My experience as a college cafeteria worker.

OH HO! Not another stupid job, post, thing!

Here 'y go, loves. Would you like an extra scoop of mashed potatoes with that?
I worked at the dining hall for 6.5 years and I hated it. Unless cooking is your passion, never do this to yourself. Also, always remember that your servers are people too!

Contrary to popular belief not all cafeteria workers have giant sentient moles on their face. We do have hairnets, though.

Seriously! We are are a cafeteria! Not a restaurant. Not your parents. Don't leave your dishes on the table! There was a group of burly guys that always left all their dishes on the table. They were burly and ate a lot, so lots of dishes. They may have been football players, which explains it. At my college, the football players think they're hot shit, even though they can't win a game to save themselves. My favorite is when they leave dishes right next to the sign that says "Please take your dishes to the dish room." The parents are actually worse. They think that we are a restaurant, and that they are above the rules.

Apparently they can't read.

Generally we mix the pasta and sauce and serve it in little bowls, but here was a girl who always ordered plain pasta. Then she would get sauce on the side and mix it together.

It was Sunday at 1 am (we stay open late because some college students don't sleep). The girl and her obviously friend zoned pet comes in. She gets upset that we are out of sushi and we try to explain to her that since sushi is a popular item, it runs out fairly early in the day. On top of that, we don't get sushi delivered on the weekend and since it's almost the end of the semester, she should know this by now. She proceeds to stomp and jump around whining that her night has been ruined and how was she going to get her sushi fix as if we could magically make some appear for her. I don't think she was sober.

I have cut myself only once, and it was a lot worse than this. I didn't complain, though. I have also gotten several burns. This was seriously the tiniest cut in the world. It didn't even need a band aid, yet she insisted that it was horrible. If you can't handle the kitchen life(or knife), the kitchen life 'aint for you!

Not only does it ruin a bunch of napkins, but it also doesn't fix the problem. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there.

What a waste of napkins! I found a half eaten chicken leg once.

Too many times people have dropped entire plates of food in the middle of the walkway, and just kept going as if it never happened.

Once they have touched the plate, according to health regulations, they are not allowed to put it back.

My sister also works in the dining halls with me. One time she was making a sandwich for a customer and right as she was done, the customer saw something else they wanted and changed their mind. So my sister had to throw the sandwich away. This is why you should look at all the food before making a rash decision!

There are just some people who get so excited when we serve certain things. I like to make pancakes with batter drawings on them. They are crude, because the batter sucks, but it is still nice knowing that I made someone's day, because their pancake had a Triforce on it.

I am not a morning person. Sometimes I play games to keep myself awake and to occupy the time when it's slow. Sometimes I play "Avoid the Trainer". The trainer makes sure everyone is there on time and doing their job. Monitor is the easiest shift to play this in because you have the most mobility (walking around and wiping tables/surfaces, making sure the drink fountains are full). First, the trainer must not know that you are playing the game. No direct contact is allowed (i.e. talking or walking right by each other). You can see each other from a distance though, and then they know that you are actually working. You lose if they get close or especially if they talk to you.

Another time, a customer asked for hot sauce, because we were out. I brought him a new bottle and pretended I was serving wine with a towel over my arm and everything. He got a kick out of that!