From the food courts to the underbelly of Brotman Hall, students encountered the disheartening sight of crowds milling in well-organized rows all across campus on Monday.
“Oh my, that’s long,” commented Maya Sherwood, a Japanese Major from Long Beach as she looked at the large line of people waiting for a customizable Coke can. Still, being only slightly daunted by the crowd, and with the prize of a personal Cola on the line, she quickly took her place in the back and was swiftly joined by a dozen of interested students behind her.
Despite the considerable size of the line, the mood was festive with people chatting to each other, and in their excitement new friendships were made.
“No, we all knew each other before, but we just met her in line.” said Herbert Medrano, a biology major from Bellflower as he talked about their new friend Claire Luna, a human development major.
“Yeah, the line looks scary,” he continued. “But it moves fast, it’s better when you’re with friends.” Medrano gestured to his fellow Bellflower natives, David Garcia, a computer engineering major, and Elton Adricula, a kinesiology major.
CSULB students stand in line to receive bus tags at Brotman Hall on Aug. 25.
While the mood was light in the make-your-own-Coke-a-Cola line, over in the bookstore things seemed much more grim.
“It doesn’t move!” complained one student who didn’t want to be named. He said that he not only had to wait in a line to drop off his backpack, but also waited to pick up his books, and then to pay for his books and finally to pick up his backpack. Claiming that the whole ordeal took hours to finish.
Though some of the students had an easier time.
“It was great,” said Nick Kaufmon, an anthropology major from Pacific Palisades. “[There] was enough staff that it moved quick, especially compared to the airport.”
Kassandra Carrillo, a psychology major from Long Beach, and Tina Truong, a business administration management major, arrived in line at 2:30 p.m. They made idle chit-chat and passed the time talking about dogs and the merits of wobbly skateboards.
“No matter what the size [of the line], we have to stand in it,” Carrillo commented. “But it’s not bad at all.”
She then grumbled about the unfairness for science majors who are forced to buy their materials in store.
“I think it’s long, but fast; it’s the first day, so it’s understandable,” stated Truong. She then suggested that, instead of winding “squgglies,” they should just make “lots of rows.”
After a while, the bookstore staff began passing out free Red Bull to the waiting customers, asking them if they needed anything else. Overall, Carrillo and Truong waited a total of 23 minutes from start to finish, which was shorter than they expected.
Many of the students said they appreciated the effort that the large number of bookstore employees took to shorten wait times in line Monday.