What is ChezBob?
Good question! It is a student run facility that provides food and drinks for low prices, sponsors parties, and provides food for the comps. ChezBob is located inside the grad student lounge, EBU3b 3154.
Who is Bob?
Bob was a student here who started this whole mess, but he left a few years ago with no forwarding address.
If Bob's gone, who runs it?
Running the co-op's a pretty big job now! Visit our webpage to see who the current co-op organizers are.
What kind of food is there?
The fare usually includes sodas, juice and Snapple, a wide assortment of candy, cookies, snacks, and a mess of different frozen pseudo-foods. For the most part, whatever Costco has to offer.
Where can I find it?
The second fridge on the right of the grad lounge contains the liquids, as well as the occasional surprise (recently yogurt was spotted in there). In the freezer of that fridge are the pseudo-foods. And, the cabinet next to that has the dry goods.
Ahhh yes, but where can I find it on the web?
ChezBob - For all your web munching needs!
Is it free?
No such thing as a free lunch!
Then how do I pay?
Glad you asked. Next to the fridge is an extremely important box: the cash box. You pay for purchases by putting money into the box. The second piece of the puzzle is Bank of Bob 2000 (B.o.B. 2k), the computer terminal you see on your left as you exit the lounge. B.o.B. 2k tracks additions and subtractions to and from your ChezBob account. Opening a ChezBob account is one of the first things all good grad students should do!
Bob greatly appreciates payments in the form of bills. While ChezBob does accept coins, we frown upon them.
Keep track of expenditures . . . But how?
Grad students! You can pay us by putting money in the cash box. Then, keep a running total of your balance. While we allow you to have a negative balance (yes, we do provide credit), we ask that you try as hard as possible to keep it positive. This is a co-op, so we need your cooperation! The more positive balances we see, the more likely we are to branch out into new and exciting foodstuffs...
How do I know how much something costs?
All items should be placed on shelves which are clearly marked with bright, colorful tags. If they aren't, please don't assume a price . . . let us know so that we can label it!
What's with the other fridge?
The other fridge is a general-purpose fridge. You can keep your own stuff there, but label it, and don't keep it there for more than a week. And don't buy stuff from that fridge, 'cause it ain't for sale!
And the microwaves?
Those are gifts from ChezBob to you. Use them as if you owned them, 'cause if they break down, they're gone.
How can ChezBob give gifts? Is this a profit organization?
No, we don't make a profit, but yes, we do add a slight amount to the cost of the food. This serves a number of purposes, from ensuring that the money for the food doesn't end up coming from the volunteers pockets (and believe us, we would lose money) to allowing us to improve the lounge and to throw parties.
You've mentioned parties a few times...
Yes, yes, at the beginning of the fall and spring quarters, ChezBob helps to fund a party for the department. It usually takes place at one of the local beaches, and consists of burgers, hot dogs, chips, salsa, cookies, etc. And, because our eyes are much bigger than our stomachs, it is usually followed by a small BBQ on the 4th floor landing of our glorious AP&M to finish off all the leftovers.
So, how can I help?
You're so gung-ho! Actually, there are a lot of ways to help. Every party needs a czar, which basically means that you set the menu, and find a bunch of drones to shop, set up, cook, and clean up (these are obviously other opportunities to volunteer). You'll be hearing more about that at the end of September.
I am a natural born complainer, and my diet is very strict. How can I pester ChezBob incessantly and insist that you buy foods that will make me happy?
Boy are you going to fit in here! We are always open to suggestions, complaints, accolades and declarations of war. We can be reached at chezbob@cs.ucsd.edu