Homecoming: The Black Friday of WSU Food Service.

This weekend is homecoming at WSU.

What this means to many students: “Start drinking at 7 a.m.”

What this means to cafeteria workers who have shifts that day (me): “Prepare for disorder and entropy.”

From past experience, our busiest bunch shift is homecoming morning. Lines get extremely long and there are lots of people. We have a lot of students bringing their parents or relatives, which we welcome. It can be hard to familiarize yourself with another dining area and we understand that you may not know all the rules.

I decided to make a list of things all diners should know, students and other diners alike.

1.     We have designated portions. If I tell you that I can’t give you another waffle, it’s because of food waste. At the end of the shift, we have these huge barrels in the dish room full of wasted food. We serve you as much as you want, but we can’t serve you more of a dish until you eat the first serving of what we give you.

2.     As workers, we are required to clean the dining room, but it is your job to bus your table. It is really hard to clean up after hundreds of people. We appreciate your efforts.

3.     Related to #2, if we have an area of the dining hall blocked off with chairs, it’s because it’s a slower day and it saves us the time of cleaning up another floor of Jack Kane. Please leave those chairs where they are. If there are no places to sit, just talk to a red-shirt employee and they will open up that area of the dining room.

Upstairs or downstairs? I notice more people flock downstairs. 

4.     If you have food allergies or intolerances, don’t hesitate to inform us. We are happy to accommodate and we don’t want to make people ill. If possible, calling ahead will help ensure that you can get what you want. We might have to boil extra noodles or defrost different waffles, and we don’t want to keep you waiting.

5.     Every worker is assigned a different task, and sometimes these change depending on the day. If we are out of chocolate milk, I have to go fetch the beverage runner; I am not trained to change it.

I had no idea how tricky it could be to refill those ketchup containers, until I was asked to, and wound up with a very red, zesty glove.

6.     We love talking to you guys. Having conversations with customers is fun.

7.     If you are dining with small children, please accompany them at all times. We don’t want accidents to happen. A worker carrying a case of cups may not be able to see a small child running under them.

8.    When you are ordering, speak a little louder than normal. We have a hard time hearing over the dish room or the machines around us.

Good news: freshly fried shrimp. Bad news: your voice sounds about 20 decibels lower.

9. We appreciate good manners and love it when customers say “thank you”. It means more to us than you might think.

And lastly,

10. Please, please, please don’t point over the glass to order. The glass is there to keep the food away from people’s hands, objects falling in, or sneezes. You don’t want these things in your food. 

 

Glass: keeping food safe since always.