Through the turnstile: Visitation policy

The visitation policy is a little strict, but as any administrator will tell you, we’re in New York City, and it’s an effort to keep a safe campus. That’s reasonable, but with all the cameras and surveillance around, I don’t know why St. John’s students who live off campus are only allowed to visit during certain hours, and why on-campus residents can’t freely visit friends in other dorm buildings. I think it’s pretty stupid, but students have managed their way around it. I can’t sit here and promote ways on how to break the rules, but what I can do is tell you what not to do when trying to see your girlfriend who lives in another building.

Through the Turnstile: Cameras

Most resident students see the cameras in the dorm lobbies and stairwells, but have no idea there are cameras watching them in the hallways too. Some students say it invades privacy, but the school is allowed to video tape hallway activity as long as they let students know about it. And, in some cases, they don’t have to let anyone know about it. The situation may get a little sketchy, but the cameras are there to stay. Public Safety says that Big Brother has helped solve a number of thefts already, and will continue to be used as a primary resource for preventing crime.

Through the Turnstile: Fast Food Delivery

Delivery guys from around the area bring food to St. John’s students at least 40 times a day, and that’s just counting 5 fast-food places.

A Vincenzo’s delivery man, who went by Tom, told me he comes to STJ about 20 times a day, pretty much half of his daily deliveries. Papa John’s said they make 10-15 deliveries a day. Joe (He couldn’t have picked a faker name) from Yummy Taco said he made 8 deliveries yesterday.

The Chinese restaurant Number One records between 5-8 daily, and a guy from Dominos said he only comes here 2-3 times a day. No one at Chef’s Garden or Yummy would talk to me without knowing if I wanted to pay with cash or credit first, but I would estimate at least 5 deliveries from both of them combined.

All those deliveries and so little tips.

Yummy Taco Joe said he gets about $1 dollar for each of his deliveries to STJ, a whopping $7-$8 compared with the $80 in tips he gets throughout the whole day. Both Dominoes and Number One said that STJ students don’t tip that well, if they tip at all.

Vincenzo’s Tom wasn’t mad at the students saying, “they’re pretty good…I get a little less than half of my daily tips from them.”

And the Papa John’s delivery guy almost killed me when I asked.

“College students don’t tip, they’re all broke,” he said. “Why would you even ask me that?” To his credit, he had just waited in the lobby for about 10 minutes for two girls who told him to ‘keep the change’ before running off with their pizzas. It was 36 cents, but at least they didn’t ask for it back.

Read some crazy delivery stories here.

-Jonnathan Coleman