines leading to the kiosk, the old system was much more efficient. Not only does this create a hassle when waiting for the pencils to become available, but these handwritten slips create other problems. There are times when the papers get lost or mixed up. Orders get confused quickly and sometimes you end up waiting a long time for your meal. With the kiosk, it was easier to keep track of orders and when they came in. It takes time for the workers to read the handwritten sheets since they have to find the small pencil check marks. Instead of taking away the kiosks completely, we should have invested in better and more reliable machines that wouldn’t constantly break down.
The convenience of knowing where everything is at Cranberry’s was one of the main reasons why I enjoyed eating there. Now, a lot of things have been moved (such as the quesadillas to their own station) or completely terminated (such as the pasta station and the wrap station). Many students were used to going to certain stations and being able to get their favorite meals. Imagine my surprise when I went to order a wrap or a panini only to find the station gone, and the only other option was to find something similar at Subway. I think that it would be a lot easier to keep everything as it was rather than move everything around or change it completely.
Honestly, I think that everything should have just stayed the same. I understand that the ordering machines were becoming a hassle since they were always broken and needing to be fixed, but the irony is that writing our order down on slips of paper is a more difficult process than dealing with the machines was. We should have just kept the old ordering machines and dealt with them. Sometimes, change is good, but in the case of the changes at Cranberry’s, things should’ve stayed the same.
-J’na Jefferson
Junior journalism major

Printed in the 11/13/13 edition.