Opinion: Next time someone drops a tray, think before you clap

Part of the reason I applied to Grinnell was that the students seemed like really friendly people. Over the past four years, my classmates have largely lived up to that expectation. But there must be something in the water at the dining hall besides nitrates and radium because there, many of us have exposed ourselves as total jerks.

Unless you’ve somehow been able to secure an exemption from the meal plan, we’ve all witnessed it at one point or another. Someone’s walking between the tables, tray precariously balanced on their hands, when they drop their plate or spill their drink. The entire room erupts in applause before said person can so much as squat down to sheepishly clean up the mess.

If it’s your friend, fine. Giving people a hard time is a sign of a healthy friendship. But things have gotten out of hand. Last time I saw someone drop their tray, the clapping from all corners of the room was thunderous. If I closed my eyes, I’d have thought it was curtain call at a Broadway musical. For the tray dropper, what do you think that feels like?

If you’ve dropped your tray before, you know the answer for sure. For the rest of us, we have to imagine ourselves in that person’s now food-soaked shoes.

Continue this radical thought experiment for a moment. Tray Spiller #1 is no longer a clown placed on Earth for our entertainment, but a human with thoughts and feelings and a personality. Maybe they’re a first year adjusting to a strange new place, looking for an empty table to eat at, waiting for someone, anyone, to welcome them in. Maybe they wanted to be seen, but they weren’t planning on becoming the center of attention so suddenly. Maybe they can laugh it off. Maybe they want to shrink into a little ball and die. Or, if they want to shrink into a little ball and die, maybe they’re able to hide it by laughing it off. Who’s to say what they’re thinking, or what else has happened to them in their day or their life? It’s impossible to know, and I guess that’s the point. I don’t know if anyone’s coined a term for all this, but I call the concept “empathy.”

So why do we single a vulnerable person out? Are we that proud of ourselves for managing to carry our own tray without dropping it that day? Do we take some perverse joy in the suffering of others? Are we just clapping because we see everyone else doing it?

Next time you see someone drop their tray, go ahead. Clap, cheer, do whatever you want. Amuse yourself at the expense of another person you don’t even know. Once you’re done, ask the cheery checkers if you can step outside to the bathroom, and go take a long, hard look in the mirror, because in a more serious situation, you’re not going to be on the right side of history.

Andrew Ruger is a staff writer for The S&B. He is a fourth year from Chicago majoring in economics with a concentration in policy studies.