By Kyle Chan, Staff Writer
During lunch of the 2022-2023 school year, student food workers experienced many events; whether it is the joy of getting paid, the sense of being overwhelmed with large crowds, or maybe dealing with the conflicts that happen between students waiting in the lines.
Before the pandemic, the snacks during brunch had different prices (depending on the item) and lunch cost $5 dollars. Since Mills opened their doors for in person school during the 2021- 2022 school year, the SMUHSD district allowed school lunch and brunch to be free. With the food continuing to be free, “ including crowd favorites” such as the nachos or classics like the pizza, the lines are destined to be longer.
After the bell rings for lunch, the cafeteria is jam packed with students waiting in line for food. The cafeteria is always loud and hectic, whether it’s with the food being served, students ordering food, fighting or talking in line. There are a lot of events that go down during that period of time. Two student food workers, Natalie Yeung (12) and Phoebe Zhang (12), share their thoughts and experiences on this job so far this year.
“An underclassman hit a football player in line. There are a lot of fights that break out within this lunch period” said Zhang. But she also states that it is a fun experience as she enjoys serving food to other students. Yeung shares that her experience has also been positive and that the staff are very kind. She also includes that, “there have been difficult times when dealing with things but it’s a learning process.”
Although working with food helped her become more efficient during her shift, Phoebe explains that students need to speak louder because all the noises in the cafeteria makes it hard to hear orders. Having this job can be one stressful task just because of all the people asking for their orders while crowding the area. Even if it can be stress-inducing, Yeung said that it has helped her improve her multitasking skills.
“Everything happens really fast when serving. You can be selling someone a water while continuing to manage the students putting in their ID’s” she explained.
Approximately five minutes before brunch or lunch, they are to leave class to help set up the food. If they are unable to leave class early, Yeung says that, “The staff is understanding and is fine if you can’t leave class early”. There are also different positions when serving such as working the computer, which requires signing into the POS system. The POS system is a combination of hardware, software, and services that merchants use to accept payments from customers in exchange for goods and services in person or online. The other position will serve food, in which they have to wash their hands, wear gloves, and to organize food.
Since this is a paid opportunity, it is a good way to make money without the requirement of going somewhere else or having to stay after school. Also, there will still be time to eat after your shift.
“What intrigued me the most about the job was the pay,” Zhang said. “You get paid $16.40 dollars an hour”.
If you are looking for an easy source of income, sign up to be a student food worker because this is a good occupation that can strengthen important abilities and the staff could use more help.
