Students Question Menlo Cafeteria Etiquette and Quad Cleanliness

Throughout the first semester of the 2022-23 school year, Menlo slowly restored the cafeteria to its pre-pandemic state, with indoor dining and self-serve buffet lines both reopened. Despite these advancements, students agree that the cafeteria still suffers from a lack of respect; from line-cutting to various abandoned messes, students hope the cafeteria can maintain a cleaner look as the second semester proceeds.

Freshman Jade Yoo has observed many instances in the cafeteria in which students completely avoided cleaning up their messes, and can almost always spot dropped food on the floors. Even though the cafeteria feels mostly clean, Yoo thinks the student body should work harder to keep the floors clean, rather than leaving stepped-on food to be cleaned by the FLIK staff. “I’ve also noticed a lot of double-dipping in shared peanut butter and jam containers,” she said.

Junior Zach Ruwitch agrees that double-dipping in the cafeteria can be a problem. Ruwitch is allergic to nuts, leading him to avoid the sandwich spreads at school, including those that do not actually contain nuts. “I tend to stay clear of the jam, even though it doesn’t have nuts in it, just because I have seen [people] being a little careless with the peanut butter tub right next to it,” he said.

Junior Tate Lee perceives linecutting to also be typical at Menlo. Rather than waiting through a long line for hot lunch, students often opt to meet up with their friends, who have already made it to the very front; Director of Security Mustapha Moutri often guards the hot lunch line to prevent students from cutting in front of one another. According to Lee, since line-cutting seems so normalized amongst the student body, it can be difficult for anyone to get upset or speak up