Staff writer Brielle Kronstedt borrowed some silverware from the dining hall as part of The Daily Tar Heel's Bucket List for UNC students. She documented her experience here:
Lenoir didn’t know what hit it.
After two hours of carefully planning Operation Bling Ring over iMessage in classes, my partner in crime and I rendezvoused in the window room of Lenoir. We both had dishes full of food. I had a bowl with yogurt and peaches while she had a plate with a wrap and fries. We were like Bonnie and Clyde, or in our case, Bonnie and Claudia.
I took a second to text my mom and remind her to pick up the phone for an unknown number just in case we needed bail money.
I am not a criminal.
I never even stole bubblegum off the counter when my mom wasn’t looking. This was a big step for me. I will look back on this day and reminisce on the beginning of my criminal career.
My first week of school here at UNC, I remember seeing a lonely bowl from Rams Head tossed carelessly aside in SASB Plaza. As a freshman, I immediately took a double take and stared at it with wide, naïve eyes. Can you really sneak dishes past the security guards in their intimidating CDS uniforms? I have wondered ever since.
Monday I decided to put my thoughts to rest and check thieving off my bucket list. My wonderful roommate was eager to be my co-pilot on this adventure.
We scouted out the dish conveyer belt and the open space in front of the down escalator from the window room.
“We have to wait till it gets busier!” Mary Rachel whispered loudly. A kind soul sitting one chair over gave us the strangest look.
Suddenly, a swarm of people coming out of their noon classes came stumbling off the escalator in packs. We both exchanged a glance. This was our chance.
We gathered our backpacks and jackets calmly and began walking back towards the escalators with our plates full of food. I could hear Mary Rachel whispering behind me, “We have to walk around and fake putting our dishes away!”
I could feel adrenaline pumping through my veins, and I knew if I stopped I would lose courage.
Ten feet. Eight feet. Three feet. I saw Mary Rachel dodge towards the dish conveyer belt in my peripheral vision. My heart was pumping through my chest, but I just kept walking. We had made it this far. Go big or go home.
It all felt surreal the moment my feet hit the steps of the escalator. It took me a few precious seconds to realize it wasn’t working, so I had to casually keep my stride and quickly walk down the steps. In that instant, I felt like I was wearing a neon sign telling the world I was taking a bowl from Lenoir.
I was 15 feet from the back doors of Lenoir. I could feel my spirits lifting as the end neared. My partner was somewhere behind me, but I had lost her exact coordinates. I guess there are always casualties in crime.
Then disaster struck. A door opened to my left and a large, burly CDS employee exited and began walking straight toward me. I concealed my loot with my sweatshirt and dashed for the door. My breath caught in my chest and I remember dodging a group of slow-moving guys all for mission impossible.
Sunlight. Freedom. I had never felt so alive. I was on top of the world. My partner busted out of the doors behind me, flushed and plate-less. It was a moment of celebration as we sat down at a table outside of Lenoir and giggled over our loot. We were victorious and our trophy was the chipped, white, plastic bowl glowing in the afternoon sun.
Needless to say, the bowl was quietly and discreetly returned to the dining hall less than an hour later. But in that moment, we were invincible.
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