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Timotei

The Return of T-Bomb
Apr 21, 2009
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So I returned to school today only to find that during winter break that the cafeteria's funding has been cut once again and they have now had to cut back on what was already a sorry excuse for lunch while raising the price by another dollar.

Prior to winter break the price for any of the available lunches in the cafeteria was about $4 with another dollar spent on a drink, so you end up spending a nice changeless fiver on lunch, mind you the only two drink choices were either pint-sized milk cartons or a bottle of tap water (and I'm not talking about Arrowhead).

It was hardly a satisfying meal and the only way to get something more filling was to get something that they would bring in and sell and maybe then you might get a little more food for your dollar and you were also presented with brand name drinks. Another possibility was just going to one of the school's vending machines and get yourself some candy or a 12oz bottle of Gatorade, but you'd end up spending more money just to satiate yourself. By far the best alternative to this problem was to buy lunch from the store at the school's JROTC. Once you had made it through the seemingly mile long line you were presented with a plethora of cheap, filling food, candy, and drinks at prices drastically less than anything else offered on campus, though sadly the school has given the store the ax due to it hurting the rest of their business since the money sold at the store goes to the program and not the school.

Well this year calendar year things have apparently gotten worse, because now lunch costs an even five without a drink and they no longer offer milk at lunch anymore. I wouldn't have a problem paying $6 for a meal at school so long as I'm getting my money's worth, which I am sadly not. That $6 only entitles you to either a sliver of pizza, a dry, cold, cheese-less burger with no fries, a cold, packaged grilled cheese sandwich, or an Uncrustable, and to gulp it down you have recycled, label-less water bottles whose contents are whatever is coming from the kitchen sink that day. And to top it all off, they've locked the gates to the school at lunch and disallowed someone from outside to bring you lunch from somewhere else. SO unless you're making your own lunch, you're fucked. They have also considered to stop accepting meal tickets from children who can't afford lunch in the near future as it appears to be causing the to hemorrhage too much money.

I must ask this: Why is it that a cafeteria has had to resort to such practices in hopes of bringing in more money? Before their patronage was based up the laziness and/or impatience of many of the students who were either didn't want to walk the two to go get something from the McDonald's up the road or couldn't stand to be in a line fore more than 10 minutes to get their lunch, regardless of how cheap the food was, but now it seems the school has had to resort to using some downright dirty tactics in the hopes we might buy their shittily made, over-priced food. What's even more facepalm inducing is that I can walk just a couple of blocks down to the Little Caesar's and get a large pizza for almost $5 straight, yet I can barely get a slice at school for a the same price.

/rant

So has anybody felt like they've been gyped out of their money lately?
 

Bob_Bobbington

Senior Member
Oct 27, 2008
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My old school (thank god for graduating) had ridiculous price rises. A 600mL carton of milk rose from $2.40 (Aus) to a staggering $3.50 in 2 years. This is just one example of the insane price rises for no reason. They also had the same problem of reducing the type of stuff available as well. Luckily I have to put up with that no longer.
 

Kaboose the Moose

New member
Feb 15, 2009
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Wow that sucks!. So I guess the alternative is brown bag your school lunch from now on eh?. I can't say that's a happy start to 2010 but business is just that..business; the customer is never right.

I haven't been subjected to undue taxing..yet. Most of the stuff in Britain is at it's expected price range (high) so it comes as no surprise when something is worth more than it appears. Also as a university student the food issue isn't much of a problem since freedom is plenty to go around. You can go anywhere to grab a bite or as I do, make my own food.
 

Space Spoons

New member
Aug 21, 2008
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The public school funding crisis is a much bigger issue than most would care to admit. It might be hard to believe, but school breakfast and lunch are sometimes the only hot meals some kids get all day. The fact that public schools are being forced to stretch budgets thinner and thinner is not helping matters in the least. So let's throw away a few million dollars on full-body scanners at airports. Who cares if Little Billy is getting a sorry excuse for an education coupled with a teaspoon of gruel?

Yeah, I'm a little bitter about the public school system.

Anyway, I recently rented a movie at my local video store. Normally, I'd add it to my Netflix queue and wait it out, but it was Friday night and I was really bored. The Blockbuster Video in my town went out of business months ago, so I was forced to rely on some little hole-in-the-wall place. I picked up a copy of Serenity on DVD, figured I'd bring it back in the following Monday. Imagine my surprise when I'm slapped with a $10 late fee. Turns out the "Five Day Rental" policy they held only applied to VHS tapes; DVDs could only be taken out for two.

I guess it was my fault for not reading the fine print, but honestly, who still rents VHS tapes these days? I don't think I even own a working VHS player anymore.
 

goatzilla8463

New member
Dec 11, 2008
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Sounds bad. We get to go out at lunch into the high street and get all sorts of oily crap.

But yeah, canteen food is like piggy nosh. They also charge ridiculous prices over here in little ole Britain.
 

likalaruku

New member
Nov 29, 2008
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Funny...in elementry & jr High school, I remember lunches being free. Perhaps taxpayers paid for our lunches, or maybe our parents payed in advance/were billed monthly. The food was always hot, you had absolutely no choice in what you got (different food per day) but it was good. & if you didn't want that stuff, there were at least 8 fast food places nearby. But that was all 25-15 years ago....
 

Snork Maiden

Snork snork
Nov 25, 2009
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Skarin said:
I haven't been subjected to undue taxing..yet. Most of the stuff in Britain is at it's expected price range (high) so it comes as no surprise when something is worth more than it appears. Also as a university student the food issue isn't much of a problem since freedom is plenty to go around. You can go anywhere to grab a bite or as I do, make my own food.
This.

Although my morning schedule (which is set in stone) leaves me no room for making any sort of lunch, which means I eat on or around campus every day. £20 or so for dinner every week (on top of my normal food bills) adds up to quite a lot over a year :(
 

Beartrucci

New member
Jun 19, 2009
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Damn and I thought the canteen at my school was bad! I usually take a sandwich or two to school with me though and buy food from the canteen if there is no bread in the house.
 

Souplex

Souplex Killsplosion Awesomegasm
Jul 29, 2008
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Stuff like this is why I eat out every meal. (That and the fact that I can't cook.) Granted I live in New York and as such great food at cheap prices is the norm. While I know the majority of restaurants in that south-western hell that is Anti-York are expensive and tasteless, I am sure that if you look hard enough you can find one that is delicious and affordable.

Maybe you should rethink your spending if as a "Logistics manager" (Whatever that is) you can't afford to spend more than $5 on lunch. When I worked part time as a delivery boy working only for tips I could still spend around. Something is eating up too much of your cash.
 

Jiggabyte

New member
Dec 19, 2009
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My canteen is actually pretty good. A Pepsi costs something like 80p but they sell better sandwiches and hot food than I can find on the high street for at least 20p cheaper. Plus it means I don't have to walk up a hill during my break. We have the "lazy student" demographic to cater for, so business doesn't ever really suffer.
My secondary school had... okay food. They put up the prices by a total of about 20% by the time I'd left, and they messed around with the menu a lot. Thankfully it was edible and they gave enough food for your £1.70 to excuse it.
 

gim73

New member
Jul 17, 2008
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Yeah, prices have gone up on alot of things in that department. They like to blame it on the increase in fuel prices.
 

sky14kemea

Deus Ex-Mod
Jun 26, 2008
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Hmm, before I left school, they had raised the prices, and stopped selling anything remotely fattening, so no sausage rolls, no burgers etc. Just salads and dry pasta and stuff ¬_¬

Luckily they still let us out the gates to the shops nearby =[ thats sucks for you Suisei.

Petition? Or make your own lunch I guess >_<
 

Crudler

New member
Jun 2, 2008
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Our school has done alright really. They make things on site and are usually quite good. Having just moved up into sixth form this year, I can quite honestly say the already reasonable food is much better. The kitchen staff are so much nicer, make good food and have been known to make specific things for people and hold them for them.

Prices are good too. It's about £1 for a roll, wrap, or sandwich. About the same for a good meal too.
Oh and it's 50p for a bottle of water, but they just have big jugs of it that they'll refill at your behest.

They're pretty good really.
 

rompsku

New member
Oct 2, 2009
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Dear OP

That's FUCKING expensive. Where I live I would spend about the equivalent of $1.50 for a Pie and Coca Cola. If I'm feeling particularity peckish. I can up it to $2.5 for a huge slice of the most delicious Hawaiian pizza and a liter of fizzy.
 

nick_knack

New member
Jul 16, 2008
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Why? Because if they knew how to run a business, they wouldn't be running a school cafeteria.

I sympathize though. My former school did a similar thing, though not to that degree of suck.
 

wordsmith

TF2 Group Admin
May 1, 2008
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sky14kemea said:
Petition? Or make your own lunch I guess >_<
Or find the easiest spot to jump the fence? If they're going to be going to the pizzeria every day, a quick climb over a fence followed by a brisk run to the shop seems like a good idea.

As for my old school.. They did pretty awesome food actually, a main meal and a drink was about £2.70-£3.00, and because the polish girl in the canteen had a bit of a soft spot for me, I used to get larger portions than most people... Good times. She used to have a bacon roll ready for me when I got into school in the mornings as well... Man I miss that place.
 

purplepixie

New member
Dec 22, 2009
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I cant understand why you're wasting your money on this crappy food when you can just make your own lunch the night before.....