Foolishness in the Growl
The message posted on the Growl’s front door Dec. 11
Ok, so, let’s talk about the recent series of stupid events that have ruined going into the growl for everyone else.
See the gallery at the bottom of the story for evidence of the destruction.
Background:
John Zazzaro sent out an e-mail on Dec. 11, 2014 at about 12:30 p.m. informing everyone that the Growl was closed until further notice. A flyer accompanying it was placed on both entrances to the Growl, as well, reiterating the closure.
In the e-mail, he criticized the ridiculous damage of the furniture, pool, ping pong. and foosball tables, and the wall due to ping pong paddles being hit against them. Also, the amount of garbage, spills, and random messes around the Growl was mentioned. Finally, Mr. Zazzaro finished his list of grievances by putting the following in bold:
“Mostly, today was the final straw. Last Friday, we had two direct tv receivers installed. Over the past few days they have been repeatedly disconnected and moved around.Today, I discovered that the back of one of the receivers has been damaged beyond repair.”
Alright, I’m just going to jump right into my observations and opinion.
So, on the day the e-mail was released and the Growl closed, I went down to the Growl to investigate the damages for myself.
Upon entrance, the Growl was noticeably trashed with many food wrappers and cups on the floor. Then, I noticed that one of the TVs had a DirecTV receiver and the other did not, obviously because the other one was “damaged beyond repair.” Moving to the couches, there were several visible holes. The whole arm of one of them was ripped off and the stuffing was coming out.
After going a little further, I noticed the about 50-75 (thats right, at LEAST 50) marks on the wall where someone had deliberately and maliciously slammed their ping pong paddle against the wall in an obvious attempt to cause damage. Another note was placed on the wall (about a month ago, which still did not curb the abuse) that stated that the damage to the wall was obviously inflicted by a ping pong paddle and that if the “ridiculous” behavior continued, the “Management” would be forced to remove the ping pong table.
Speaking of the table, there were several visible hit marks on both sides. Also, whole chunks of the table were missing, having apparently been hit with a paddle. On to the pool table. Earlier in the year, there was an incident with people breaking all of the pool cues and never reporting it. Now, later in the year, we have the same issue, except that now, people have also abused the physical table to a point where there are loose pockets, ripped up carpet, and the whole side paneling of one end is falling out of the peg.
The back room (Mr. Zazzaro’s and Mrs. Babb’s office) is strongly fortified, as should be expected, with all the doors and windows locked. The drink machines appeared unmolested, but the seats, not so much. The padding to the benches was coming apart from the wooden frame. Parts of the table tops were chipped and there were several holes in the booths. As for the trash, not only today, but everyday when I enter the Growl, the amount of spills and trash left behind is appalling. Today, there was a broken ping pong paddle snapped in half at the handle, laying on the floor. This action killed two birds with one stone: destruction and littering.
Personally, I think that the behavior of the students involved in these maliciously destructive actions is repulsive and needs to be stopped. All this is is unnecessary drama caused by people who, for some reason, feel comfortable destroying other people’s property. For some, it’s a challenge to simply not be destructive and it appears to me that a handful of people at this school have a serious problem with this challenge. It’s obvious that this damage was not the work of a lone individual, but instead, that of a group effort with the most recent damage resulting in the pinnacle of school destruction so far this year.
To whoever is doing this, you are obviously not very intelligent and you will get caught. Do not prolong the process of your capture, because eventually, we will lock onto you, and you will be disciplined accordingly. Your inconsiderate actions have caused the closure of one of the most popular student hangouts on campus. You have ruined the Growl and have diminished the administration’s trust in the student body. I publicly condemn the actions of whoever is involved and hope that said actions will not go unpunished.
Public Opinion:
Freshman Oscar Eakett feels “indifference” because “all of the plebeians hang out there.”
Sophomore Olivia Drake states that the closure is “probably for the best… especially for [her because she needs] to study for exams”
Junior, and House Senate president Will Crawford commented that he doesn’t “know what kind of dumb things that people have been doing.”
Senior Hayden Cook thinks that “it is pretty stupid [that] not everybody was involved [but yet] everyone is punished”
Interview with Mr. Zazzaro:
To follow up, I went directly to Mr. Zazzaro to hear the overview of the situation right from the horse’s mouth.
EP: So what is your opinion on this situation as a whole?
JZ: Most of the people that come to the Growl are respectful, but there are a few people who are not and it ruins it for everyone, and that’s what has happened here. The issue with the receiver box was that the cable in the back was so obviously pulled out of the back on purpose; it was no accident. They must have pulled really hard in order to have pulled the steel wire out of the back because the metal was bent. This was really the final straw. Schools can get DirecTV for free, but we spent about $600 on a new dish and installation and now we’ve basically wasted it.
EP: What are some more little examples of straws that are breaking the camel’s back?
JZ: It’s really annoying when people order food in and then leave their bags and pizza boxes behind for us or the cleaning staff to pick up. It’s just rude and inconsiderate.
EP: What is really going on with the marks on the wall behind the ping pong tables? Also, the sign?
JZ: Well, there were about 50 marks on that wall and they were definitely from someone standing there hitting their paddle against the wall. And with the sign, it was put up probably a month ago and people still continued to hit the wall.
EP: So where does the administration go from here?
JZ: My purpose wasn’t to get anyone in trouble and it’s too bad that everyone has to suffer from what a few people did. Whoever did this, they need to just fess up to it so that we can move on. We are currently considering “child-proofing” the Growl; which means locking everything up (including the remotes, paddles, cues, etc.). Then, students may have to check out the items to use which means that they won’t be able to play unless we are there. And we don’t want to have to do that, but it’s getting to a point where we are running out of options. But we are still considering our options.
EP: There was a similar incident last year (where a student kicked a soccer ball into the TV and the Growl was locked down for about two months). How does this situation compare to last year’s?
JZ: The main difference here is that I feel that that was an honest accident, but the damage this year was deliberately malicious behavior.
Final thoughts on this ordeal: it was stupid, childish, unnecessary, preventable, nonsensical drama that we can do without. I’m tired of finding another e-mail from the administration about how a student or a group of students has ruined another activity for everyone else. Whoever did this: fess up, you are creating more hardship than there should be for everyone involved. Enough is enough.