Editor:

Every day, I head up the stairs of the Heritage Center and venture my way to the top floor to have myself a nice meal. I usually know what to usually expect-pizza, lo mein and, if I am lucky, a nice warm bowl of clam chowder.

Day after day, I do the usual routine. It first starts by grabbing a tray, throwing some utensils on it and heading over to the food section. Some of the food, I notice, seems to be from the day before but in a different form. But I have no worries. I grab my grub, head over to the soup (damn, no clam chowder) and then head to get a nice cold glass of Diet Coke.

As I grab the glass, I notice that it has bumps on it. Are glasses suppose to have bumps on them? On further review of the glass, I noticed it was a food clump that my fingers are passing over. I set the glass aside to grab another. Again, the same result. Third glass-no better. Finally, I just give up. I grab the glass that looks slightly less dirty than the others and fill it up.

Every semester, Chartwells makes millions of dollars from college and university students like me. It prides itself by offering “passion for quality,” as its national Web site states. Yet, when I grab a glass for my drink, it looks like something that just came back from a refugee camp! It would be nice if Chartwells would at least clean its glasses to the level that a person in the later stages of malnutrition will take a passing look at.

I don’t ask for much. I am not asking for better food or better options on our meal plans (though that might not be a bad idea). All that I am asking is that Chartwells actually takes the extra time to wash its dishes. Yes, many of us college students might take a few weeks to clean our rooms. But when it comes to our dishes, please treat us better than hogs at feeding time.

Honestly, I wonder what inspectors from the Utah Department of Health would think of this unhygienic practice. I’m sure they wouldn’t be very pleased.

David Trotter

Junior, History