Ladies of the MarketPlace

So, it’s early in the morning and I’m a quart…ahem, a gallon low on Diet Coke and my friends and colleagues need fresh air or a cup of coffee.  Or it’s lunchtime and we are craving nachos, a custom made grilled sandwich or some Chick-fil-a.  What do we do?  We take a walk to the MarketPlace.  Here we are greeted by the friendly ‘Hello, Baby’ from Miss Joanne.  I originally thought I was special when she called me that, but she calls everyone that.  What I realized was not that I wasn’t special to her, but that everyone is special to her.  We might also be in the line where Miss Thomasine will greet us with her happy-to-see-you look and perhaps chat about the weather, kids or grandkids. When I first moved to this side of campus to work and began visiting the MarketPlace I realized that Miss Thomasine looked very familiar but could not place her.  Until one day I asked her how long she had been at the college.  That was when I realized that she had been here in the dark ages, when I was a student!

We now have Nacho Thursday in the office, where a group of us head to the Marketplace to get made-to-order Nachos.  In hindsight Mexican Monday would have had a better ring to it, and then we wouldn’t be constrained by the nachos. We would feel free to branch out to taco salads, quesadillas, burrito bowls and more.  But truthfully, we do that anyway still calling it Nacho Thursday.  The ladies in that line always seem glad to see us and are patient when Dean Lyte teaches us each the art of ordering the best looking nachos ever.  Somehow Dean Lyte’s always look better than the rest of ours.

We have dubbed the EXTRA LARGE Diet Coke that I so often enjoy, the ‘Jumbotron’.  I think it must be 149 ounces at least.  It’s so big I can’t hold it with one hand.

I love going to the MarketPlace.  It is a place to see people from all over campus: students, faculty, staff, deans, and even the construction workers working on the campus building nearby.  It is a welcoming place for all of us.  I enjoy running into the interns from our office or students I’ve come to know through Catholic Campus Ministry.  But mostly I like the friendly greeting and special treatment I get from the ladies of the MarketPlace. To the Ladies of the MarketPlace, Thank you!

– Betsy Quinzio