Cafeteria changes cause confusion; staff works to speed up lines

September 9, 2019 — by Benjamin Li and Allen Luo

From no cash to no cart, adjustments to the cafeteria policy are catching students off guard.

For the first few weeks of school, as students filed into the cafeteria during the 10-minute passing period following tutorial, many were baffled by the unusually long wait time, leaving them frustrated by the recent changes in cafeteria policies. 

Changes that have taken place inside the main cafeteria include the removal of change given when paying in cash and the introduction of new card scanners. In addition, the cafeteria is no longer serving food during tutorial, instead opening during the 10-minute passing period following it. 

The new cashier system, created by Titan School Solutions, automatically enters students’ change as credit onto their ID card when they pay with cash, resulting in less cash being exchanged and speeding up lines. 

“I actually like the new system,” cafeteria head Pam Carlino said. ”I don’t need to count as much cash.”

Although some of these changes have helped the cafeteria staff to be more efficient, they have also had downsides as students adjust to them..

For instance,  sophomore Jason Lin is one of many students who have complained about hungry after first and second period. 

“They should change it back,” Lin said. “Nobody wants to wait until the end of tutorial to get food.” 

The change to tutorial was a result of the school’s effort to complete enough educational minutes to meet the required standards set by the state that mandate no food being sold during those minutes. The other changes, which included the transfer of cafeteria worker Michael Bravo to Los Gatos High and the implementation of the new software, were by the decision of the district office; the cafeteria staff had no say in it, Carlino said. During this time, cafeteria staff worker Barbara Herrera was also hospitalized due to a lung infection, leaving the staff shorthanded.

“Usually, the cafeteria has six points of service,” Carlino said. “One at each of the cash registers, including the one in the outside cafeteria, one serving students in the specialty line, and one at the pizza carts outside.”

With two employees gone, it was impossible to keep everything running smoothly without removing one of the service options, resulting in the long lines seen on the first few days of school.

These lines were a hindrance to everyone, especially students wanting to get food.

“[The lines] are painful,” junior Enoch Luk said. “ They have always been difficult to deal with and can often take up to half of lunch. I can’t wait to go off-campus to avoid them.”

Despite the cafeteria’s rough start to the year, the situation is improving. Herrera has returned to work. And after meeting with administrators, Carlino was able to persuade them to transfer Bravo back from Los Gatos.

“I’m hoping the lines are going to get better,” Carlino said. “We finally got our help back. Hopefully everything will improve and we’ll have the cafeteria running smoothly again.”

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