There are many things I hate: tying my shoes, bocce ball and diet salad dressing, just to name a few. However, there are few things I detest as much as waste. I don't mean waste as in garbage.
What I am talking about is useless, unnecessary waste like when your grandma knits you a sweater knowing full well you're not going to wear it. You only drag it out when your grandma comes to visit, and your guilt and obligation to your family force you to put it on, however itchy and hideous it may be.
As a newly christened freshman here at Madison, I was pleasantly surprised to notice the school's concern about conservation. Ever since Al Gore discovered global warming - right after creating the Internet - the nation has been half-heartedly making an effort to reduce energy expenditure, and Madison has jumped right on the bandwagon.
From purchasing a couple fuel-efficient buses to providing each dorm room with it's own recycling bin, Madison is on track to become the Mahatma Gandhi of the energy saving community. Almost.
There is one problem that still plagues this campus that is preventing Madison from making the great pilgrimage to energy efficiency; a problem that lies
right under our nose. Receipts.
Nick, you're being ridiculous. I thought the university put measures in place so people like you wouldn't get into this school,"" you may say. I thought so too, but hear me out for a second.
As a freshman that doesn't make/know how to make his own meals, I go out to the campus cafeteria for every meal of the day. Each time, whether I like it or not, I am forcibly given a receipt.
""Thank you for letting me know I only have $210 left in my campus food account, but at this point, I don't think there is anything I should be especially concerned about."" I would appreciate a warning though, maybe after another $200 is gobbled up (pun very much intended).
Regardless of how I feel about getting a receipt after every meal, giving multitudes of students useless receipts creates piles of paper waste, especially since most toss the receipts into the trash as soon as they are given them.
According to the University website, there are 5,643 freshmen admitted every year to the University of Wisconsin Madison. Let's say that every freshman eats 2 meals a day for which they are given a receipt. That adds up to be about 79,000 receipts a week, not even including upperclassman or staff members. If we did away with these receipts, we might be able to save a rainforest or two during the course of one semester.
The reasons I have heard for keeping the receipt policy in effect are not convincing in the least. First off, no one checks their receipt, opting instead to put it in their wallet where they will congregate with all the other outdated receipts until garbage day.
Some cashiers even have pots or garbage bins that they throw the receipts directly into. In addition, if a costumer is overcharged for a meal and fails to notice, that should be his or her responsibility for not noticing, just like Michael Jackson was punished for not noticing that sharing his bed with toddlers could be considered creepy.
A problem is only worth bitching about if you have a solution though. Luckily, I have three. Instead of getting a receipt after EVERY transaction, I suggest students are only given a receipt when their balance drops below $20. This makes the receipts more manageable to handle and makes them more important.
Second, make it so students have to ASK when they want a receipt. I think we're all a little too old to be getting constant reminders about our total balance. Let us take some initiative. Finally, edible receipts. I don't care how they do it, just so long as it gets done. Imagine how much fun it would be to eat a banana flavored receipt after you finish you meal. It's like free dessert.
As I sift among the contents of my pockets now, removing these constant reminders of my dwindling campus food account, I look toward the future.
I look forward to a future in which a student can buy his or her lunch in peace, without worry of damaging the environment. A future where students are responsible for their own finances and learn to manage their own food accounts independently. However, most of all, I look forward to eating my receipt, just as long as it does not taste like diet salad dressing.
