Ben Payne picked up his trumpet case, threw his polyester uniform over his shoulder and prepared to make the long, hot trek to campus from his apartment Saturday morning.
The 19-year-old exploratory sophomore is a member of the Gator marching band, and on gamedays, he doesn’t have a car to get to the stadium.
“The bus system on gameday is a joke,” said Payne. “The buses virtually don’t run at all, at least not when I’m trying to get anywhere.”
Other issues like this — dubbed “first-world problems” — were recently polled about in New Zealand.
According to the country’s UNICEF branch, the No. 1 gripe was slow Internet, followed by not being able to find something at the supermarket.
At UF, there are many small, sometimes trivial, nuisances that can make students’ lives more difficult.
Some students aren’t satisfied with the free Internet service provided to them by the school.
Jennifer Serviss, 18, said her cellphone gets sporadic service from UF’s Wi-Fi.
“Every once in a while, it’ll kick me off the Wi-Fi but won’t notify me,” said the marine sciences freshman. “Over summer, I ended up using up all of my data without realizing it.”
Among Internet and cellphone reception grievances, students grumble about getting coffee in the morning.
“Getting a simple espresso before class at the Hub or Library West is crazy,” said Sherin Merchant, 20-year-old biology junior.
Before lab, Merchant stops by Starbucks to grab her regular pick-me-up, but instead, she’s greeted with a long line.
“It takes 15 minutes to get my drink,” she said. “That’s on a good day.”
Though these frustrations take up time and patience, Gregory Webster, assistant professor of psychology, said students should remember to put these complaints into perspective.
“People use that expression now — ‘first-world problems’ — to remind us how fortunate and lucky we are,” Webster said. “These day-to-day problems are quite trivial compared to other societies.”
He said he’s happy to see the phrase circulate among students, because they realize the difference between necessities and luxuries.
“Here, we have the luxury to wait three extra minutes for coffee,” Webster said.
