Here at High Point University, we have a meal plan like every other college. What is know as a Magic Meal, is considered goal to us as well. Only 7 swipes a week to get either unhealthy or really heathy food... either way only 7 meals a week is favored (which equates to one per day.) Considering we go to HPU, I can't claim that all of us are the typical broke college students... but when I think about it, most of us here live off of our own money because our parents are paying for tuition, or at least a part of tuition.
So, Magic Meals are not only just a little swipe to get food, but because of their option and type of food you can get, they have become a form of currency. Instead of friends and classmates helping each other out or making a deal saying "I you do this for my, I will do that for you." Now people will say, I will do that for one Magic Meal or a Magic Meal and a drink.
This system comes in handy when it is 12:00am and one is studying and hungry and needs some more substance. If one does not have an extra Magic Meal, then they end up purchasing a meal or drink that is way over priced.
Recently I have figured out that I no longer need this system, and I figured this out by accident. Every day when I went into The Point (a sports bar and American food here on campus) or Starbucks, I would talk to the employees. I would ask them about their day or compliment them on their work. Sometimes tell them about what was going on around campus and what it is like to be a college student here at HPU.
Eventually, the 27 year old barista and the 43 year old server became acquaintances. The Point server would give me free food at the end of the day.. sometimes enough meals to feed me and my friend group of six. The barista ended up giving me anything extra in my drink for free. I ended up saving over $30 which meant over the course of the year I was able to have about six more drinks than I would have had if I had to pay for the extra things.
I was not only the person who had the food and the fancy secret menu Starbucks drinks, but I was also saving a lot of money while having fun by spending 2 or 3 minutes just talking to people.
People don't typically talk that much when they go out. By doing so, I received some perks... but when I began talking to people, that was never my intention to get free things. They just offered them and insisted I took it. I made them happy by giving them some attention and time when they were at work, and in return, it made them happy to give me free stuff.
You never know what will happen, but be kind, and talk sometimes to people... they call it small talk for a reason.
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