Carmen Murphy helps Starlette Gonzalez (’17) as she puts in a student’s order. Photo By Jamie Pham.by Celine Hoang, Social Media Manager & Laura Le, Staff Writer
For many students at Fountain Valley High School [FVHS], being a cafeteria worker is their first job. Working in the cafeteria provides many additional benefits such as having a payroll card, leaving fourth period early and more. Students are able to have the experience of learning excellent service while enjoying serving their peers.
“This job has benefitted me a lot because I put it in my job application for my second job at Office Depot and my experience in the cafeteria helped me get that job,” said May Le (‘17).
Students workers learn different work ethics from learning how to be patient with people, being able to work in a fast-paced environment and having the ability to converse with customers. After working here, they would benefit from trying to get a new job because they have experience working with people, money, food and more.
Working in the cafeteria may have downsides such as not being able to have lunch with friends, but students have found working there to still be beneficial and enjoyable.
“Some people don’t like working at the cafeteria, but I actually like working there. Although there are downsides to the job, like not being able to hang out with your friends or eating, I found working here very enjoyable,” said Elise Ngo (‘19).
Ngo found that another plus to working is improving in mental math skills.
“When I first started working, I was really slow at giving out change because I didn’t have a calculator. But continually working at the register everyday, my mental math skills began improving, and I’m much faster at giving out change now. Although, I later found out there was a calculator function on the register, but I don’t need that anymore,” said Ngo.
Jessica Le (‘18) found that working in the cafeteria gave her better time management skills. “When I started this job, it really helped me to manage my time more to be able to get to school on time and also break up my tasks into sections to be able to finish my job on time before the bell rings.”
Carmen Murphy, the food service manager, has been working at FVHS for 6 years. Murphy enjoys working with the school, staff and students. She feels the obligation to teach them the responsibility of a job.
“I tell my student workers that this might not be the perfect job, but this job will lead you to a better job, because they will get experience, also they prepare them for future interviews. They feel great for what they do, that is feed the students,” said Murphy.
There are many positive aspects of working in the cafeteria, and workers come learning new experiences and are able to take the skills they’ve learned to other jobs.
“Everyone in the cafeteria is so kind and helpful and work really hard to make every student happy. Also, for anyone wanting to work in school or outside of school should go for it because by having job, it really shows a new perspective and makes a person more independent,” said Le.
Excellent Article!!!