Sunday, September 20, 2009

Closing Time at Brittain

This past Thursday I went to Brittain for a super late dinner. (I find all my meals are a few hours behind schedule now that I'm at Tech...) Anyway, it was 9:30 and I was hungry, so I went with a friend.
Now Thursday was the date of the game which shall not be named, and Brittain always has a cookout on Thursdays. Obviously at that time they had packed up and brought anything leftover from the grill inside. That's perfectly understandable.
I grabbed some food and sat down. My friend and I watched the game, although it was depressing at times. We even had a really light and fluffy vanilla cake with chocolate sprinkles on top that was fantastic for dessert.
At one point I got up to get a second drink because I was still thirsty. It was probably around 10:03. I found a cup, but when I went to get a drink, I realized they had removed all the drip trays, letting you know loud and clear that you are NOT supposed to get a drink. I managed to procure an ICEE while the staff wasn't looking. When I reached for a straw, I realized those had been taken. In the actual food court all the food had been removed. The salad bar was vacant, and I could practically see tumbleweeds rolling across this ghost town.
Although they had not forcibly kicked me out, I got the simple message they sent me, and we got up and left as soon as I finished my drink.
I understand they officially close at 10, but it was alarming how quickly they shut down the dining hall, especially considering the fact that it can take up to 10 minutes for them to replace cups or forks when they have all been taken.

11 comments:

  1. I have been when it has hit 10:00 pm before as well. While they didn't expressly ask anyone to leave, they did come over and turn off the TV and started putting the chairs on top of the tables. If I worked in a college cafeteria all day, I would probably pack up and leave pretty quickly once it hit 10:00 so I could get home.

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  2. They definitely pack quickly and send you a hint that it is time to go. The other night, my friend and I wanted to get some icecream. It was only about 9:45 and the ice cream machine was already turned off! I asked one of the workers if she could turn the machine on and she lied and told me that the machine was broken! That was absolutely ridiculous!

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  3. So many people complain about GT dinning halls!
    I've never been to dinning hall after 9, because I was told it was dangerous outside at night. But I find that some foods,such as pasta and butter, are taken away at about 8 p.m..
    Ice-cream machine sometimes works very very slowly or produces melted liquid ice-cream! What's more, ice-cream cones are usually lacking!

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  4. I completely understand why they pack up right at 10, because closing is closing. When the hours end people should be courteous enough to leave the area. However, I think that it is absurd that they do not keep the food stocked until closing. If they are going to stay open until 10 then they need to have a good supply of food available. Obviously they do not need to have all the food that they have around dinner time, but they should still have a good selection available for people who choose to eat later.

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  5. It makes sense to me, they close at 10 and they tell you to leave by 10. After working closing shifts the past few years for my job, no one wants to stay a single second after they have to if they're allowed to leave. I understand your school schedule has been altering your eating schedule (mine has too, don't worry), but the hours never change, so it's best to try and fit in dinner sometime before 8. Also, the best food is served before then, meaning if you go after 8, theres a lot less variety and it's nowhere near as fresh.

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  6. Have you ever worked in the resturaunt business? It is very annoying when a customer comes in near closing time. Most places begin to clean up within 30 mins of closing time and within that time period the amount of food available begins to steadily decline. Machines have to be shut down, dishes washed, things put away, left overs thrown away ect. This can't be all done at once so cleaning is a gradual process that they start once it gets late. I'm not bashing on your for eating there that late, but I'm just saying that I'm not at all surprised that you couldn't find any food. If they waited until 10 to start cleaning up, they would be there an extra hour and they all want to get out of there asap.

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  7. I know when I worked in a restaurant closing time at ten meant you started cleaning up around nine-thirty and the lights were off and doors looked at ten. It may be hard to keep a regular schedule with the workload at Tech, but you can't expect places to stay open for the few people who come in at late hours. You just have to learn to work with the schedule of where ever your going to eat.

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  8. I know, I hate the dining hall closing times. Ten just seems a little early sometimes, especially when you have been studying or are studying and become very hungry.

    Those people do work very hard, though, and I know I would hate that job after working it for a short period of time. It seems to be very repitious. I imagine it is often a thankless job, so I try my best to be kind to them and definitely respect their wishes to leave at 10:00 sharp.

    My floormates and I have figured out a little way around this. When we go to dine we often bring back a couple of icecream sandwiches, bars, or whatever and keep a freezer stocked. It isn't the healthiest option, but it provides a nice snack if you are up late and need a little pick me up.

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  9. I must agree with Drew on this. I use to work at a Subway and we closed at 10:30 PM everyday. Closing was usually my shift , and I was always the only one there. But regardless of the day there was always at least one person that came in at 10:25 and ordered a sub. Then I would be busy making that person a sub, and then another person would walk in , and then another and another. Sometimes I wouldn't get out of there until 12 PM because I still had to clean and pack everything up. So then I thought I would get clever and lock the door at 10:25 so no one could come in and I could start to close down things early and not have to worry about people coming in. That didn't work out to well either. One guy got so upset that I wouldn't let him in that he started beating on the door with his fist. So I can relate to the workers at Brittain

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  10. I think the dinning hall closes too early :( Before I came to GT, I thought if we get unlimited, we could eat there whenever we felt like it... However, when I got here, I realized the dinning hall closes at 10 :(

    The thing that really sucks is that I get hungry at 11:00, which is exactly an hour after the dinning hall closes :(

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  11. Though the dining hall closes at ten which seems like a reasonable time, i feel that the dining hall closes much earlier than that. Usually by nine there is little to no food left and the only open line is usually the burger line which gets very long. I don't understand why this, maybe to discourage people from eating late, but i think they should have adequate food until the actual closing time at ten.

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