Everyday, students can find different cafeteria employees during their lunches, either working in the lunch lines, at the coffee bar, or in the kitchen. These school employees may make less money than a teacher or other staff members, but they still enjoy their jobs very much. 

Lunch lady Isadora Sanchez explained, “The times are flexible for me, I get time off on the weekends, and I really enjoy talking with the students.” Sanchez can be found working the coffee bars in the mornings and during lunch can be seen wherever she’s needed in the lunch lines. Lunch lady Sharon Pimentel agreed with Sanchez’s love for the job. She explained, “I love working with students, that’s why I’m here.”

Some students are disappointed when a new quarter starts and they don’t see their favorite lunch employee at their typical stand, but as Pimentel described, “We shift around so that we’re able to cover all areas if somebody is gone.” Students might find her working in the pizza line one quarter, and find her at the express station the next. 

Pimentel continued by saying, “I like all the stations. It’s a change, but I like them all and I get to meet different kids because they always go to the same lines.” During the holidays, Pimentel can also often be found dressing in different outfits depending on the holiday.

One of the biggest questions for students this school year was about the location swap of two of the lunch lines, the taco line and the test kitchen. Cafeteria manager Danielle Romero explained why this change happened this year, stating, “It was too crowded in the corner, and now it [the taco line] is more centrally located. Express is a very busy line, so then we had a ton of kids in the corner.” This allows for a more comfortable lunch line, since the previously adjacent taco and express lines created a mess of students in previous years. Now, the slower test kitchen line is in the corner, which makes the whole cafeteria feel less cramped.

Lunch employees are a vital part of the joyful atmosphere of the cafeteria, they add to that by decorating for different holidays. Romero enjoys crafting in her free time, and often makes many of the decorations seen in the cafeteria during different parts of the year. This October, the lunch lines were decorated with lots of pirate decor.

While they may be overlooked as just simply “cafeteria staff” or “lunch ladies,” Perry’s cafe employees are an important part of every student’s day.