UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA — Students in Professor Lay’s Intro to Psychology course expressed annoyance today as classmate Pringle Herrutz sat in the back row loudly eating from a family-sized bag of potato chips for the entirety of the 50-minute lecture. Herrutz reportedly shuffled into class 20 minutes late, rustling an obnoxiously loud king-sized bag of Salt and vinegar chips purchased from the campus store. He noisily crinkled and crunched his way through the bag, seeming oblivious to the constant disruptive chomping sounds reverberating through the small auditorium.
“It was impossible to focus with that deafening bag of chips going nonstop behind me,” said student Lisa Simmons. “The loud crunching was bad enough, but the chewing sounds were even worse. At one point I just gave up and started counting how many chips he could fit into each mouthful based on the chewing…11 if you were wondering.” According to students, Herrutz ’s voracious chip consumption only increased in volume as the lecture progressed, with the last 30 minutes consisting of exaggerated crunching, crumbling, and finger-licking. Some students reportedly have recorded the lecture, and a remix of these sounds is currently trending on popular video hosting platforms.
By the end, Herrutz had powered through the family-sized bag and was noisily using his fingers to pick out and eat chip fragments and seasoning from the corners. “I barely absorbed anything from today’s lecture because my mind was occupied trying to block out the unrelenting chip commotion,” said student Tyler Boyd.
Students noted that Herrutz offered chips around to no one in particular, later eating those rejected chips even more loudly. He also kept insisting that people try the flavors on his chip-dusted fingers. At press time, the professor had banned all food from future lectures, but Herrutz was attempting to sneak in several bags of popular brand chips for tomorrow’s class stuffed in his cargo shorts pockets.
