"I don't know what they say behind closed doors, but they did seem receptive to us," says Gregory Lee, a Winthrop House cook.

Administrators say that teambuilding between the Lowell and Winthrop dining halls was key since the two halls would be merging certain function--such as the dish room--after the renovations were complete.

McGahey says HUDS tried to start meetings off with different "energizers" such as a juggling activity with stuffed animals and a teambuilding exercise using a balance beam.

But some workers say that although the administration had good intentions, they may have overdone it with the games.

"We're all grown ups, no kids here," Lee says. "They kept overemphasizing certain things in the team aspect. We were going to work together no matter what, they didn't need to keep stressing it. If we had only a few meetings, the outcome would've been the same."

Dougenik says the motivations behind the frequent teambuilding and planning meetings were good, but the meetings themselves sometimes added extra stress.

"We don't have time to sit down all afternoon for a meeting when we have a job to do," he says. "The meetings were helpful except they were time consuming, and we didn't have the time."