Thursday, May 12, 2016

STUPIDITY IN THE NEWS University of New Hampshire regrets buying a $17,570 dining hall table

Here's a story we call  STUPIDITY IN THE NEWS
University of New Hampshire regrets buying a $17,570 dining hall table
The table cost almost exactly as much as one year's in-state tuition.

 
   Someone at the University of New Hampshire thought buying a $17,570 dining hall table was a good idea. It would allow UNH dining staff to demonstrate healthy cooking techniques for students — not to mention the fact that it features a flashy top with LED lights.
But, just weeks after its installation, the university admitted that spending so much money on a table probably wasn’t the best idea.
   “Purchasing a custom-made chef’s table for the recently renovated Holloway Commons costing thousands of dollars should not have happened,” said university spokeswoman Erika Mantz. “Steps have been taken to ensure it is a mistake that won’t be repeated.”
    Dining hall operations director Jon Plodzik told the university’s student newspaper, The New Hampshire, that the $17,570 price included “delivery from the workshop in Chicago, which we considered reasonable for a custom piece of furniture made exclusively for UNH.”
Soon after the table was delivered, The New Hampshire reported that the LED light display wasn’t working. The Union Leader spoke to a student who sat at the table when it was operating correctly, and she didn’t seem impressed.
“I ate at it once,” Maddie Dombrowski told the paper. “It lit up. I ate my food, and I left.”
Other students, noting that the table cost almost exactly as much as one year’s in-state tuition—$17,624—took to social media to voice their concerns.
 VIDEO FROM WMUR-TV, New Hampshire: https://youtu.be/Af8aQlufOwU