t's a pain in the apricot.
Trying to eat lunch anywhere near the middle of campus, especially the Atrium, is harder for students this semester. Cashiers are struggling to learn new cash register systems after their installation in recent months.
Ultimately, student customers are paying the price of time, as well as food - waiting in longer lines than what some students' schedules can budget.
Ball State University Dining should have seen this coming. Instead of shorter wait times because of new technology, students are now waiting longer because of a period of adjustment that should have been minimized by forethought.
The university was right in choosing to implement the new systems in dining areas. Eventually students will be able to pay using debit and credit cards - but that feature is not yet available. With students' bank accounts often tied to hometown organizations, not everyone carries a load of cash in their wallet or purse.
In today's society, plastic is quickly becoming more popular than cash. Likewise, on-campus students - especially freshman - rely on another form of plastic: meal cards. And contrary to Visa and MasterCard, off-campus businesses don't accept CardinalCash or Dining Plus. This leaves some students limited to on-campus eateries.
When lines are long and class or that last minute paper is looming, students - and even faculty - expect quick, efficient service on campus.
Right now, customers aren't receiving top-notch performance.
Dining should have taken into account the problems that come with adjusting to a new computer system. With Woodworth Complex dining facilities closed, more students already turn to the Atrium for their midday meal. Add in admissions tour groups and other visitors, and all the right conditions exist for delays ... and frustrations.
In the stress of day-to-day college life, it's tempting to let tempers flare when the world seems to move faster than the line you're in. Before letting an obnoxious or rude comment slip out the side of the mouth, recall the men and women working the registers across campus - they're people, too.
There are employees whose university work history is equal to that of a freshman's age. When the cashiers have grown comfortable with a system that is abruptly changed, a need for reorienting to the new system is perfectly understandable. It's not employees' faults they weren't adequately trained on the new system.
Ultimately, the new system will provide great benefits to Dining and its customers, as debit- and credit-card-using students, faculty and staff begin purchasing once the technology is put into place later this year.
Until then, be considerate of others in line and those employees providing a service to you. And in return, Dining should do everything it can to ensure the most efficient use of everybody's time and resources - or risk leaving a bad taste in students' mouths for the future.
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