I was sitting in a chair in that little wing of the Tappan Gymnasium when two students walked past and started a loud conversation next to me. I’d been waiting for my parents to pick me up after my soccer game, and was failing miserably to focus on my math homework. The students chatted with one another, and I couldn’t help but overhear as they came upon a troubling topic: their regret after being rude to a custodian. I was taken aback as I listened to them talk about the supposedly “soul-crushing” feeling they were experiencing after making fun of someone who was just trying to do their job. However, after only a few seconds of reflecting and a quiet moment, they switched back to their regular conversation. Bewildered, I got up and left, but the conversation stuck with me for a few days.
During my first year at the high school, I have often been disappointed at the way students treat the lunch and janitorial staff. It’s not only about the occasional shocking moment, like my experience with the students talking, but it’s also about the daily interactions that I witness between students and the staff here, or rather the lack thereof. I rarely see students having friendly conversations with the cafeteria and custodial staff. If students are having everyday interactions with somebody like a janitor for a cafeteria worker, they should say more than just a please or thank you. One of our school mantras is we create the culture we want. I don’t think we want a culture of transactional relationships.
As students, we are responsible for caring for our environment, school and the staff here. We should try to uphold our school’s values and act with responsibility. If you want people to help you and be polite to you, you should also be polite to them. Although it may not seem like a big deal, actions that you may think are small can add up over time and create a toxic atmosphere at our school.
For example, one specific scenario that I witnessed was one time just after the cafeteria doors opened. Someone had upended their entire tray on the ground, and the perpetrator had dashed, not bothering to hold themselves accountable. I’ve seen people hurry away from dirty lunch tables, not bothering to wonder who’s cleaning up after them. One of my friends once told me that she overheard some students remarking on how “slow” the lunch staff was. Although these may seem like small incidents, together they all add up to a pattern of mistreatment.
The janitors and cafeteria staff at the high school are not only hard working but very friendly people and are generally extremely willing to help. For instance, one time I accidentally left my phone in a classroom. Desperate to get it back, I went to the main office, and quickly located a janitor who walked with me all the way from the main office to my classroom on the 3rd floor and unlocked the door for me. On the way home, I checked the high school’s website because I wanted to figure out what his name was so that I could greet him in the future; however, I was surprised to see that the website’s staff page doesn’t include any of the lunch or janitorial staff’s names. Our janitors and custodians should be acknowledged for all that they do because, without them, our school would cease to function.
Just as important are the cafeteria staff who get to school early and spend hours each day preparing and serving meals to the students and staff at the high school. They make an effort to provide a variety of healthy, culturally unique food options and they spend a lot of time cleaning up messes that students make as well, like at the salad bar, which usually has a lot of spilled condiments. Without the cafeteria and the lunch that goes along with it, we would lose an essential part of life at the high school.
Our cafeteria team, janitors and custodians are amazing people that deserve to be appreciated. If you take the time to get to know them a little better, it can go a long way. You can start by simply saying hello to the lunch staff in the cafeteria or smiling at them. Whenever I say hi to the janitors, they always make an effort to ask me how my day is going, and the staff in the cafeteria even remembers my name. Take a minute to ask them how their day is going. I encourage you to make an effort to do this because it will create a much more positive environment in the cafeteria and will benefit everyone!
