Dining Commons personality offers philosophy with food

Gordi from the Zorn Dining Commons is a friendly influence to many at Keene State College with a big fan following and a lot of world experience.

Gordon B. Davis started working at the Dining Commons last year and the student response to his friendly character has been very positive. He also spawned a popular Facebook group.

"I think he's very friendly and makes me feel really comfortable walking into the Dining Commons," said junior Allie Krosofsky. Krosofsky, like many other students, said Davis makes her feel welcome with his hospitable personality. "I've heard him sing to someone before."

"He is such a charmer with the ladies and he certainly can joke around with the guys as well," said Food Service Director Sandra Johnson.

Johnson said she knew Gordi before he worked at the Dining Commons and he was hired because he had the perfect personality for the job.

Born in New Jersey, Davis is one of five children, all of whom attended college. He transferred to Keene State College from Windham College (now Landmark College) as a junior and graduated with the class of 1972. His father was a professor at Windham College, but Davis decided to transfer to a different location.

Coming from a family that lived in New Jersey, Davis said he found it hard not to be a New York Yankees fan. He is not a sports fanatic, but recognizes players such as Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris as unbeatable. "You have to support somebody," said Davis.

College life, as well as life in general, was much different while he was a student here. Davis said he has to smile when students complain about the food in the Dining Commons today. When he attended KSC about 35 years ago, it had a much different choice for lunch.

"We always called it 'mystery meat' because it depended on what color it was as to what it might have been. Hamburgers were always floating in a liquid. Also, if you were really lucky on weekends you got this green stuff that slithered that they called Jell-O for dessert," said Davis.

Davis said he brings people who cook professionally to the Dining Commons today and they are impressed with the food. It now has a very qualified staff that makes quality meals.

When he was in college the drinking age was 18. With this in mind, Davis said there used to be an on-campus bar on the second floor of the student union called the Pub-Club. It was paid for by the student center and as far as he can remember the only alcoholic substance it served was beer. He said he was a member of the college senate and student senate when they proposed the idea and made it happen.

He was also a member of Kappa Delta Phi which he said was the first KSC fraternity to go off campus.

Davis was editor of the 1971 Kronicle yearbook, the year the staff of the yearbook unleashed its photographic creativity. The book contained very little text except for a few quotes, names and a photo essay. The rest was a photo representation of the campus that year.

Before Davis' family moved to the Keene area, they lived in Vermont on and off for 16 years. Four of those years he lived in Peru and Ecuador because his father also worked for the Agency of International Development. He learned to speak Spanish during these years and his high school never offered it. As a result he studied it in college along with French. Davis graduated with a liberal science and foreign language degree.

All he lacked for an education degree was student teaching. One requirement for being an education major at that time, according to Davis, was a water test. The test involved 40 or 50 students taking turns swimming and diving for a brick at the bottom of a pool.

However, teaching was not something he wanted to do. "I can't be who I am and be a teacher. I realized that right off the bat," said Davis.

He said "believe it or not," he graduated without an iPod or a cell phone. He said if he wanted to find out where his friends were on campus he went looking for them. "If I had my way, I would have a rotary dial on my cell phone," he said.

Davis said he realizes cell phones are necessary. However he personally dislikes it when students come in on their cell phones today and complain the hand-scanning machines don't work. "It's because they don't have time to run their card through properly or see what the problem is because they have to be on their cell phone," he said.

Davis said he did teach for a little while, however. He taught auto mechanics, not French or Spanish. "I'm a consummate gear head," said Davis.

Davis has his own part-time business at his Swanzey home where he restores antique Volkswagens. This is something he started in college and still continues to this day. He said when he lived in Peru a friend of his had a Volkswagen bug which Davis drove around when he was 14.

He purchased a little rusty convertible for $20 when he was a senior but he put $100 into fixing it up. After that he couldn't afford a mechanic, so he learned how to work on cars himself. He said he got a job at an independent repair shop in Vermont while at Windham College. Then when Davis transferred to KSC he started working on Volkswagens on the side until he graduated. He said he started working at the Keene Volkswagen dealership during the summer of 1972. In 1989 he opened his own shop.

Davis is still involved in his business but on a select customer base, primarily the older models with air-cooled rear-mounted engines and vans. "Real Volkswagens don't have radiators," said Davis. Davis said he owns about six of the cars himself.

Davis was also featured in New Hampshire Weekly in June of 1996 for his Volkswagen collection. According to the story, not only did he own vehicles but also 2,000 Volkswagen collectables. Included in the assortment was a record player that looks like a Volkswagen bus, beetle cookie jars and a toy bus from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Davis said he now has around 3,500 Volkswagen collectables.

"I prefer German cars, American motorcycles, American beer, and Mexican tequila," said Davis. He said he is a firm believer in everything in moderation and nothing in excess. He said he felt the same way in college and still does.

Now at KSC Davis is a cashier with a lot of life experience and insight to share. "It's kind of like going back to college without the implied responsibilities," said Davis. This is his second year working in the Dining Commons which is run by Sodexho.

He said he works at the Dining Commons for the health care benefits. "It's not about the money anymore," he said.

About 370 people are members of the "I <3 Gordie from the DC" Facebook group. The page celebrates the students' love for Davis and the discussion wall is full of comments and Gordi anecdotes.

"I am very flattered with the Facebook page," said Davis. A Dining Commons manager e-mailed it to him a couple of months ago. He said he had no idea the group had been up for over a year before then. Davis thinks it's fun and he likes it because represents who he is and who he wants to be, though he does not have a Facebook profile of his own.

The group's creator, sophomore Kelsey LePage, said she started the group because she looked around and realized there wasn't one about him. "I appreciate good customer service," said Lepage complimenting Davis' style. "The world would be a better place if there were more people like him around," she added.

Rebecca Briggs, a Dining Commons nutritionist, has known Davis since he started working in the Dining Commons over a year ago. She said Davis' reliability and goodheartedness make him a great person to work with. "He would offer help to anyone that appreciates it," said Briggs.

Making students think and breaking them out of their shell is one thing Davis finds rewarding about his job. He said he is genuine when he asks people if they are having a good day. He has run into people who seem down and he just wants to remind people that things aren't so bad.

Fellow cashier Cassandra Brooker, a freshman, said he cheers her up when she is really sad. "He is a lot of fun to work with and he keeps me laughing when I'm tired," said Brooker.

Davis said the toughest part of his job is saying no. He can't let people go in to get a free meal or swipe twice to get a friend in. He asks that no one give him a hard time for doing his job.

Davis' enthusiasm with what he does is evident when one sees him acting the part with a holiday or theme. His name tag changes during certain events as well. He said his name tag has been labeled with "Guido," "Big Tex," "Sum Yung Guy," "Gordito," and when dressed as a yellow M&M on Halloween it read "If you gotta ask."

Briggs said she also works in marketing and leaves it up to Davis to dress up for these events. "I give him some ideas. I'm not that creative, but he is," she said.

Davis also tried to give feedback to the campus when possible.

When Davis discovered the team was having a hard time raising money for their organization, he approached junior Jenna Lane with an idea.

He proposed the Dance Team could rake his lawn, since he could not make it to their car wash fund raisers. "It needs to be done anyway, and this way I can make a donation to the team. It works out perfectly for everybody," he said.

Dance Team member Kate Guilmette said Davis paid them $150 for the job on his very large property. "I think it was a great idea and a great way to raise money," she said.

Recently Davis was awarded Sodexho's "Circle of Customer Excellence Award" for his outstanding customer service.

So next time you see Gordi sitting at the swipe station at the Dining Commons hopefully that's not all you will see.

"I've seen it, done it, bought the t-shirt and went home," said Davis.