Worn out welcomes in the dining hall



Here's the routine:  Walk in, have your card swiped, collect your food, eat and leave your dishes at the cleaning station.  Is that so hard?  Apparently so.  Some students who eat at the dining hall,although they may not realise it, tend to take advantage of the employees during their work hours, attempting to add more chores into their job description.

  

The designated area for used cutlery. 
Students are expected to put their own
knives, forks and spoons in the categorised
tubs once finished eating.
Photo by Ashleigh Mehmed.





Emily View, 20-year old history major, has worked roughly 15 hours per week at the Residence Dining Hall since the beginning of semester.  She enjoys her job but doesn't appreciate the way that students don't all cooperate by doing the minimal amount of work that is required by them. 



Mess left by students during meal time in the
 Residence Dining Hall that employees will
now have to clean up.
Photo by Ashleigh Mehmed



"The messes that get left really annoy me. People think we're their mums and leave dishes everywhere," Emily says.  Considering her leniency with allowing people to come and eat after the meal finishing time, it wouldn't be hard for people to walk their plates over to the dirty dish area.



Fellow employee, Hashini Wedagedara feels Emily's pain of thoughtless students.  The 24-year-old engineering major can run a list off the top of her head about the things that frustrate her as a dining hall worker. 

The area that students are expected to bring
 their dirty dishesto, before the employees
 begin cleaning.
Photo by Ashleigh Mehmed.

"Sometimes people act like they don't know the rules, like with take away dinners," Hashini says.  She has worked in the dining hall for three years now, doing about 16 hours per week and always finds the same thing - "People beg me to let them in without paying, saying that they won't eat but they do anyway.  It really pisses me off."  Working in the serving line doesn't usually give her any problems, with the exception of "Greedy people." 

Maybe if students stopped and had a chat to one of these workers, they'd start feeling guilty for creating extra work during breakfast, lunch and dinner.