With the incorporation of many new “themed meals” in Glar this semester, it seems food services forgot to include “Backyard BBQ” in the lineup. While no such event actually exists, students have found themselves on more than one occasion this semester eating meals off of paper plates, similar to eating at a backyard party with disposable plates, cups and utensils.
“The dishwashing machine in the kitchen occasionally breaks down” says Rita Webster, Director of Sodexo at McDaniel College. “When it runs all day, every day, the mechanics sometimes stop working.”
The result is the inability for it to wash bulk-loads of dishes. The dishwasher is built around a conveyer belt, and on occasion it gets off track and stops running. That’s when there’s a problem.
While it might seem like the biggest annoyance to the student body at McDaniel, think about the problems it causes the Glar staff.
“Since none of the Sodexo staff are qualified to perform maintenance on the roughly $60,000 machine, an off-site mechanic is called in which takes time,” explained Webster.
While the college doesn’t have the funds to replace the dishwasher every time it breaks down, the staff is doing its best to keep the dishwasher up-to-date with maintenance. Recently, a water-softener was introduced to help break down the levels of build-up inside the machine.
As with just about any piece of machinery, occasional kinks occur. To be exact, the machine has broken a total of three times this semester.
It seems like a lot to any current student, but what most people might not know is that in the past, the breakdowns were much more frequent, as often as once or twice a month.
“We’re still trying to improve the appliances and it’s been running better than it has in the past” said Webster.
Webster continued to explain that food services is doing everything possible to avoid breakdowns and will continue to provide preventive maintenance on all machines.
