Opinion: We need to treat our D-Hall workers better

Outward appreciation of the dining hall is uncommon. I am a fourth year, and since my first week on campus, I have heard all kinds of hate for the dining hall, particularly the food. Through YikYak, overheard conversations and even facial expressions, the displeasure is clear.

I understand some of this discontent — the meal plan is expensive, and making it mandatory has added to underlying frustrations, compounded by the issues the administration has created with student employees surrounding treatment at work and fair wages. That being said, the dining hall has kept me healthy, fed and safe through hundreds of meals in my time here. It has become one of my favorite places on campus. 

About halfway through my college career, I began to express my appreciation to the people who make the dining hall the dining hall. Over time, my thank-yous turned into longer conversations, and the love that each dining hall employee puts into the silverware they wipe, the greetings they share and the food they prepare became quickly evident to me.

While dining hall employees care about us, I have found that we as a student body often do not return the favor. Several Honor G Grill employees expressed to me that they estimate less than half of the Grinnellians they encounter during their 10-hour work shifts say “Thank you” or even anything at all. What is said, however, speaks volumes.

“This looks like shit.” “That’s it?” “I should have cooked at home.” 

These are but a small sample of the comments dining hall employees have heard students say directly in front of them. Hours of intensive work preparing, cooking and plating food is snapped up by a pair of tongs and tarnished within a few seconds.

How would this make you feel? To what extent are these complaints productive? How can we be part of a socially conscious, progressive school if we fail to even respect our own community members? 

The dining hall is not perfect. Like everyone else, I have complained about the food and the long lines. However, I have learned over four years that the dining hall is made possible, and great, through the efforts of real people —  people who experience emotions and perceive the social interactions unfolding in front of them like anyone else, people who work hard to help make our experience as students at Grinnell better.

Let us remember and reward this effort with, at the very least, a smile and a thank-you. As I know firsthand, those smiles and thank-yous go a long way. 

For those with legitimate feedback for the dining hall, use the cards and read the whiteboard by the exit!

Peter Versh `25 holds up a heart outside the dining hall. (Owen Barbato)