Tag Archives: FO+M

Sparky’s Chair Legend (Jacob Cruger)

Title: Sparky’s Chair Legend

General Information About this Item:

  • Legend, material folklore, workplace folklore
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Informant #1
  • Date Collected: 3/8/2018

Informant Data:

  • The informant is a Facilities, Operations, and Management  Engineering Services employee who is not originally from the Upper Valley region.

Contextual Data:

  • This story was passed between FO+M employees. According to the informant, it dates back to a time when alcohol played a much more prominent role in the workplace culture of Facilities, Operations, and Management. This story also takes place in the time before the FO+M offices had modern office chairs.

Item:

  • An electrician, after having a couple drinks, attempted to squeeze through the slats of an old wooden chair. He succeeded, and the story became well-known. The chair itself also became legendary – a retiring employee ultimately took it home.

Collector’s Name: Jacob Cruger

Tags/Keywords:

  • Legend/Material Folklore
  • FO+M

Image Credit

Dining Hall Joke: Hockey Pucks

Title: Hockey Pucks

General Information About this Item:

  • Joke
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant Number: 12
  • Date Collected: 2/23/18

Informant Data:

  • High level manager within DDS. Has been at Dartmouth for nearly 40 years and has worked with the areas today known as the Hop, Collis Cafe, and 53’ Commons.

Contextual Data:

  • Joke that dates back to the 90s when a certain type of meal such as steak and gravy was served to the kids in the dining hall.  Was not meant to belittle or anything, but was meant to display the appearance of the steak.

Item:

  • Verbal Lore, dates back to the 90s and was told between students and to the workers at the Dining Hall. Kids would walk up to get their food asking if they saw the “hockey pucks” or “hey man pass me some hockey pucks” in reference the hockey puck like shape and density of the meat.  Workers would even say that there are pucks on the menu today to humor the students.

 

Transcript:

“It was a steak meal, with gravy on it…kids would call them hockey pucks…it became a joke of sorts with the students”

Informant’s Comments:

The origin of this Joke is unknown, the informant only knows of around the time it started in the 90s.  Was a good joke and helped the dining hall change their recipe to make the meals less “hockey puck” like.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Clear example of Verbal Lore and a Joke
  • A joke that was around by students until the recipe for the steaks changed.
  • We could call this a Dartmouth Culinary Joke

Collector’s Name: C. Ross Wood

Tags/Keywords:

  •  Joke
  • Verbal Folklore
  • DDS

“Smooth Dinners”

Title: Smooth Dinners

General Information About this Item:

  • Ritual or Tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant Number: 12
  • Date Collected: 2/23/18

Informant Data:

  • High level manager within DDS. Has been at Dartmouth for nearly 40 years and has worked with the areas today known as the Hop, Collis Cafe, and 53’ Commons.

Contextual Data:

  • Tradition that as far back as the informant had been at Dartmouth.  Tradition can date back to even prior to his time at Dartmouth and was looked forward to by nearly all students on campus.

Item:

  • Customary Lore, each year on the Friday before Winter Carnival, (at the time) Thayer Dining Hall would host Steak Night.  The attendees would be required to wear nice dress and could bring dates to the dining hall in order to have a luxurious steak and seafood dinner.  Called “Smooth Dinner” because of the dress of the participants and the nature of the food that was served that night.

Transcript:

” An interesting tradition known as ‘Smooth Dinners’ where we would serve steak and lobster on the Friday before Winter Carnival”

Informant’s Comments:

This tradition would later form into the steak and lobster dinner served to seniors during senior week.  Then this tradition would transform into what we know now as the First-Year and athlete steak and lobster dinner served during matriculation.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Clear example of Customary Lore
  • A ritual that has been practiced for a prolonged period of time.
  • We could call this a Dartmouth culinary rite or a Transformative Dartmouth Tradition for the way that it has changed, yet remained the same over the years.

Collector’s Name: C. Ross Wood

Tags/Keywords:

  • Tradition, Ritual
  • Customary Folklore
  • DDS

Softball Injury (Rick Gangopadhyay)

Title: Softball Injury

General Information about Item:

  • Legend, workplace folklore
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Informant #7
  • Date Collected: February 20, 2018.

Informant Data:

  • FO+M Custodian and has been working for college for three years. Has been part of the custodial department the entirety of his time at Dartmouth.  Originally from Connecticut and moved to the Upper Valley area.

Contextual Data:

  • Some of the members of the custodial department sometimes meet to play softball in their free time. The last time this occurred was three years ago as far as the informant is aware.  This is due to problems that ensued during the game that was played on this occasion.  The story describes the informant’s experience at the softball game and an accident that occurred.

Item:

    • The custodian is at the casually organized softball game among other custodians and his team is up at bat. Another custodian winds up to hit the ball and hits it as hard as he can.  The ball flies directly into the ribcage of another custodial worker on the other team and he has to go to the hospital.  As it turned out, the victim was okay but suffered a cracked rib cage.

     

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

  • “I can’t say I’m all that good at softball or other ball sports… When Jim hit that ball though I almost threw up myself, he hit it into the man- I didn’t know his name – and it looked pretty darn painful! I’ve been telling this to some of the new guys and they think it’s a shame we stopped doing it.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • I used to play in casual soccer games when I was a kid and whenever someone got hurt, everyone would often stop playing altogether. It seems like this doesn’t stop as we get older.

Collector’s Name: Rick Gangopadhyay

Tags/Keywords:

  • Legend
  • FO+M
  • Narrative Folklore

Water Balloon Legend (Rick Gangopadhyay)

Title: Water Balloon Legend

General Information about Item:

  • Legend, workplace folklore
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Informant #6
  • Date Collected: February 23, 2018

Informant Data:

  • Has been working for the custodial sector of FO+M for over five years. Is originally from Manchester, New Hampshire but more recently moved to the Upper Valley.

Contextual Data:

  • A story that has been passed down to her from her boss who heard it from her boss. The story takes place in 2007 and the story has been told by her boss that the story is true.  The story describes the experience one custodian had one afternoon when he walked up to the third floor of Topliff.

Item:

    • This custodian walks into his assigned dormitory, which he was assigned that day. Walking up to the third floor, he hears loud yelling and the sound of splashing water.  Entering the floor, he finds that there is a water balloon fight going on in the third-floor hallway with the walls soaked as well as the floors.  Students escape through the fire escape and the custodian cannot catch a glimpse of them of whether they live on the floor.  No one was ever found accountable for the incident.

     

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

  • “I can’t complain these days about students, they’ve been great to me.  This story I told you though makes me wonder what got into those kids.  To be honest though, I probably would have joined in if I were one of the students.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • I’ve seen custodians deal with a lot of cases of disregard for the dorms we live in.  It’s amazing to me how much work they put in.  I myself have never heard of the water balloon story but it does not surprise me at all.

Collector’s Name: Rick Gangopadhyay

Tags/Keywords:

  • Legend
  • FO+M
  • Narrative Folklore

Union Negotiation Views (Jacob Cruger)

Title: Union Negotiation Views

General Information About this Item:

  • Workplace folklore
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Informant #2
  • Date Collected: 2/20/2018

Informant Data:

  • FO+M administrative worker, started working for the college within the last ten years. Has played a role in initiatives intended to change the workplace culture of FO+M.

Contextual Data:

  • Many workers on campus are covered by a union, Local 560 of the Service Employees’ International Union. Employees hold varying opinions on what the Union’s negotiation strategy and practices should be. These beliefs tend to depend on how long an employee has worked at the college.

Item:

  • There is a shared belief among a cohort of mostly older employees that the Union’s shift toward a more diplomatic negotiation strategy has weakened it. Many younger workers disagree, believing the more diplomatic approach makes for a better and more productive workplace.

Transcript:

  • “I see it [rivalry between union and management]… but it’s shifted to a more healthy debate, it’s not as much adversarial. And I think some of the people who have been here a long time are used to the more old style of union negotiation, they view the way it’s currently done as not being strong enough or powerful enough… because now it’s a discussion, there are regular meetings on a weekly basis, everybody gets together over lunch, talks about the needs that are being brought up by the union and the needs that are being brought up from higher up in management… some people don’t view that diplomacy as being the right way for that relationship to be.”

Collector Comments:

This item, like the “acceptance in the workplace” item, is closely connected with the notion of “Old Dartmouth v. New Dartmouth,” a topic multiple informants touched on.

Collector’s Name: Jacob Cruger

Tags/Keywords:

  • Union
  • FO+M

Image Credit

Hinman Window Superstition (Rick Gangopadhyay)

Title: Hinman Window Superstition

General Information about Item:

  • Superstition, Magic Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Informant #5
  • Date Collected: February 23, 2018

Informant Data:

  • Began to work for Hinman second term of freshman year on campus. Has been involved in several divisions of the FO+M but was drawn to FO+M due to work hours and flexibility.  Originates from Kentucky.

Contextual Data:

  • As new members come to work for FO+M, veterans among the group will pass down pieces of advice. This piece of advice stems from a superstition that has been passed down regarding closing time rituals for the Hinman window.  The origin of the superstition is unknown as well as when it was conceived.  If the protocol is not followed, then the negative result has historically inevitably occurred.

Item:

  • If an individual at the Hinman window does not close the window promptly and swiftly at the end of the hours for Hinman, then someone will show up at the end of the day and ask for service. If the worker closes the window swiftly, then no one will show up asking for service.  As such, this Hinman worker was instructed to close the window with conviction at the end of each day.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

  • “It’s really true man, I’ve tested it.  Every time I keep the window even slightly open some new person shows up.  I don’t know… I don’t know to be honest.  Makes me start to be a little more superstitious these days.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • I used to work for a small business in Massachusetts that had a similar policy of locking the door exactly at closing hour, which was 8:30PM.

Collector’s Name: Rick Gangopadhyay

Tags/Keywords:

  • Superstition
  • FO+M

You Want Fries With That?

Title: You Want Fries With That?

General Information About this Item:

  • Greeting, Gesture or Tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant Number: 12
  • Date Collected: 2/23/18

Informant Data:

  • High level manager within DDS. Has been at Dartmouth for nearly 40 years and has worked with the areas today known as the Hop, Collis Cafe, and 53’ Commons.

Contextual Data:

  • Tradition, Greeting, or Gesture that started in the early 1990s during the informants time here at Dartmouth.  Secondary Lore here, as the item came from a former member of the Hop workforce named Nick and also nicknames “The Happy Hop Guy.”

Item:

  • This is Verbal Folklore and a greeting or gesture.  Could also be categorized as a tradition.  Whenever kids would order their food at the Hop, Nick would ask them, “You Want Fries With That?”  The students loved Nick and whenever they saw him they would smile and ask him, “You want fries with that?”  It was a playful gesture that was used by many students for the entirety that Nick worked at the Hop.

Transcript:

“Nick was well loved by the students here back in the 90s.  He used to say ‘You want fries with that?’ to each person he checked out…Eventually all the students started saying it back to him and it became a greeting in a sense.”

Informant’s Comments:

Everybody loved Nick and by asking him if he wanted fries with that? It was a way for the students and nick to bond and to come together.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Clear example of Verbal Lore
  • A gesture or greeting that was used over a period of time between Dartmouth Students
  • We could call this a Dartmouth Hop Greeting

Collector’s Name: C. Ross Wood

Tags/Keywords:

  • Getting, Gesture, or Tradition
  • Verbal Folklore
  • DDS

The Hop Fry

Title: The Hop Fry

General Information About this Item:

  • Food lore or Material Lore
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant Number: 12
  • Date Collected: 2/23/18

Informant Data:

  • High level manager within DDS. Has been at Dartmouth for nearly 40 years and has worked with the areas today known as the Hop, Collis Cafe, and 53’ Commons.

Contextual Data:

  • When the Hop was founded nearly 55 years ago they needed a way to set themselves apart from the other dining establishments on campus.  When my informant started out at Dartmouth, he was working in the Hop and was in a managerial role there and that is where he collected the folklore.

Item:

  • Material Lore and Food Lore, when the Hop was founded nearly 55 years ago it needed a way to separate itself from the other dining establishments on campus.  They began to use a special seasoning on their fries, which has now become a staple on all fries served at the hop dating back to the 1980s.  The seasoning used on the fries was unique to the Hop and helped separate themselves from the other dining establishments.

Transcript:

“The Hop Fry helped distinguish itself from the rest of the food establishments on campus..”

Informant’s Comments:

Was used by the Hop to distinguish themselves from the other establishments on campus. An item of food unique to the hop and one in which people who worked at the Hop or ate the Hop were proud of.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Clear example of Material or Food Lore
  • An item of food that has been celebrated by a group of people for its significance and distinguishing qualities
  • We could call this a the Hop’s distinguishing item of food

Collector’s Name: C. Ross Wood

Tags/Keywords:

  • Food Lore
  • Material Folklore
  • DDS

Origin Of Chicken Mondays

Title: Origin of Chicken Mondays

General Information About this Item:

  • Ritual or Tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant Number: 12
  • Date Collected: 2/23/18

Informant Data:

  • High level manager within DDS. Has been at Dartmouth for nearly 40 years and has worked with the areas today known as the Hop, Collis Cafe, and 53’ Commons.

Contextual Data:

  • Tradition that started in the early 1990s during the tenure of Larry James. Started as the informant began his time in 53’ commons previously known as Thayer Dining Hall. Before the time when the “all-you-can-eat” style of dining was in place.

Item:

  • Customary Lore, the same chicken recipe has been served on Monday for nearly 25 years. Chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, and cheese have topped the plates of Dartmouth students every Monday for nearly 3 decades. At one point was attempted to change from Monday to Wednesday, but outcry from the student population has cemented this tradition on Mondays.

Transcript:

“One of the rare culinary traditions that is still practiced today.  Has been a fan-favorite of students for nearly 30 years”

Informant’s Comments:

A great tradition that has been in the Dartmouth food industry for 3 decades.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Clear example of Customary Lore
  • A ritual that has been practiced for a prolonged period of time.
  • We could call this a Dartmouth culinary rite

Collector’s Name: C. Ross Wood

Tags/Keywords:

  • Ritual
  • Customary Folklore
  • DDS