The People Behind the Work: A Look into the Cafeteria Staff and Everything They Do

By: Olivia Cannon 

One of the most underappreciated yet essential groups in our school is the cafeteria staff. Without them, the school simply could not function. These workers do far more than just preparing and serving food. They also clean up after the students and reset the entire dining hall four times a day:  after breakfast and each of the three lunch periods. Their hard work often goes unnoticed, so this month, I dedicated my story to highlighting them and all their hard work they put in to keep the dining hall clean and ready for students. 

The cafeteria workers all have different stories and reasons for working here. one of them is Josie Sanders ( not the worker in the picture). Sanders said that her reason for working here is to be close to her son with special needs. Sanders son has seizures and her working in the cafeteria allows her to have the same schedule as him and always be close if he needs help.

Working in the cafeteria is frustrating when students don't clean up after themselves. A worker who has been here for a year said, " The freshmen leave the most mess. Sometimes I wish they would have  more respect and accountability to throw their trays away".

Lots of staff workers have different reasons to work here one staff worker said "I like the breaks, I get lots of time off for summer break, and spring break, that's when I get to take all of my vacation " this will always be something we have in common between staff and students, the break time is always a favorite.

This picture shows a piece of trash that was dropped on the ground, ignored by students walking by and left to the cleanup crew. A lot of the trash ends up on the floor a staff worker said, "often times when there is trash left its by the same people and everyone else ignores it because its 'not there problem' and then its left to us to clean it up, but really picking up your trash should not be our responsibility"

The cafeteria workers are a team and work together to prepare and serve the food, to clean up after the students, but they also act like a team to keep their work environment fun. Acashinoly you will catch two workers singing as they sweep together, laughing and making jokes back and forth, or just talking about their lives.

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