I work at one of the many coffee shops Washington State
Dining Services owns around campus. Most people know where this building is; Lighty,
also known as the French Administration building (I don’t know why), usually
features in every student’s college experience at some point. I serve drinks
and sandwiches to a constantly-flowing stream of customers, mostly comprised of
students and faculty.
The employees come in two breeds: outrageously cranky or incredibly
friendly. Many of them work in the Financial Aid office, constantly desperate
for caffeine and headache-relief.
But more importantly, all customers can be divided into the three
forms of payment we take: cash/check, Cougar Card/ RDA, or credit/debit (minus
American Express). My job as cashier (plus making food and drinks) allows me to
witness firsthand the forms of payment people use. Many students use RDA and Cougar
Cash; because faculty can’t access RDA (Resident Dining Account) they can use
Coug Cash instead. Many staff personnel who use Coug Cash have very old, dated
cards, which still somehow work on our system. We swipe their retro, faded, flimsy
cards and send them on their ways. Some cards are so old they require extra
swipes for the machine to properly read them.
However, many faculty and students use cash to pay for their
drinks and breakfast sandwiches. In fact, I always joke that this is as good a
place as any to get rid of extra cash. Sometimes I get handfuls of germy change,
which I usually never bother counting because it’s a pain.
I wonder if my frequent handling of cash-bacteria is the
reason I’ve been sick lately. Hmm.
Personally, I like using a combination of Cougar Cash (you
get a discount!) and normal cash, but also debit if I’m really low on the other
forms of money. My credit card also works as a debit card, as it links to an
online account I can access any time.
In the old days (as of like, 2 years ago) Lighty Cafe used
to only take cash and Coug Cash/RDA. The other day I had a customer who came up
to me at the cashier.
She asked me, “Do you take credit card?”
I was like, “Oh yeah! Except for American Express.”
“For how long?”
“About two years, now.”
She flipped out, exclaiming, “What? No way! I didn't know
that! You guys never told us!!” She was very distressed that no one had informed her
we now accept other forms of payment.
I was amazed that this lady, who clearly hadn't visited our
cart in over two years, could be so irritated at something so silly. It's just coffee, lady, if you needed to use your card for coffee so badly you should have read the signs posted everywhere that tell you that we now accept your form of payment.
But reactions like this are normal; mess with people’s money
or routine in any way, and you must be willing to suffer the consequences. Food services can be a thankless job indeed.
So for now, the place I work accepts nearly ALL forms of
payment, making it quite accessible for both students and staff. Maybe my managers should have sent an email to everyone belonging to WSU. Yeah. They'll be sure to do
that next time we change anything to do with money...
