When students are feverishly rushing towards their favorite dishes, eager to slap a mountain of mac and cheese and chicken strips onto their trays, things tend to get a little chaotic. Very quickly it becomes obvious who is practicing good etiquette and who is too blinded by their hunger to notice the freshman they just elbowed in the face. Twice.
“I’ve been bumped into and had food spilled all over me, “sophomore Maddie Snow said, “it was so disgusting.”
But it’s a problem easily fixed if students can calm their loudly complaining stomachs and just wait in a single file line for each buffet. Not only is this way less harmful towards scrawnier inhabitants of the school but it also makes the process go more efficiently, thus much faster as well.Setting the Table
For those interesting in being extra fancy during lunch, etiquette expert and creator of tableetiquette.com Bille-Ann Nolan offers some advice.
“Knowing your way around a table setting is important — especially when you are trying to make a good impression.” Nolan said. “The skills and knowledge needed to navigate your way around a complex table setting show discipline, attention to detail, and a respect of etiquette that is sadly lacking in this day and age. These values make a fantastic impression on just about anybody.”
The general rule for correctly setting up your utensils is to start from the outside of your place setting and work towards your main plate (or in this case your tray) going spoon first, then knife, then fork.
Eating
“One of the basketball players was messing around and got apple sauce all over his warmup.” freshman Erica Good said, “And since I’m a manager I had to wash it for him later, it was not good.”
Many lunchroom mishaps can be effortlessly avoided when practicing correct manners, but as it turns out that’s an easier feat than it sounds; although long standing rules of etiquette state never to put your elbows on the table or eat with your hands, in a setting like the school lunchroom the only real guidelines that need to be followed are what fellow students are seen doing. Because the very definition of etiquette is “The customary code of polite behavior in society or among members of a particular profession or group,” there is no practical need to follow rules that others aren’t. It all boils down to common sense.
But by no means, ever, no matter what anyone else is doing, is it acceptable chew with an open mouth. Because ew.
Cleaning Up
Very much like the process of receiving trays, returning them can also cause a lot of chaos. But the main concern is leftover debris from the food storm that just took place. The polite thing to do would be for everyone to discard their bottles and containers in the correct place, saving custodians the trouble. But, because this isn’t a perfect world it would be totally acceptable for students to help each other out by picking up things left behind.
“One time I accidentally threw my tray into the trashcan,” senior Trevor Jones said, “I don’t think anyone saw though. Or at least I hope nobody saw.”
