Hidden deep within the compounds of JMAC and Halls dormitories, lay two convenient stores. Known to most as the “C” stores, these little food and beverage outlets provide students with goods at a convenient location. The “C” stores, however, tend to not be as convenient as their name depicts. The stores frankly do not cater to the students needs. The biggest flaw of the residence hall’s snacks stations is that they are anything but convenient.
Orientation week, on the first day of freshman year, I was overly excited to be in a dorm that has such cool features. The dorm had a lounge, common rooms, mailboxes, and even a convenience store. It was like living as an adult, on my own, but with so many convenient accessories. Most freshmen were overly zealous about the “C” store. Drinks, food, gum, cups, plates, munchies, ice cream…. it was like a dream come true. But most of the time, when I craved something from the store, or simply walked by it, the door was closed and the lights were off. The issue was uncomfortably confusing and it refused to leave my head. Some days it was as convenient as ever, and others…not so much. I wondered if there were scheduled hours by which students can get their snacks, but I was far too nervous to approach the front desk…embarrassed by my question…for my answer. Finally I had the courage to ask a friend, and it was that point in time where I learned how inconvenient the store really is.
The “C” store in Johnson-Macfarlane, for example, closes at 9pm on weekends….wow! The few nights college students can actually stay up a little later and sleep-in the next day, can’t even get a snack, refreshment, or pack of gum. Even sit-down restaurants such as Noodles, Tokyo Joes, and Jason’s Thai stay open later than 9. The only alternative a student really can have is to take the 10-minute walk to the 24-7 Seven-Eleven. Now in what way is that convenient?
The nine o’clock closing is almost as bad as the fact that the store doesn’t even open until 2 in the afternoon. This can be a problem for students who want a granola bar, energy drink, orange juice, or even some cereal before walking to class. This is a huge flaw for the “C” store, as between 9-12am is when they could potentially get the most business. Students need brain-food in the mornings, and by not providing them with this service is setting a bad example that students should hold off until 2pm to get a convenient meal.
Realizing that this is truly an issue worth further exploring, I decided to ask students around campus what their views were on the hours of the residence hall’s convenience stores. Michael Adams, a freshman in Centennial Towers, had this to say on the issue: “Well, when you really want some snacks to crave that late night hunger you can’t go to the caf because it’s closed at like 7:30, and you can’t you can go to the ‘C Store’ because that place is always f****** closed, you either have to end up starving or spend 3 dollars on either s***** vending machine snacks or waste money on delivery. It’s kinda ridiculous that the school has such unreliable food hours.” For students like Michael who either live in Centennial Halls or Towers, there is no alternative to the “C Store,” as that side of campus is far away from many food shops and convenience outlets. This is pretty much the same as in Johnson-McFarlane. There are no alternatives to the store other than the previously stated Seven-Eleven, which is a good ten-minute walk. When asking a J-Mac resident, freshman Colby Munk had this to say: “Hahahaha that S*** blows dude. I get so p***** off by those hours.“
Clearly, there is a problem with the way the “C” stores are run. When this many students are complaining about an issue that can potentially be easily solved, it seems as if something has to be done about it. Sodexo does not limit the hours of the “C” Store, but rather DU has the power. If enough students bring up this issue to the administration, us students can find ways to keep our convenience store open. The hours are unreasonable which make the store completely unreliable and unsatisfactory to all the students that live in the residence halls.
First and foremost, kudos on the quotes, they do a lot to enhance your piece and make it applicable to students. Speaking as a commuter,who has never been to a "C" store, you do a fantastic job of painting the picture of how unreasonable the hours are. You have some really great pathos appeals and a well established ethos. The only thing I would recommend is to develop more of a clear argument as to what should be done, which is what your final paragraph seems to suggest. If your main purpose was to argue the ridiculousness of the hours you did a nice job but I would leave out the final paragraoh or tweak it a bit. If you were intending to encourage action though, as I was saying that your final paragraph hints at, I would recommend that you to spend some more time developing a "how" versus leaving the main focus on the "why".
ReplyDeleteI too have been a victim of the "Not so "C" store hours" and completely agree with your argument. Even if I had no idea what a "C" store was, I would totally understand your argument and more importantly, agree with your cause. I do however, feel as if your closing statement could be modified more towards to what the students could do or to how we can approach this rather than just complaining about it. I like how you put interviews into your argument so that we get a sense of how students really feel about these hours and how it affects their daily routine. You did a great job of including pathos into your argument and you really reach out to your audience. I enjoyed reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteVictor Valle
I really like reading this post. It definitely makes me angry about the hours of the c-store. The interviews definitely added a lot to this piece. It made me laugh but also feel anger at the same time about how ridiculous the c-stores are. The voice in this piece is very strong and gives it a lot of character. There are some good facts in this post that support your argument and definitely offer an appeal to pathos. I certainly had an emotional response to the piece that makes me want to file complaints to try and fix the hours. Overall, this is a well written piece and it would persuade me to look into how this issue could be addressed and changed. The c-store definitely needs to change.
ReplyDeleteI live in J-Mac and I absolutely agree with the fact that the hours of the "C" store are a real inconvenience, but I do not see this inconvenience as major as the prices of their food. By week 4 all of my flex cash was used up due to the unreasonable pricing of their merchandise.
ReplyDeleteWhen you begin talking about the need of brain-food for the students, and having to wait to recieve a convenient meal I can oppose to an extent that students should be this dependent on a "C" store to cure their hunger. The students who need brain food are not relient to the point where there is no alternative; there is Nelson, Nagal, and even the Pub. Of course eating at these locations require meal Swipes or meal cash, but students who would shop at the "C" store most likley have both (meal cash & meal swipes)thus enabling them to eat.
I think you make a good case that more flexible hours would make the "C" store more convenient, but I'll find food regardless of its hours.
This is a really great post, you do an excellent job of portraying how incredibly inconvenient the “C’’ store hours are. Your writing style and quotes do an excellent job of persuading your reader about your feelings on the subject. I completely agree with your argument that the outrageous hours and prices of the C store are something that needs to be modified. The fact that you put in actual quotes from your friends gives this piece of writing a lot of character, it also adds a bit of humor which I enjoyed. I was completely persuaded by your argument, and would have been persuaded even if I had no idea about the C store before I read this. Nice work, it was well written.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this project because it allowed me to research and further investigate a topic that interests me. From this project, I learned how to structure a blog/post/article, and how to go about collecting information, finding an audience, and how to create my own persona. I also learned how to structure and apply rhetorical appeals to my work. I used Ethos to create an interesting, humorous, and persuasive character for my post. I used Logos to debate the false logic behind the "C" store hours, and I used Pathos by adding emotion through the student interviews. When reflecting/revising this post, I will take all of the comments my peers left me into consideration and develop a powerful and persuasive post.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Andrew, for your post. I would agree with many of your peers' comments: You certainly provide the reader with a clear sense of your frustration at the inconvenience of the hours of these stores. Although humorous, the quotes from your peers do--for me at least--tend more to the flippant and complaining, rather than the persuasive. Ultimately, what I would like to see more of is a sense of what is to be done? What's plausible here? What could students, Sodexho, or the administration do to provide students with more options? To answer this question, what would have been good to do (and still certainly possible) is to find out why the hours are what they currently are. There's bound to be a rationale, even if it's one you disagree with. But to be persuasive on what we could do about this, you need to somehow address this issue.
ReplyDelete