Thanks, Michael and Elisabeth!
So, to start, I have virtually no knowledge of the Hitchhiker's Guide, so no, the EOW is not based on the EOU. What is the EOU? I looked online, but couldn't find anything?
The EOW was based on the one sit-down restaurant on campus where I went to college. Apparently, years before, there was a bridge that led from the library to the student union. At some point the bridge no longer led to the library and then they built a sit-down restaurant at that end of the bridge. It was called End of the Bridge (or EOB for short). I'm sure it's long gone, now, though as the student union was torn down and built someplace else a year or so after I left. And sadly that was so long ago, it's likely the new student union has been replaced by now, too...
Yes, Elisabeth - a dining credit is exactly what you thought. On the campus where I went to school they could be used all over - for example there was a dining hall that was essentially a fast-food court and you could use dining credits to get things like meal deals. (Over the weekend, we went out for pie at a restaurant nearby that is across the street from a college campus. They had a sign up saying they took dining credits from the college as well, so I guess they can sometimes be used off campus as well.) As someone who lived off-campus, I didn't have meal credits so I can't recall how they translated to meals at EOB, but I recall that at the end of the semester EOB would be packed with people taking all their commuter friends out to dinner to use up dining credits.
I can't say for sure why we never went aside from then, but I can make a couple of guesses. Basically, it was pretty small (maybe 20-30 tables), it had a bar as well, and it was the only place on campus that served alcohol. My guess is that most nights, it was crowded with upper classmen and so it was hard to get a table.
Is the EOW inspired from the EOU from the Hitchhiker's Guide?
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