After reading the article titled “Student expresses frustration with customer service by Sodexho” that was published in the Oct. 25 issue of The Panther several times, I decided I need to make a few comments. My comments are not aimed at the young lady who wrote the article, but the overall picture that has been painted of the faculty and staff at Prairie View A&M University during the many years that The Panther has been published. Being a long time employee of the university, and being an avid reader of The Panther, it seems that our faculty and staff are in trouble. We all seem to have bad attitudes, poor customer service, and every other negative I have seen in print over the years. Our students are innocent victims of our poor behavior. I am not on a mission of “student bashing,” but let’s face it, not all of our student based customer service is acceptable.
I cannot tell you how many times I have spoken to students as I pass them either on the sidewalk or in the hallways, and have gotten cold stares, silence, and a frown in return. I have been in the presence of groups of students in my daily work, and have overheard conversations about many things that would equal or surpass what was mentioned in The Panther article. Many times I have held open a door for a young lady, and she walks through with a frown on her face and no acknowledgement. How about when there are crowds of students in the lobby of the MSC, and I try to walk through, I say “excuse me” or “pardon me” and no one moves?
The most puzzling aspect of that article in The Panther was that I did not see anywhere in the article where the young lady indicates she spoke with a member of Sodexho management to report the problem.
Let’s not get into a debate about some of the work- study students I have had to interact with across campus over the years; talk about poor customer service and rudeness.