Northwestern, all you do is make my day-to-day life unnecessarily difficult. It all started when I came to the sad realization that I couldn’t justifiably go another day without doing laundry. What’s worse, I had a $10 bill and no quarters.
No problem. Run across the street to the change machine in SPAC and be back to my room in 15 minutes tops. Easy. Problem: change machines only take ones and fives. Damn.
Ask the two girls at the towel desk if they will change a ten. “We can’t do that, but they can help you up front.”
Cool. Go up front. “I’m sorry; we are not allowed to give change,” said the girl at the front desk. Damn!
But wait, she suggests trying Lisa’s. Great idea. I can’t expect SPAC, a gym, to give change. It doesn’t even have a cash register. But Lisa’s should be easy. They take two fives out of the drawer and stick in my ten. “I’m sorry we can’t give out change.” DAMN!
“If you want change, you should buy something,” the cashier said to me. Tipping point.
“I don’t want to buy anything!” I said, my voice quivering with anger. “I just want some change!”
It gets kind of embarrassing from there. After arguing with the manager, I proceeded to walk from table to table, loudly asking strangers to change my ten. Eventually I got change, no thanks to SPAC, where the quarter machine gave me nickels. My laundry got done after I raided all the quarters from the Gatorade machine. But if NU would just allow their employees to break change I would have back two things I lost: Two hours of wasted time last Tuesday and my reputation with the fine employees and customers of Lisa’s Café.
-MIKE WALTONPolice reporter
