Cafeteria staff a hit with
students, but breakfast beckons

By Larissa Larivee
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Here at NCC, breakfast is only served until 9:30 a.m. This is an issue to some students who wish to have it served longer. The cafeteria staff agrees, but the matter is out of their hands unless the school was to see the need for a new grill. Students may have a legitimate case for longer breakfast service, but in the meantime, the cafeteria staff is serving up spirit, as well as food.

The cafeteria staff at NCC is so wonderful that seeing their smiling faces makes the cafeteria a less scary place. Many NCC students eat in the cafeteria, but not many know of “Cheeseburger Charlie” Christianson, the awesome Diane Schaefers or Jon Beavors, the head chef.

Schaefers works really hard serving food to the students, making coffee, cleaning
and ringing up orders. She says that she is rarely bored and that it can be so
busy that she doesn’t get the chance to sit down or have her break. Schaefers enjoys
the college environment and it’s way of life. She says she prefers it here because
high school kids are “snotty” while students here are “friendly.”

NCC student Thom Cavanaugh said, “Lunchlady D. (Schaefers) is the sh*t!” Which despite the profanity is an expression of admiration for all of Schaefers’ efforts. Cavanaugh, as well as many other students, feels that the cafeteria should serve breakfast all day. Schaefers agrees that it would be nice if breakfast was served later than 9:30 a.m.

According to Beavors, the head chef, the current schedule is in place because he does not have the space or equipment to serve breakfast any later. Because of the time it takes to remove all the cold food products from breakfast and to clean off the grill, they barely have enough time to get out the lunch products and start the hamburgers. Beavors says that the problem could be solved, but neither he nor any of the cafeteria workers have any say in the matter, even though they agree that a later breakfast would be nice. Beavors also said that he has students
asking him about later breakfast almost everyday. If the school could supply
another grill, students would have the option of omelets at lunchtime.

Having the luxury of breakfast is wonderful,
but the majority of classes don’t start until after 9 a.m. Some students
eat breakfast early in the morning. One student commented that he eats breakfast at 6:30 in the morning. Many other students however, reported that they eat later in the morning. Some students noted that they do not eat breakfast at all because they “don’t have enough time.” If breakfast were to be served later on in the day, the students who just eat lunch because they don’t have time for breakfast would still be able to enjoy some excellent eggs, albeit long after sunrise.

Beavors does his job with a smile, and he likes his coworkers. He enjoys working side by side with Schaefers. Beavors also believes his co-worker Christianson is “fun and energetic.”

Christianson is the grill cook here at NCC. He serves breakfast and lunch. Doing
all the special orders for students keeps him busy so he is never bored. Christianson loves the students here and lovingly calls the cafeteria patrons “all my children.”
Serving food is his livelihood, and he loves his job dearly. Working at the NCC cafeteria is more demanding than the typical high school nutrition job and requires a superior level of skill.

Christianson’s philosophy is that you can please some people some of the time, but not everybody all the time. This philosophy helps him when he has impolite or pushy customers. As a result, many students who pass through the grill line have grown quite fond of Christianson. He is Denny’s restaurant in the morning and Ronald McDonald in the afternoon.

The ever-cool cafeteria employees like their breakfast as much as the students do. They acknowledge that a new grill is the only answer to getting breakfast all day long, and would like such an addition as much as the students would. However, the decision to acquire a new grill would have to be made by school officials, not the cafeteria staff. The wait for waffles-at-will continues, but Schaefers, Beavors and Christianson, as well as the rest of the cafeteria staff, still smile as they serve students whatever meal they are awake in time to eat.