—The Daily Collegian Tuesday, Nov. 14, 1995
HUB cashiers
take customer
service
A recent incident
prompted HUB Eateries'
management to make its
employees undergo a
course on how to be more
courteous with customers.
By JENNIFER REITZ
Collegian Staff Writer
In response to comments from
minority students at a recent work
shop, HUB Eateries' management
held a refresher course in cus
tomer service.
Karen Jackson, assistant accoun
tant for the Eateries, said she peri
odically retrains employees in cer
tain areas and was prompted to
hold a course in customer service
in response to an article in The
Daily Collegian last week.
The article reported that at a
workshop sponsored by Project
Growth, several black students
said they were treated rudely at
the Penn State Bookstore on Cam
pus and at the HUB Eateries. Stu
dents complained that their ID's
were slapped on the counter rather
than handed back to them and that
cashiers were rude to them.
Tia Gaines (senior-health educa-
Reported
the FBI got hate crime data from 7,298 law percent of the incidents in 1994. Religious bias
enforcement agencies, which were responsible was behind 18 percent of the incidents. Bias
for 58 percent of the U.S. population. The fig- against homosexuals, mostly men, accounted
WASHINGTON, D.C. Hate crimes reported ures the previous year came from 6,850 law for 12 percent of the incidents. The remainder
to police declined in 1994, with the number of enforcement agencies covering 56 percent of stemmed from bias against national origin or
murders dropping from 20 to 13, the FBI said the population. ethnic background.
yesterday. A 1990 law requires the FBI to compile the Crimes against people accounted for 72 per-
The bureau said 5,852 hate crime incidents annual report but merely encourages local cent of hate crime offenses. The rest were
were reported during 1994, compared with police agencies to volunteer hate crime data to directed against property.
7,684 incidents in 1993. the bureau. The two most frequent criminal acts were
The 1994 figures are slightly more compre- As before, racial bias was the most frequent intimidation at 39 percent, followed by vandal
hensive than those gathered in 1993. In 1994, motivation for hate crime, accounting for 60 ism and property destruction at 24 percent.
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN
Associated Press Writer
STASH
YOUR
hiv;?A:itl
1 Jack Harper's CV Suit Special
course
tion) said she has seen discrimina
tion from cashiers in the HUB and
at the dining commons in East
Halls. She said some have been
rude to her friends and have even
thrown things.
"People don't want to be both
ered with you," she said.
Gaines said she thinks the
retraining was appropriate, but she
said if the situation were reversed
and black cashiers were rude to
white patrons a different correc
tive alternative would have been
taken.
"If it had been me behind the
counter, I'd have been fired a
whole heck of a long time ago," she
said.
Jackson and Dave Oingher,
assistant director of food services,
said the Eateries has never
received any complaints that
minority students were unfairly
treated, but if there was even a
hint of a problem, they wanted to
alleviate it immediately.
Jackson said she realizes most
employees of the HUB are students
and get bogged down with exams,
but they must remember to serve
all customers.
"We responded because we pro
mote customer service to all our
customers," Jackson said. "There
hate crimes decline in 1994
Ma
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Rand! Goldberg (junior-marketing and international business) greets a
customer yesterday afternoon. This is Goldberg's first semester as a
cashier at Dough To Go in the HUB.
are no differences. Whoever they
are, they are equal opportunity
spenders."
David Solis, a cashier in the Cel
lar, said the retraining was defi
nitely necessary. He said he some
times is a customer at the Eateries
and is not always satisfied with the
service he receives.
"(The workers) are not respond-
Mg to the customers needs not
smiling, not being friendly," he
said.
Gretchen Leffler (sophomore
nutrition) said she never noticed
discrimination but did not really
look for it.
"If I had noticed it, I would have
made a conscious effort not to
come back," she said.
Leffler said she has always been
satisfied with service at HUB.
Rita Evans (sophomore-psycholo
gy) said she does not think the
HUB cashiers are as discriminato
ry as other places on campus, but
} t` Y f f' l' t' A A FA A
she thinks a retraining course
could only be beneficial.
Cashiers need to start thinking of
customers as patrons rather than
just students.
Solis said better customer ser
vice is needed for all customers
and the training was not presented
as just for minority customers.
Jackson said she did not mention
the article during training but just
stressed the importance of good,
equal service to all HUB Eateries
customers.
Janel Giovannelli, who works at
the Eateries but seldom has contact
with customers, said her co-work
ers saw the article and realized the
comments played a part in the
retraining. She said she has never
seen discrimination from cashiers,
but she does not completely doubt
the validity of the complaints.
"I would hope it wouldn't hap
pen," she said. "But I guess any
thing could be possible."
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Sorority members
discuss their
By JULIE M. RANDALL
Collegian Staff Writer
To some students, the word
sorority is associated with drinking
and nonstop partying, due to vin
tage "Animal House" footage, but
Panhellenic members who met last
Monday night said this inaccurate
image needs to be replaced with
images that focus on the positive
aspects of sorority life.
"I think (sororities) are por
trayed as very airheady and that's
not true about what they are," said
Elise Gombos, a member of Kappa
Alpha Theta sorority, 10 Wolf.
Frustrated with their portrayal
by the media and shows such as
"Beverly Hills, 90210," Panhellenic
members discussed improvement
of sorority images in the press.
Ahren Astudillo, vice president
of membership, said sororities
need to be careful of the impres
sions they give the media.
"Sometimes we have to refocus
on how we want to be portrayed;
our image needs to be refocused,"
Astudillo said. "We want to be seen
for the positive aspects of the
Greek system."
These negative portrayals in the
media lead to negative impressions
of the Greek system by non-
Greeks.
"It seems atypical the frater
nity house scene with the parties
and sororities going over and it
just seems like a big hook-up
scene," said Jeanne Stancampiano
(junior-political science).
Astudillo had council members
pretend to be parents, faculty,
business owners and independent
students to have an outside per
spective on how sororities present
themselves in the media.
Kati Wiggins, president of the
Panhellenic Council, said sororities
feel the effects of negative por
trayal when it comes to attracting
new members, citing The Daily
Collegian article which focused on
sororities fighting for position on
College Avenue to watch the
Homecoming Parade.
"For instance, we seem really
catty, and I think that's wrong. In
most cases, we work together,"
Wiggins said.
image
"Sometimes we have
to refocus on how we
want to be portrayed;
our image needs to be
refocused."
Ahren Astudillo
Panhellenic vice president
of membership
Todd Pullman said incidents
such as the one mentioned by Wig
gins cause sororities to be seen as
snobby.
"They're perceived as snobs,"
said Pullman (junior-real estate
and international business). "They
keep to themselves and they keep
their noses up in the air."
Astudillo said in the minds of
those outside the Greek system,
these negative perceptions are
unfairly overshadowing all the
good things sororities do.
Leigh Flusser, a member of
Sigma Delta Tau sorority, 1 Shulze,
who was present for Astudillo's
presentation, said the discussion
raised her awareness of how soror
ities sometimes look in the eyes of
non-Greeks.
"It definitely should be cleaner
you don't want people to think
that all we do is party," said
Flusser (junior-human develop
ment and family studies).
Wiggins reiterated Astudillo's
point that sororities need to care
fully watch their actions.
"The point is to re-examine
things we're doing and the mes
sage that it sends," Wiggins said.
Those present for the meeting
were also instructed on how to deal
with the media to avoid misunder
standings. Astudillo said sororities
should be concise and watch tone
and inflection when talking to
members of the press to avoid
being misunderstood.
Astudillo stressed people cannot
always blame the media for the
way things are portrayed.
"We're represented in the paper
and we have to be careful of how
we're represented," she added.
=MEE