Dong, Dong, Dong…
As the bell rings for lunch, you grab all your textbooks, shove them haphazardly into your backpack, and race out the door. Today’s dessert is the long-awaited ice cream sundae bar, and you are ready to push and shove through the throng of people just to get that scrumptious scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with a dash of chocolate syrup. But as you walk into the WCC, you already see a crowd of ravenous high schoolers drooling over the ginormous ice cream tub. Then, you turn around and see the line for the main meal today: tater tots and popcorn chicken. Behind the tantalizing aroma of the food? Another long line. Your heart sinks to your stomach, and you turn to your friend, sighing in annoyance. “Great, another day of waiting in this line.”
Although it’s frustrating to stand in line with an empty stomach, watching as all your friends bring huge plates of food over to a table, it’s time to stop complaining about the lunch lines.
First, we have to be reasonable. Since all families must pay a lunch fee on top of tuition, bringing food from home would be a waste of time and money. So, right now, SAGE workers are trying their best to feed 587 hungry high school students and many more faculty members. Assuming that approximately half of them have early lunch and the other half have late lunch, SAGE workers have to serve over 300 people each lunch while also accommodating dietary restrictions. Currently, most people can get their lunch in fifteen minutes, which I think is extremely impressive.
Second, we have to understand that the line depends on the food. If the food is delicious, more people will want to eat it, thus there will be a longer line. Why do you think the line was so long the one day we had an ice cream sundae bar? The law of supply and demand applies here, but instead of money, the “price” for more desirable food is your time. If you’re in a rush, there are still plenty of options, such as the pasta and the deli bars, that will satiate your hunger. Otherwise, unless you want SAGE to make the food more disgusting, I don’t see how there’s a way to decrease the lines.
Third, Lakeside has experimented with many different layouts and the one implemented right now is by far the most efficient. At the beginning of the year, the WCC looked different: the pasta bar stood in the middle while two lines went toward the main meal. These “lines,” however, became a giant blob of students struggling to get their food. Through testing different arrangements, administrators have found a workable solution: forming one line moving towards the main entrees and moving the pasta bar to the right corner so the lines don’t mesh together. These improvements have already significantly cut down the time we spend in the lunch line. As Food Service Director Michael Van Rooyen said in his interview with Student Government, “there isn’t much to do except let things settle naturally … and other than having more experienced servers, there isn’t much to improve on.” When it comes to the Lakeside community, however, there seems to be plenty that we can do to ensure the lunch lines continue smoothly. Especially when there’s a large crowd, students often go to the front, wave to a friend, and “subtly” blend into the line next to them. Although you’re hungry and impatient, to ensure the continuity of the line and the fairness for everyone stuck at the back, it’s best to stop taking this not-so-crafty shortcut.
All in all, SAGE and the administration have already done so much to make our lunch a better experience. Keep in mind that everyone — including the kitchen staff — is getting used to this new system. Rather than complaining about when you’re going to reach the front of the line, take a second and smile at the workers who pass you and tell them that you’re grateful for their work. Because while you’ve been waiting in line for five minutes, they’ve been in the kitchen all morning preparing your delicious meal. It’s important to show them the appreciation they deserve.
