Stealing campus food wrong
Despite complaints about the food on campus, stealing munchies from on campus eateries has become a real issue.
COMMENTARY
Jenny Specht

Last week I foolishly wandered into The Main, hoping to find something edible for lunch. I wound up in the deep-fried food line, requesting two orders of french fries (this part of the story, where I indulge myself in greasy junk food, is a little embarrassing, but necessary to divulge for this piece of investigative journalism).

The food service worker* (*all names have been omitted to protect the guilty) spoke: “Baby, I know you’re gonna go now and dump out one of the cartons and toss the carton in the trash so you’ll only have to pay for one. But I’m telling you, you’ll have to pay for quadruple the serving if there aren’t any cartons. That’s the new rule.”

“Yes ma’am,” I muttered as she turned to the boy in front of me.

“Food thieves,” she told him, glancing at me with disdain. “They come here all the time and think they can just dump out their french fry cartons. Well they’re wrong.”

I was more than a little insulted as I made my way to the checkout line, especially as the food service worker followed me over and made sure that I paid for two servings of french fries. Believe me when I say that I really was intending on paying for my double portion (both in meal card dollars, and in extra time on the Stairmaster).

Food thievery, though, really does occur quite often at TCU. Bryant Currie, director of operations for Dining Services, gave me a few quick estimates. According to college food industry members, the average loss because of theft by both students and staff is 5 percent of sales. He hypothesized that if stolen food is equivalent to only 2 percent of sales (much lower than the industry estimate), Dining Services has an annual loss of $200,000 per year — and that’s the cost of the food, not the amount the food would sell for. (By my own personal estimates, that amount of food would sell for about one million dollars at The Main).

Student attitudes about food theft, however, are quite surprising. In my (once again, completely informal, about as factual as the Purple Poll) survey, 12 out of 45 students admitted to having been a food thief at TCU. Common places hit include Pond Street Grill, The Main, and Frog Bytes. Few were ashamed — this concept has something of an accepted place in the student moral system.

One student, Addison,* said, “You never actually pay for the food anyway. You just swipe the card. Therefore, it doesn’t seem like you’re actually stealing it.”

Whatever the reason, the students are in agreement: the “solution” to pizza theft in Frog Bytes (the round stickers) causes more harm than good.

Colby* said, “while the workers are trying to get those stickers off the roll, other people just walk on out. Or, you can peel the stickers off and put it on another pizza box. Plus, those stickers probably cost way more than the stolen food.”

Truthfully, students have brought up some valid points. While theft is unethical, various circumstances seem to mitigate the guilt of stealing from The Main. Perhaps it’s just part of the unreality of TCU; perhaps college students have their own set of values.

My moral of the story? Thieves and non-thieves watch out: the good people of Dining Services are watching you — whether you’re stealing food or not.

Jenny Specht is a senior English and political science major from Fort Worth.