To the Editor:
In response to the Jan. 28, 2002 article in The Dartmouth, "DDS is short 60 student workers," I would like to say that, as area manager at the Lone Pine Tavern, I have a somewhat privileged understanding of how difficult it can be to offer quality service when you lack the staff to do it. I sympathize whole-heartedly with the difficulty at Thayer Hall, for we too have chronically been short-staffed. We started this term with approximately one-third of the number of students we needed. In a definite contrast to the tone of today's article, I commend the freshman class for its work ethic -- most of our newest hires are freshmen -- professionalism in their jobs and ability to work hard.
However, even as we struggled -- and still struggle -- to fill our ranks, we have always done everything we could (and some things we ultimately couldn't) to offer the broadest service to our customers.
I would like to note, for the record, that Thayer Dining Hall is not the only establishment that has a dishwasher, as in the article. All of the dining establishments on campus do, to a certain extent, have a capacity to clean dishes, even if it is just what they prepare and serve out of. The Hopkins Center and Collis Caf have dishwashers to clean food trays and the ubiquitous stainless steel containers they use. In a more comprehensive way, the Tavern always prefers to serve on real dishes rather than disposable ones. It is only for people ordering "to go" or by special request that we use plastic and other containers. Aside from environmental considerations, which are significant, it is actually much more expensive to use disposable containers rather than dishes you can clean and re-use.
