Having finished my thesis, I’m back after a long hiatus. Here’s what I want to talk about: deception. Specifically, this article from the Daily a few days ago. As the article notes, somewhat derisively, rumors have been flying around the Internets in the past week that MoonBeans is being closed down. And, as administrators reassure us, nothing could be further from the truth:

“This [panic] is a complete misinterpretation of the facts,” Herkovic said. “I gather that this rumor situation has a lot to do with the fact that Moonbeans put out a survey of its customers. It really has nothing to do with the larger reality.”

“I’m really kind of tickled that the fear of Moonbeans going away created a little commotion,” he continued. “The libraries had to make some effort to get that building approved in the first place . . . and in a sense, it’s really gratifying that the students care enough about it to be worried.”

Oh, that’s reassuring. We’re just overgrown, excitable teenagers who are letting our imaginations run ahead of us. It’s funny. Tickling, even. Oh, wait:

“The libraries and University have every intention of offering a coffee concession in the location currently called Moonbeans,” he added. “Whether it happens to be that company or another I don’t know. It depends on a bidding process . . . but that has nothing to do with the University forcing anything nor does it have anything to do with the continuing service of the coffee operation at that location.”

In other words, MoonBeans, may, indeed, be closing. The rumors were precisely true. Herkovic above claimed that the panic started because MoonBeans put out a survey that was, he implied, purely for customer services purposes. Has he been to their website, where it says,

Please let us know what we can do to make your experience better at  coffee@moonbeans.com   and if you would like to see MoonBean’s stay at Stanford for another 10 years, please send us an email at keepmoonbeans@moonbeans.com

Maybe what we have here is a semantics problem . . . (more…)