Tuesday, February 3rd, 2015 | TechNews

 

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When traveling, first class is so fly

Austin Gonzalez
OPINION EDITOR

Over the break, my family had the
opportunity to fly first class. It was one of
the most ridiculous experiences of my life. If
you’ve ever wondered what happens beyond
the impregnable curtain barrier that separates
you and those who can’t be bothered to even
see you in their peripheral vision, prepare to
finally learn the darkest secrets of the First
Class.

Imagine that it’s Christmas morning
(and by that I mean 12:10 am), and you and
your family are ready to make the 15—hour trip
from Cuenca, Ecuador back to the always love-
ly Chicago only to be told that your flight has
just been delayed, as per usual, until two in the
morning. Turns out, if it’s 2 am. and you look
old and professional with the right words and
a furious glint in your eyes, it’s not too hard to
convince airline counter friends to assist you in
any way they can.

The holiday spirit spurred the air—
line to give my family a little present of up—
graded seats (it probably also helped that my
dad flies over 100 times per year for his work).
I had never noticed before, but the first class

Sodexo:

Shireen Gul
COPY EDITOR

Illinois Tech is a place where many
dreams have come true. Yes, I mean it when
I say it because I personally have gained a lot
here. This is my fourth semester at HT and
many things have changed for the better, but
there has always been one thing that has con-
stantly changed for the worse. You guessed it
right, but guess what? Their name cannot be
mentioned, as l the university exempts them
from criticism. Allow me to address the com-
pany as “they who cannot be named.”

On Monday, Ianuary 26, Shreeyeh
Rajan—a fourth-year business student—went
to Center Court to get her dinner. She was su-
per excited to get her favorite chicken burger
but this time she wanted to try a pretzel bun.
Everyone likes change, you see, but who knew
she would remember this dinner forever.

While waiting for her favorite TV
show to upload, she examined the burger, and
guess what she found? A beautiful fungus wait-
ing on the bun to say hello to her. At 7:30 pm.
when you are starving to death, if you got food
like that, how would you react? I suppose not
by being cool and calm. Being a student leader
and a Resident Advisor, her very first concern
was other students, so she posted a picture of
the bun on Facebook with the caption, “Where
do I report this? I ordered a burger at Center
Court and found fungus on it. (Make sure to
check your food before you eat it. There has
been food poisoning issues going around IIT.)”
to warn the students who were about to go to
Center Court to order food. _

She also didn’t know where to report
this issue because many of us did find prob—
lems with food but never complained. Unfor-
tunately, her post was not taken positively by
IIT administration. She had to answer to sev-
eral people about why she chose social media
as the platform to discuss such an issue. Other
students were angry about the fact that they
have been experiencing issues with food for a
long time, but no action has been taken.

Thankfully, Katherine Stetz, Dean of
Students, was ready to talk to Rajan and gave
her an appointment for Thursday, January 29,
to sit down and discuss this issue.

As per the Facebook post, Rajan and
two of her friends had to wait for 20 minutes to
get in, even though they had an appointment
and were on time. “We did ask if we could re-
cord the meeting to get a transcript of the con-
versation but we were not permitted to,” said
Rajan. She added, “Since we didn’tvhave the
actual bun present, the school administration
couldn’t take any actions in particular regard—

check-in had two counters open for five par-
ties, whereas there was one lonely man trying
to rush through the line of regular folks who
wanted to check-in that seemed to snake back
and forth for eternity. Security was also a bit
easier, considering that if you buy a more ex-
pensive ticket, you are clearly a safer passenger.
One security person is there to ensure that you
get checked quickly and promptly. Getting to
the terminal isn’t as bad when you can ignore
almost everyone else in the airport because of
your magical privileged ticket.

The first time you board the plane
with your new ticket is something of a story all
on its own. Normally, you would wait patiently
for your boarding zone to be called (Zone 4 of
5 if you’re lucky) before joining the sad excuse
for a line that is the mob rushing the gate as
if there aren’t enough seats and this is the last
plane out of the country. Saying “excuse me,” as
you pass through the mass of bodies because
you have permission to board the plane with
four other people while everyone else who
paid to get on the same plane stand there for
15 more minutes, might be a bit uncomfort-
able at first. Your nerves should subside, how-
ever, once you’re seated and they again stop the
boarding process to offer you a preflight bever-

they who

ing this situation.”

Are you kidding me? Why would
someone keep a mold-covered bun? Plus, if
you live in MSV, where not everyone owns a
refrigerator, how can you preserve a mold-cov-
ered bun just to prove yourself right? However,
the Chicago Public Health Department did

visit HT and according to Stetz, they scored
the food to be 99/100 with one sneezing issue
in the Commons, which still amazes me. How
is this possible? Anyway, if that was the case,
then I might have missed the awesome food

age. Champagne is their usual offering (even
at two in the morning on Christmas day), but
if you ask nicely, they will gladly fetch you a
Diet Coke. They actually hold the line for a few
minutes so the first class can get some drinks
before you’ve even left the terminal.

The next part, where all those people
you passed getting on the plane now walk by
you while you sit in your throne of luxury, can
also be a bit uncomfortable. But! First class
seats will never let you down. The six levels of
adjustment should be entertaining enough to
distract you. Don’t forget, you can also drown
out the moaning masses with the complemen-
tary Bose noise-canceling headset and Galaxy
tablet.

Now that we’re ready to take off, let’s
talk about the amenities of the first class flight.
First, let’s stave off that rumble in your tummy
with some warm nuts. Of course, there is also a
warm towel so that you can perhaps forget, for
a moment, that you are in a flying metal tube
and think that you are, instead, relaxing at a
spa. I hope you’re hungry, because every flight
in first class offers you a meal. Did I have a
quiche and rustic potatoes at 35,000 feet above
the Gulf at 3:24 am. on Christmas day? Every-
one in first class did. The only other option was

Steel Cut oatmeal with fruit salad. Sometime
after that, the flight attendants remember that
there would normally be several hundred oth‘
er people who might appreciate a Coke on the
plane and bring out the beverage cart.

I always thought there were only two
attendants on any flight. It turns out there are
three! One is dedicated to ensuring that the few
people flying first class have everything they
could ever desire. In all seriousness, first class
is not about getting from point A to B, but the
experience and treatment you want while you
get there. Everything that is normally optional
for a cost in coach is provided for you without
hesitation. You are received with the utmost
respect and your requests are processed with
timeliness. Every step of the process is set up
so that you are not inconvenienced in even the
slightest way. It’s almost as if the employees’
jobs are dependent on people who spend ob-
scene amounts of money on amenities that are
entirely superfluous. The curtain that separates
the cabin is actually a chasm of ridiculousness,
If you ever have the thought, “I love traveling,
but I really wish it was 10 times more expen-
sive,” well then, first class just couldn’t get any
better.

cannot be named

that day.

Stetz also mentioned that she spoke
with the food distributors and they think that
it would have been flour rather than mold, al-
though Rajan tried to rub it off but it was soft
and soggy, which proves otherwise. But again,
since she didn’t have the bun, she couldn’t be

 

helped.

It’s so sad to see that we live on a
campus where we have to keep evidence even
if you are a student leader and everyone knows
that you won’t lie because you represent your

students.

Niveta Chandrasekar, a third-year
communications student, was also not really
happy with the meeting and said, “I was there
at the meeting. Unfortunately, I did not feel
like the issue was handled well. Although Dean
Stetz was very polite and very open to hearing
our side of the story, I felt like I was talking to
a very defensive lawyer for IIT, which was not
at all our intention.” She also added, “During
the meeting, things such as completely unre—
lated examples of grocery store shopping and
finding moldy cakes due to not looking at the
expiration date and what would you do if there
was a rat in the meal you buy from McDonalds
(where the solution was to return the food at
the counter and get a new one or ask for money
back instead of posting it on social media and
creating such angst), were the things that she
seemed to keep bringing up,” and continued,
“My argument that we are not expected to dig
through our food to find out if its spoiled and
we assume that the food is not going to be toxic
was met with something close to a buyer be—
ware type comment. Her main argument was
that since there was no proof of mold, and
since she had not heard any complaints before
about Sodexo (with proof), there is nothing
that can be done.”

The good thing in the entire meeting
was that Dean Stetz took notes and was recep-
tive but, according to Chandrasekar, “I felt like
the entire meeting went the wrong way. I felt
like Dean Stetz took this as a very personal at—
tack and I want to apologize if it felt that way,
but I also want to emphasize that we are NOT
identifying Sodexo with IIT as a whole and
that there was really no need to get as defensive
as she had been.”

“Once again, I want to say that I am
merely stating how I felt about the meeting.
The intention of Dean Stetz could have been
something completely different and I could
have misunderstood it, but this is what I felt.
I do, however, want to thank her for allow—
ing us to stay at the meeting as from the way
she reacted, I assume she was not aware that
more than one person was going to be there.
We probably should have informed her of that
earlier, and my apologies to her for that,” con—
cluded Chandrasekar.

Before I end this article, I request
that if you see something, say something im-
mediately with the actual evidence to IIT’s
Dining Services, Residence and Greek Life,
and/or Public Safety so that we can get over
such issues as soon as possible. Your health al—
ways comes first, and that is not possible until
we have good and hygienic food.

Photo courtesy ofShreeyeh Rajan