Buffoonery and the Market Economy

I find myself yet again incensed by Oberlin students in search of something to protest. At lunchtime on Monday in Dascomb Dining Hall I found myself greeted by a small platoon of students playing an overindulgent game of "Do you like See-Food?" Dressed in full waste disposal garb (including brightly colored hard hats, I assume used as protection from assault) a group of students took it upon themselves to conduct a "Food Waste Audit." The purpose of this particular activity is still unknown to me. They went far out of their way to make this activity as disgusting as possible. By noon they had amassed a small display of half-eaten sandwiches and played-with chicken salad on the table in front of diem. Armed with clear plastic waste buckets (clear in order to display as much of their collected mush as possible) they took it upon themselves to mix the remaining waste into a mash of ketchup, salad and chicken nuggets. This activity somewhat resembles the action of junior high school students once they have finished with their meal and believe it is time to do something to nauseate their schoolmates.

What for? One might ask what exactly this activity was trying to prove to the Oberlin student population. That there are starving people in Ethiopia? I regret to inform these unfortunate crusaders, but I believe that most students in Oberlin are well aware of this fact. We are also aware that none of them want a half-eaten chicken patty with moldy ketchup. If this is an environmental statement, I regret to inform these unfortunate students that most food is in fact biodegradable. Furthermore, we reuse everything possible, such as dishes, serving trays, etc. Is the belief that if students were less wasteful College Dining Services would be cheaper? Are we actually driving to make Marriott more money? The truth of the matter is that Marriott buys its raw foodstuffs for next to nothing through a giant wholesale distributor. Oberlin pays to maintain the eating facilities. The students employed to work the lines are paid $5.35 an hour. Furthermore, unlike most eating establishments, dining halls only have to remain open during dining hours, which means that employees are not paid during off hours, Where is the overhead in this operation? There isn't any. So where is my $7 dinner going? My $6 lunch? The breakfast that I don't eat but I still get charged for goes in somebody's pocket. There's no denying that college dining could be more efficient but anything I can do to exploit the people who are exploiting me in the first place can't be that bad.

Most students would argue that if they were in fact eating a $7 meal there wouldn't be a scrap of food left on the tray. After all, one can partake in a sit down, full service meal at a restaurant for a comparable price in which there is table service, each plate in prepared individually and the establishment is paying more money for the raw materials that go into the food they serve. When you enter a restaurant you are seated by a hostess, waited on by a waitress and a cook prepares your food. Your table is then bussed by a busboy and you dishes usually washed by another individual in the dishroom. When you enter Dascomb, the food is pre-prepared, heaped on a plate by an underpaid student, and another underpaid student washes your dishes. It seems to me that food waste is not the definitive problem in College Dining Services.

-Daniel Shiffher