Entitled to being a jerk?

The other day, while standing in the sandwich line at Roski, I witnessed the ugly side of the LMU student body (and no, I wasn’t looking at my reflection in the sandwich display). I was second in line, and the person in front of me was unhappy with the fact that he’d been waiting more than 30 seconds for a Sodexo employee to come and help him. To show that was upset, he pursed his lips, exhaled loudly and shook his head. (It’s hard for most people to express disapproval without coming off like an inconsiderate numbskull.) Then he turned to me and, because idiocy loves company, said, “Can you believe these people? Who do they think they are?”

I smiled halfheartedly in response, which I regret. What I should have said was, “They’re underpaid employees dealing with thousands of students like you who feel entitled, and therefore treat them like second-class citizens.” And yes, I can believe them.

The way that some LMU students treat the workers in our school’s eateries, quite frankly, disgusts me. During my freshman year alone, I lost count of how many times people chose not to say please or thank you. That’s hardly the worst of it – I’ve seen many people demand their order, instead of asking for it. I’ve witnessed students throw fits because they got rice on their burrito, or because their breakfast sandwich took five minutes instead of two.

This needs to stop now.

I understand that we’re paying for this food, and that Sodexo employees are getting paid to prepare it to us. They’re not getting paid, however, to put up with students with an inflated sense of entitlement; they’re not getting paid to listen to you strip them of their dignity by bossing them around and expecting them to attend to your every whim.

But, some might argue, why should we treat them this way when they appear to have bad attitudes themselves?

Well, why do you think some of them have a bad attitude?

I’d like to see how well the students in question deal with serving people like themselves all day long. I’m sure students’ rolling their eyes gets old for anyone after a while. I admit that I have somewhat of a double standard when it comes to Sodexo employees’ attitudes: I sympathize with those that seem like they’re miserable and treat customers with a sense of detachment, and I admire those who strive to enjoy their job and interactions with students. But after seeing so many students treat so many employees unjustifiably poorly, I think such a double standard is only fair.

This is not a blanket criticism of the LMU student body – I understand that many students treat the employees in our dining facilities with perfect respect, and even go out of the way to make conversation with them at times. I applaud these students. To the rest, who feel that because you’re paying a large sum of money, you can treat the employees however you want, I challenge you to remember that you’re representing a Jesuit institution, a tenet of which is social justice. To treat any fellow human being as less deserving of respect and dignity than you are is a huge violation of this justice, and is something that nothing, not even an exorbitant cost of attendance at LMU, can justify.

-Jose Martinez


Photo by Liz Brownback | Loyolan