Mice invade Quad Commissary shelves

Mouse-chewed cookies and candies are becoming a regular item on the shelves of the Quadrangle Commissary, according to several Quad residents. College freshman Darren Chapman said he saw the telltale bite marks on a Kit Kat bar on the shelf of the Penn Student Agencies owned Commissary a few weeks ago. He added that he "often [sees] candy that was nibbled up by mice." Engineering freshman Fenwick Garvey also said he has "occasionally seen one or two mice" running across the floor of the Quad Commissary. Because of his encounters with the rodents, Garvey said he will not buy "anything if it was unwrapped or had a hole chewed through it." According to Quad Commissary manager Jim Padilla, a Wharton senior, admitted that the Commissary has a problem with mice, but added that the store is looking for solutions. But, in the meantime, he said items spoiled by mice are always disposed before they are sold. "We never sold any food that was tampered with," he said. College freshman Loryn Wilson -- who wrote a letter to the editor of the Daily Pennsylvanian complaining of the rodent infestation in the Commissary last week -- said she will "only buy drinks" from the Commissary because she does not want to share her snacks with the mice. "I find it really disturbing that nothing is being done [about the mouse problem,]" she added. But Padilla insists that "it's not a Commissary thing." "It's a Quad thing," he said. In fact, Padilla blames the "lack of help from Physical Plant" on the chronic mice infestation in the Commissary. Padilla said he even called "experts in terms of extermination" for advice on the problem because "Physical Plant always seems to be backed up." Residential Maintenance Assistant Director Philip Genther said he inspected the Quad Commissary just the other day. "The place was a mess," he said. "There was merchandise on the floor." Genther said he has been "talking with every [extermination] expert on the east coast" about the problem this week. The experts confirmed that "the food source" is what attracts the mice, he said. Traps and baits will not get rid of the mice when the food source remains, Genther added. "It is important that we eliminate the food sources," he said. Genther also said mice are able to freely enter the Commissary because "the Commissary door is always open." Although the door to the Quad Commissary was closed yesterday, and Padilla set "every single type of mouse trap, from pellets to glue traps" to combat the problem, sorting through mouse-chomped packages of cookies and chips everyday was too much for one former Commissary cashier, who quit as a result of the problem. "It's kind of disgusting," said the former employee, who asked that his name be withheld. "Would you like it if there were mouse traps below you at work?"