The Bwog

It's Winter Break! Bwog will be moving in slow motion.

Off Campus Flex Blues

We're one day in to ~~Michelle Diamond's~~ CCSC's big off-campus flex adventure, and cold reality is beginning to set in. Bwog's deep and meticulous investigation of anecdotes solicited from fellow Bwoggers shows that CUID transactions are drawn-out processes that challenge the patience of the already rather impatient cashiers at local eateries. Justin Vlasits reports that at Ham Del, "the guy behind the counter was complaining about how the flex swiping machine is quite slow." The estimated time to print a receipt is a shocking three minutes. What's causing the delay? The cashier from Paul Barndt's most recent trip to Nussbaum explained that the card had to be "verified," which left him "standing in an awkward position at the entrance and bumping into old ladies." Is the welfare of our delicate neighborhood geriatric population worth the sheer pleasure of eating Nussbaum's delicious black and white cookies on our parents' dime? Bwog's answer is an only slightly tentative yes.

See also: Off Campus Flex, Patience

Posted by Credit : #1 · reply · track

March 27, 2008 at 7:58 PM (from campus)

to Michelle Diamond for the final push, but I don't think it's fair to call this her project. And I don't even care for CCSC members.

Posted by : #2 · reply · track

March 27, 2008 at 9:24 PM (from campus)

Of the three times I've gone to use Flex at Hamdel and Nussbaum, twice I've been told that Flex was done, having to pay for my prepared foodstuffs with a credit card I worried was over or nearly at its low limit. How nerve wracking.

Posted by Well... : #3 · reply · track

March 27, 2008 at 10:37 PM (from campus)

It's the first day. Everyone's still getting the bugs out. Give it a chance, I think this will work.

Posted by typical : #4 · reply · track

March 27, 2008 at 10:45 PM (from campus)

columbia style to start whining about a good thing. Give it two days kids.

Posted by Bethmann-Hollweg : #5 · reply · track

March 27, 2008 at 11:09 PM (from campus)

What's the point of this project? Money is money, who cares if its own flex or not?

If anything, this is just further ruining an already blighted NYC neighborhood by transforming it into an absurd image of College Town USA.

CCSC should be impeached.

Posted by Bethmann-Hollweg : #6 · reply · track

March 27, 2008 at 11:18 PM (from campus)

Also, who eats at Nussbaum and Ham Del?

Morons, that's who.

Posted by The King of Spain : #7 (in reply to #5) · reply · track

March 27, 2008 at 11:47 PM (from campus)

The legal definition of "Blight" is an economic one. Technically it's a slum, because it's full of assholes like you.

Posted by wait a second : #8 · reply · track

March 27, 2008 at 11:56 PM (from campus)

off-campus flex is George krebs baby.

[external link to columbiaspectator.com]

lets get the facts straight bwog.

Posted by uh. : #9 (in reply to #6) · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 12:03 AM

People that like excellent food? (Not so much Nussbaum.)

Also, are we really hoping that these problems will be ironed out in a couple days? If the *hardware* is slow, that shit's never gonna get fixed.

Posted by Robert Walpole : #10 · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 12:22 AM (from campus)

"Excellent food"?

Fuck me, you really are a tit.

Posted by ... : #11 (in reply to #9) · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 2:07 AM (from campus)

my guess is that they're probably using dialup terminals and that they haven't properly tuned and/or built out sufficient capacity for the dial-in pool.

but that's just a guess. if they were smart, they'd save money and just use wireless/wired ethernet. given that they've wired a huge chunk of the neighborhood, it wouldn't be all that hard or expensive to put in a few strategically placed access points and bypass the pain and recurring cost of pots lines altogether.

Posted by poor kid : #12 · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 4:14 AM (from campus)

Some of us don't have cash or credit cards (due to lack of cash to pay them off), so especially when Fairway's system is up and running, it will allow us to do other things, like spend what little we have on booze and pot instead of shampoo and soap. BTW, has anyone used the card at Fairway yet?

Posted by yay Flex : #13 (in reply to #12) · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 5:55 AM (from campus)

no, but it's going to be awesome when i do!! Your logic is sound.

Posted by On CCSC : #14 (in reply to #8) · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 9:47 AM

George has exagerated his importance in making Flex happen. A lot of people have worked on this initiative, not just him or Michelle. To say it is his "baby" is a total lie. No doubt that he worked on it but by no means was he the driving force of the initiative.

If anything, Peter Valereis is the one who did most of the legwork on this initiative and has taken the least amount of credit for it. I certainly respect him for working hard but not jumping in front of the cameras and reporters to tout his greatness. I guess that can't be said about everyone. Some people do the exact opposite.

Posted by so poor : #15 (in reply to #12) · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 11:10 AM (from campus)

that you can justify charging toiletries and the like to your parents? absurd.

Posted by yo' all : #16 · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 11:45 AM (from campus)

yo'all there

for past 10 years, off campus flex has been considered, not implemented because of ssn on your ID card. Now no ssn = off campus flex. period. The credit should go to Housing & Dining and University ID card.

class of 98

Posted by hear, hear! : #17 (in reply to #15) · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 11:46 AM (from campus)

Yeah, this is absurd. I don't get this. If someone is poor, then his poor parents, through this flex business, are simply being forced to pay for him/her. Flex as means to compel parental financial support? Heart-to-heart conversation, you know, is pretty effective too.

Meanwhile, lines in these places are slowed down for everybody else who, you know, has the filial skills to speak to mommy and daddy.

Posted by the Man : #18 (in reply to #16) · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 12:16 PM

I concur. Off-campus flex has been in the works for a very long time. No one currently at the school has any business taking any credit for it. In fact, so many things at this school move so slowly, that anything that comes to fruition nowadays results from work done at least 3 years ago.

~SEAS Alum '07

Posted by The Man, Too : #19 (in reply to #18) · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 12:44 PM

Definitely - people in the class of 2007 will remember Wayne Ting for pushing for it, people before us will remember others pushing for this, etc. This only happened because of the removal of your SSN from your ID card and THAT only happened because of the break in at NYU a few years ago where 100s of students had their SSNs stolen.

Posted by Oh Christ : #20 · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 1:29 PM (from campus)

Why the hell do people always assume that parents pay for Flex, and then get all hoity-toity about how Flex and cash are the same? In my case, all the money that goes towards Flex gets covered by student loans that I'm eventually going to have to pay, but I'd rather pay these things off when I have a career and a steady income rather than while I'm still a poor college student. Consumption smoothing, bitches.

Posted by It's not even CCSC! : #21 · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 2:17 PM (from campus)

It's the Office of Student Services.

I

Posted by Type Three Letters? : #22 · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 2:26 PM (from campus)

Same here. Attention people whose bills are paid for by Mommy and Daddy: Stop projecting onto me.

Posted by I pay, bitch : #23 · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 2:57 PM (from campus)

i.e. this allows me to pay for my toiletries in ten years, not a dime of which my parents will be paying, nor ever have.

Posted by ... : #24 · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 3:00 PM

I have a college savings account that is designated exclusively for school-related expenses, meaning that the money there can be put in my Flex account. Now that Flex is off campus, I can use that money on groceries, etc. instead of using a credit/debit card.

Posted by well in that case : #25 · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 9:00 PM (from campus)

you can just use your own credit card that you are also paying for. i don't understand what the difference here is.

Posted by So... : #26 (in reply to #24) · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 9:12 PM (from campus)

Basically this creates a loophole so you can use your student loans and grants to buy things they specifically aren't given to you for?

Bravo.

Posted by Idiot. : #27 (in reply to #26) · reply · track

March 28, 2008 at 11:20 PM (from campus)

What? I've not seen a student loan that didn't exist to accommodate living expenses. The financial aid office even gives you a budget for school-approved loans which exceeds by a good margin the cost of tuition and room/board. You don't know what the hell you're talking about.

Posted by No.... : #28 · reply · track

March 29, 2008 at 1:25 PM (from campus)

No...I don't receive any financial aid, so the money in my college account is money that my parents saved and set aside for college-related expenses. The way the account is set up, the money can only be accessed for things like tuition, housing, and other fees (like Flex). Off-campus Flex just lets me use the money my parents saved for my college expenses in more ways - what's the issue with that?

Posted by JAG : #29 · reply · track

March 30, 2008 at 7:27 PM (from campus)

This might've been mentioned already, but I'm pretty sure certain financial aid packages provide flex points/dollars for book and food expenses. so now people can use financial aid dollars for soap, beer, or whatever else they want. from our perspective, it doesn't seem like we have much to complain about.

Posted by Robert Walpole : #30 (in reply to #28) · reply · track

March 30, 2008 at 9:51 PM (from campus)

To be fair, the problem seems to lie more with the fact that you're parents were morons when setting up your "college account". This highlights the fact that you certainly did not have "legacy" status when applying to Columbia.

The point remains: there's no need for off campus flex, which has done nothing if not work to continually debase one of the most shit areas of New York.

Posted by Earl of Bute : #31 · reply · track

March 30, 2008 at 9:53 PM (from campus)

When can I use my flex to buy a table (and a bottle of Grey Goose) at Bungalow 8?

I'd rather use my student loans for alcohol purchases (as well as for my NYPD at 3 A.M. on my way home), than for books and educational initiatives.

Posted by Walpole? : #32 (in reply to #30) · reply · track

March 30, 2008 at 11:04 PM (from campus)

I like when haughty asshats do something that leaves them open to an ad hominem attack, such as spelling 'your' as 'you're'. It doesn't address the point they tried to make, but it does make you laugh at their inflated figure.

Posted by .......... : #33 (in reply to #30) · reply · track

April 1, 2008 at 5:19 PM

Actually, my parents were pretty smart about setting up the account because it has a much higher interest rate than a normal bank account. I only have money sitting in the account now because of merit scholarships that lowered the cost of attendance to less than they had saved.

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