Suggestions to improve the union

[Hang the DJ]

[s]Unregisted User wrote on 21:09, 6th Nov 2003:
Dave is the best dj here at st andrews - im just a fresher and can see that/
Pay him lots!


This wouldn't be Dave by any chance? After that snivelling crap in Ther Saint, I wouldn't be suprised.

[mossop]

Why is everyone so bitter? If you want a better union, bugger off somewhere else! I recommend Strathclyde...

[hr]http://www.geocities.com/stauwfc

[Guest]

Frequent flier bop miles...the more you bop the cheaper it is!!!

[Tobias Joss]

[s]iohannes wrote on 21:27, 27th Oct 2003:
Tennents will stay on draught so long as Tennents provide the beer instead of Carlsberg which they started doing beginning of last year (I believe) or it may have been the year before.


Tennents provide the lager because that's what Northern Services, the buying group of which your Association (and GUU) are part decided on. All it would take to change back would be to convince the officers of the various unions which are members of Northern Services that they want to change. Good luck.

[PurelySynthetic]

[s]mossop wrote on 18:38, 13th Nov 2003:
Why is everyone so bitter? If you want a better union, bugger off somewhere else! I recommend Strathclyde...

[hr]http://www.geocities.com/stauwfc




Strathclyde do have a god damn good union i must say! Ach if only it wasnt so far away..

[Sleigh]

I quite like the Dundee union myself. It's only half an hour away on the bus.

[niall]

[s]Tobias Joss wrote on 12:21, 14th Nov 2003:
[s]iohannes wrote on 21:27, 27th Oct 2003:[i]
Tennents will stay on draught so long as Tennents provide the beer instead of Carlsberg which they started doing beginning of last year (I believe) or it may have been the year before.


Tennents provide the lager because that's what Northern Services, the buying group of which your Association (and GUU) are part decided on. All it would take to change back would be to convince the officers of the various unions which are members of Northern Services that they want to change. Good luck.
[/i]

2001/2002 we had both beers on draught.. bring back the £1.20 pint!!


[hr]
do you have a tastyspoon?

http://www.tastyspoon.com/forum

IMAGE:www.danasoft.com/vipersig.jpg

[RichZ]

[s]Unregisted User wrote on 23:24, 9th Nov 2003:
Frequent flier bop miles...the more you bop the cheaper it is!!!


It has been thought of, but would be rarther difficult to do. How would you know who's a regular, and who isn't?

The platinum card in previous years was something like that - you payied some nominal amount at the start of term and then got cheaper entry to everything for the rest of the year. But it never proved all that popular so we haven't do it this year - more hassle than it's worth.

[Milan-AC]

I have to say I was very disappointed today visiting the union.

I usually try and stick up for the union whenever possible but really I think a much bigger effort should have been made today, given the rugby.

First off, I spent 15mins queuing for a pint of Guinness, which I recon is a complete joke. The bar had a queue at all times but no one seemed to have the sense to realise that they should have employed 1 or more people to work the bar for say 2 hours. Given that they pay the bar staff peanuts, I'll bet dollars to donuts that they wouldn't have lost money and certainly would have improved the standard of service. Who knows, they might even have made more money considering I'm sure many ppl took one look at the queue and thought, no chance I'm going to wait there while the match is on.

2nd, Beatons is terrible. The food reminds me of school dinners. Infact I don't even know if it's up to the standard of school dinners. Yes it's cheap, but then again so is Kwiksave Economy Brand meat products, which I try and avoid whenever possible.
Why exactly can we not have some decent food at the union. I might not even be so annoyed, if it wasn't for a story I heard. I was told that we actually PAY Beatons to opperate in the union. I'm very much hoping this isn't true. Infact I might even cry if it was. I don't think bringing a MacDonalds into the union would please that many ppl given the the high "morals" ( Nestle ) and general dislike of big fast food stores at this uni, but has anyone any idea how much they'd pay for a license to work the union. I'll bet it would be a small fortune.

Anyway, I just thought I'd get that off my chest. Agree or disagree as you will, I'm off to get pissed at a mates party.

[Milan-AC]

I was wondering ( including why no union ppl saw fit to answer my suggestions and complaints above ) what ever happened to some of the great ideas that were planned for the union.

Student Radio? I've heard nothing. Buses to Dundee union? That seems to have stalled. A Union beer garden? Oh wait it's cold in Scotland, I forgot.

Oh and I was wondering what union ppl actually controlled what? What power do the sabs have exactly. Do they have the power say to get rid of Beatons or BESS and replace it with a coffee shop?
What if they wanted to run a 1 nite £10-15 all you can drink fest?

Could the sabs pull off things like that or are they tied to how the permenent staff want the union run?

Cause if they are generally just a student face for the union, would it not make more sense to save the cash and put it into employing like a top flight club manager to make the union good?

I had another idea but have forgotten. Oh well. Hope that is enough to think about. Oh no wait, I remember. Is it just me or have massive, and I mean massive, amounts of ppl stopped going to the union? I do have a tendancy to remember the "good old days" with rose tinted glasses but Thursdays and Saturdays used to be really popular days to go out. It used to be packed. Does anyone know how much union patronage has fallen in the last few years?

[Guest]

why has the price of the cheapest pint risen in the past 3 years?

[niall]

apart from prolly inflation, the drink has changed, in my first year (3 years ago) it was £1.20 for carlsberg, then last year it was £1.40 for tennants.. notice the different lager?

[Guest]

[s]niall wrote on 14:35, 7th Dec 2003:
apart from prolly inflation, the drink has changed, in my first year (3 years ago) it was £1.20 for carlsberg, then last year it was £1.40 for tennants.. notice the different lager?



well yeah, but why cant they just stick to the one thats the cheapest?

[rudolf]

Why oh why do you people pay for cack food in the union.
1) If it is because "it is cheap" then you are wrong. It is not the cheapest place to eat in town for what you get. You can get a balaka take-away for the same price as a main meal there.
2) If it is because "its quick" then you are wrong also. Have you seen the queue at lunch times. It is atrocious.
3) If it is because "i can play pool while I eat" then you are also wrong. Firstly you are breaking the rules by having food around the pool tables, and secondly the pool tables are usually full with the sad gits who put £20 down, or they are broken.
4) If it because "there's no-one else" then make there be someone else. WE PAY BEATON'S to be there, not the other way, so why don't we put that money towards Macdonalds or burger King or a proper restaurant. I'm sure that a restaurant/snack bar in town , like 'cherries' for example, would love to be in the union.
5) If it is because "My say won't make a difference" then pull your finger out and go to the union and sort it, or speak on here and we will sort something. Your union does nothing! Lets live up to the motto and actually "DO STUFF".

[bob]

One or two things:

First, we don't "pay" Beatons to be in the Union - they're an Association department, exactly like bars, BESS or the Travel Service.

Second, the sabs certainly have the power to change things at Beatons, including the menu. They have done so in the past. If you don't like the food, tell the sabs. They can discuss changes with the catering manager. Yes, they do have the power to 'get rid of' Beatons altogether and replace it with something else, but they can't do it on a whim. They need to be sure that it would make financial sense to do so, for a start. That means a business plan, market research, and so on. It would be a lot of work, and they would need to be sure that it was actually necessary and a popular move with more than a couple of people on The Sinner.

Why the heck would the Association pay money for a bus to drive their customers away to Dundee so they can contribute to DUSA's profits instead of St Andrews'? How long do you think the Union bar would remain in business with that kind of thinking? Why not just hand DUSA the money, cut out the middle man? Can you name another bar that actively sends custom away to its rivals?

The beer garden was open this summer. Unsurprisingly, it is not open at the moment.

Finally, if you think you can persuade a 'top-flight club manager' to come to a backwater in Fife to run a small student union, good luck to you. Let's be realistic here.

[rudolf]

nice of you to refer to your union as a "backwater in Fife". shows you care a lot about it! Who said top flight club? Just liven it up a bit, and make it more popular. Try something completely new. Does anyone have any idea how much money there is to spend on the union by the committees or dept.'s?

[Rose Chambord]

I've got a suggestion, (particularly for the sabs) thank your volunteers!

It's amazing how showing a bit of appreciation and saying just two words will keep most people coming back. Material incentives are nice, but I promise you that it means a hell of a lot more to hear that you are appreciated. It really doesn't take that much effort or time out of your all too busy lives to send a short email letting people know what you need from them, and saying 'thank you'.

When you learn how to do this i might even consider helping out again, until then, your one volunteer down (and i venture to say I'm sure you've lost others).

[hr]"because it's dull, you twit, it'll hurt more!"

[Milan-AC]

So the union actually runs Beatons. They should be ashamed. Lets face it, it's terrible. The quality is unspeakably bad. Will anyone deny this?
At the Gin House ( with a Gin Card ) I can get a wonderful meal for £3. A curry, a burger and chips, a fish supper, it's your choice. All of it of a high standard and at competitive price. PMs too can manage £1.50 for a sausage supper for lunches. Beatons really doesn't come close.
And our money we spend in the union then goes into the same kitty that funds Beatons. What a joke.
So instead of making a fortune off licensing a franchise to work in the union, say Pizza Hut or Gregg's, we decide to run a "school canteen".

So the sabs do actually have power to change the union??? That's not what I've heard, but ok. Exactly what have they then done since being in power.
I have to give credit to ppl like Hannah Wright, for starting things like the Comedy Nites. It helps show that she earned her pay while being in charge.
What great plans have these years sabs managed to pull off for "Our Union".
I mean apart from painting the union shit brown?
Indeed what great plans have been pulled off this year for the union? What great plans are in the works for next semester? Please someone point them out if I'm missing the obivous.

If Hannah Wright can manage to set up a society bringing the next Jack Dee's and Eddie Izzard's to the union, then why can't our VP of Services, Mr Spiers, do something instead of sitting downstairs enjoying a quiet pint most days.

As for as bus to Dundee. What are you talking about? By that logic then why do commercial bars and pubs arrange to sell bands, like the Raisin and the Lizard. Those places needless to say are packed most nites, especially when there are buses going to Dundee.
They do this because people want to start drinking before they head off to Mardi Gras or Fat Sams. Selling bands and having buses running off outside your establishment brings in punters.

Dundee Union has a late license till 2.30am. And as I recall our late license for say Tuesday nite is 12pm. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but if we ran buses at 11.30 to Dundee union, then we'd lose 30mins worth of drinks. But gain massive amounts of students and hence money from having a load of pissheads in our union from 9pm onwards.
And more importantly, it'd improve the services offered to St Andrews students.

And why is so hard to believe that we could have a decent manager to run our union?
If the sabs are being paid £10,000 + and Bruce, Campbell and Sandy all on decent wages. Why could we not cut out some of the dead weight and combine this money and employ someone who A) is actually experienced and qualified, and B) someone who is accountable and motivated.
I recon £50,000 could buy us someone like that, and that doesn't seem like a unrealistic figure.

Indeed where would I get financial reports for the union? I'm just curious to see where our money goes.

Also how much did the lights outside the union cost? Cause I was thinking, my friend just bought a brand new projector from Play.com. It's absolutely amazing, top of the line Sony. Cost him £3000. I was thinking that instead of the lights at the front you could use these projectors. I recon a couple of projectors would be a good investment. Cause you could use them inside as well for other things too.

[Pender Native]

Does anyone know if the OLd Union food place on North Street is run by the University? Cause I thought the idea was to have a cheaper place for students, but for what it sells, its actually one of the most expensive places in town (£1.20 for a wee carboard cup of coffee!)

[Hendry]

Having had some contact with the sabs, I would suggest that you actually go and see them to discuss your concerns/ideas. They are there to do their level best for all students and are always keen to listen to any new ideas. This would be far more effective and more likely to change things rather than leaving pathetic sniping posts on a message board like this. Be constructive, step into the real world, and go and see them.