There’s nothing quite like walking into the Pit for your usual 11:00 lunch break, only to be greeted with gigantic speakers blasting club anthems and Jersey shore posters surrounding you. Jersey Shore day is only the latest in a series of recent pit “themes” on campus.
So what’s going on in everyone’s favorite on-campus dining spot? Students rarely seem to know when a pit theme is coming, so the mixture of shock, excitement, or frustration (depending on your mood) has made for some hilarious people watching. Glancing around over your fruit and granola, on Pit theme days you’ll immediately notice two kinds of people: the ones fully embracing the surprise party (i.e. fist pumping to the music, requesting songs, visiting the photo booth in the center of the room) OR the ones who’s already-bad day’s routine has been interrupted.
Sophomore Briana is a theme enthusiast: “I really like the themed days in terms of entertainment and decorations. The food is usually better on these days too which leads me to my point of annoyance. While I do love a good DJ, I wish they would put in half as much effort as they do on themed days on any other given day to make the quality of the pit better”.
That seems pretty reasonable…the pit is by no means a perfect dining experience, after all. 11 am rush anyone? It’s nearly impossible to find a seat, let alone grab even the simplest of sandwiches in anything less than forty minutes. But that doesn’t mean students like Briana aren’t enjoying the novelty of the surprise theme days: the decorations come out pretty spectacular, all things considered, and who didn’t love the decorate-a-cookie station during the Holiday party?
Of course, we can’t really blame the more cynical students just looking to pit-sit in peace. Sophomore Hailey says, “I think the music is too loud, it’s annoying. If i wanted to party, I’d find a frat basement. I just want to enjoy my salad in peace”. We can’t really argue with Hailey, either. There’s no shortage of partying at Wake, so is it really that unreasonable to hope there won’t be a woofer next to you at the salad bar?
And then there’s the ever-cheerful pit workers- enthusiastically bopping around to the music, and greeting entering students with gleeful grins. “Pit theme days are a ton of fun for us and the students,” says one pit worker. “They break up routine!”
For me, it doesn’t get much better than people-watching on a pit theme day. When else can I see a typical Wake work-a-holic scowling into their cereal while a group of athletes literally “dougies” next to the fruit? Only on pit theme days, that’s when. I’ll admit it can be a nuisance, especially considering I’ve never seen a single student walk into a theme day and not be taken completely by surprise. I mean, I’d imagine it’s hard to fist pump on over to the omelet station minutes after your failed midterm was handed back. But for every student bemoaning this latest trend at Fresh Foods Co, there’s another being reminded that the club can’t even handle them right now by a DJ booth nestled in amongst the produce. And that is certainly something we all can enjoy.