Quest cafeteria staff creates community

Michelle Moon, staff reporter

As the third passing period begins, the exterior glass walls of the cafeteria are swarmed with an influx of hungry teenage students, the cafeteria staff is urgently preparing the amounts of food consumed for the day, giving off an aroma of craving. There are Quest staff all around the large cafeteria who are continuously serving, preparing, and cashiering over hundreds of students. In the midst of all this havoc, there are cafeteria staff who have not had their perspective about the cafeteria, their goals and ambitions, and other aspects about the cafeteria presented.

According to Pablo Diaz Quest, cafeteria staff member, he enjoys his job because he likes to serve South students and enjoys talking to students on a daily basis. Because of this, he has become more open to the people here and it increases a positive mentality for him.

“I like to work with the kids here, so that he can serve them,” Diaz said.

According to Dihanat Aguilar, Quest cafeteria staff cashier and server, she also favors this job due to the positivity around the school.

“Meeting new people, meeting new kids, […] and working with my coworkers [are reasons why I enjoy this position],” Aguilar said.

Aguilar believes that GBS has a greater diversified choice of food options, which enables students at South to eat a wider variety of food. For Aguilar, this is unlike other schools that she has worked at who have more limited food options.

“From what I have known, different schools don’t have a variety of menus so I think [having a large variety] is a good thing.” Aguilar said.

According to Aguilar, being a part of the cafeteria staff is very different from other occupations at GBS because it has the goal of serving food to students. This can mean working different staff positions, and having a different mindset working here, aside from working in other places.

“There’s cashiering [which is unlike other jobs here at GBS],” Aguilar said. “There are different rules in general within the cafeteria.”

Throughout the cafeteria, there can be observations spotted amongst the workers about the general vibe and attitude. Aguilar remarks that the cafeteria staff can have a generally positive attitude yet maintain a work-oriented mindset.

“I would say friendly but […] we’re serious [at times],” Aguilar said.

The cafeteria staff also contains people with potential to go higher up the cafeteria occupations of, for example, being a cashier to a supervisor in the case of Aguilar. Or, a server to a high positioned manager in the case of Diaz. To both Aguilar and Diaz, they have goals and ambitions of what they want to be in the near future, and how they plan on getting to that position.

“I want to go up the scale and learn how to be a supervisor [for the Quest cafeteria staff at South].” Aguilar said.