Lunch at Summit only lasts 30 minutes. Between getting to the commons, finding your table, and getting settled, you’ve already cut off around five to seven minutes from your meal time. What shortens your time even more is going to the microwaves.
Now, I get it, if you bring food to be heated up, that’s on you. However, the time I’m not accounting for is how long it takes to use the microwave when other students are being unfair. With six total appliances and three lunch shifts, you’d think it would be quick and easy. But, with some teenager’s lack of etiquette and simple manners, it takes even longer just to sit down and eat.
An unsaid rule, in my opinion, is that students are to form one single-file line behind one of the pairs of microwaves to wait to heat up their lunch. Despite this being a common mindset among students who use the microwaves, countless times I have been waiting in line and kids will line up…right next to me? Explaining that there’s two lines, in order to make it seem as if I’m lined up behind a certain microwave.
Now, if I wanted to get in separate lines, I would have lined up behind the better microwave (and everyone knows which one it is). Plus, these students have other friends who come and “join” them in line, butting in front of everyone who was already there. Thus, the blatant cutting in line is wholly unjustified.
On top of that, another common rule for microwaves is sharing the appliances with your friends, putting more than one container of food in at once as to reduce the time and energy used to heat the food. Some groups of three friends or more, as I have seen, unfortunately do not do this, taking up time from everyone else’s lunch.
We all want to sit down and eat. We all want to be able to socialize with our friends. So, why do these students believe they are entitled?
With the modern era, teenagers and other adolescents grow up with the internet and devices in their lives, fueling the more casual aspect of society. A recent study by ParentCo. showed that 74 percent of adults in the United States believe that manners have deteriorated over the past few decades.
As a society, especially as teenagers in this day and age, I think we all need to take a step back and reflect on how we treat others and behave in our everyday lives. Are you saying please and thank you? Do you sometimes hold the door for strangers? Do you yourself cut in line?
Asking these questions can help discover your own actions and, hopefully, allow you to work toward making a change in yourself. And maybe, someday soon, everyone can share the microwaves equally, as it was always meant to be.
