For as long as I can remember, every school I’ve been to has offered free utensils in the lunchroom. And it makes sense. If you forgot your utensil at home or just needed a utensil for a chocolate pudding you somehow got from a kid, you could just grab a utensil.
Utensils are a necessity in any public place for food consumption. So when the lunch staff took the utensils from the commons and moved them to the food service area only, I was surprised.
I didn’t realize what this meant until a couple weeks later when a friend gave me a yogurt at lunch. I was ecstatic! But then I realized I didn’t have a utensil since I didn’t need one for my school lunch that day. When I went to the cafeteria there were no utensils available. I sighed deeply.
Going back to my friend, someone mentioned that the student store had utensils. Walking up to the store I was imagining a perfect world where they would kindly give me a utensil for free. I was very mistaken.
Like any good capitalist student store they were selling utensils. For $1 you could have a pass to take 5 utensils. I ran to my bag grabbed my only bill, a $20 bill. And tried to buy a utensil but was rejected because they apparently couldn’t give me change and only could take exact amount. I was exasperated but persisted. My friend very kindly gave me 4 quarters to buy a fork. Returning to the store I was waved away once again. They apparently didn’t take coins either. Unbelievable! I thought, but I was too far gone to stop now.
After asking about 5 people to trade with them the quarters for a $1 bill (an apparently very rare item). Finally, one of oval house’s student representatives, Ava Gharib, blessed me with a $1 bill. Running back to the store for hopefully for the last time, I bought my pass, got a utensil, gave the pass to my friend, and finally ate my well deserved yogurt. I was well annoyed but I shrugged it off.
That was until last week when I was given a quiche. I was excited, I just needed a utensil…
I went to the cafeteria. Although they were closing up after serving breakfast I could see the utensils just a few feet away and the cafeteria door had not been closed yet. I asked if I could quickly grab a utensil but was told I had to have gotten breakfast earlier to get one. Although it was just meters away I didn’t fight it and went to my first period. I then had to eat a delicious quiche with my hands…
But it wasn’t until this last Friday the 20th that I knew I must bring this to light. A yellow sign with bold writing was put up in the cafeteria and read as follows: “Please Bring Your Own Utensils If… You Bring Own Meals.”
For the most part I agree. If you consistently bring your own meals you should bring the necessary utensil for lunch. But what about all other situations? What if you forgot? What if all you had time for was to get a $1 cup of noodles from Walgreens? Are you just supposed to drink it or use your hands? What has happened for these rules to be put in place? Although not everyone has used the utensils responsibly, I would guess that most people have, enough that everyone should have access to the utensils.
I wouldn’t call the utensil usage un-supervised before these changes either. Last year some classmates and I tried to grab some forks and napkins for a class party that was going on. A lunch lady stopped us and, like the good children we are, we listened.
To wrap this up, I’m not trying to berate the lunch staff. I know they’re just following the school policies and I appreciate all the hard work they do. Ultimately, utensils are cheap and an important school resource. It is totally reasonable that everyone should have access if they do indeed need them. I think the school should really rethink their dumb decision around utensils. This is a small issue but I think fixing it will show that students can call out things we think are wrong and get the school to listen and fix them.
