By Erik Luna
People make mistakes. It’s a part of what makes us human and it’s a way of learning.
If we touch something that is hot, we won’t touch that particular thing anymore. It’s the way we learn from our mistakes that makes us different. When it comes to food service though, people should keep a sharp eye and remember what exactly the customer ordered.
About Time, the lunch truck on campus, has had their hits and misses when it comes to customer satisfaction. The truck had been at East Los Angeles College before but was replaced by another food truck in the fall of 2009.
Since it came back, students were quite pleased with their service at first. Later on students said that the workers on the lunch truck tend to have an attitude problem and it does show from time to time. Who knows why they may be in a foul mood? It could just be another case of the work-day blues.
However, the lunch truck’s mistake is not their ill tempered attitude but their lack of understanding an order. I’m a picky eater. There are certain foods I simply won’t eat. Call me crazy. Call me whatever you want.
It’s my eating habits, not yours. It upsets me that when I say I want a plain hamburger, as in with nothing on it, I still receive a hamburger with all the fixings.
Again, people make mistakes and it’s OK the first time or the second time, but for the third, fourth and fifth? Nope.
Every time I tell someone about this, they usually look at me as if I’m crazy, but imagine if someone were to have a serious allergic reaction to something that might have been on that hamburger. Would it be so crazy then? As a worker in the food business, I know how stressful it can be and I know that people may seem obnoxious when it comes to their food, but everyone has their likes and dislikes.
I get physically ill when I eat cheese, so I ask for my hamburger without cheese. Sounds reasonable. It saves the workers from using any excess material and I get to enjoy my food. What’s the trouble?
I understand that most people who speak to the lunch-truck workers, speak to them in English, even though they are Spanish-speaking workers so things might get lost in translation. What’s their excuse for someone who orders in Spanish, as I do? Either something is going on with the communication inside the lunch truck and I’m not seeing it or they just hate me. I’d prefer it be the former than the latter.
I know that the man who works in the lunch truck takes the order and tells the women, who make the food, what to make. I don’t think there is much written down. Maybe they should look into that. I like the food they serve at the lunch truck, that’s why I think it would be a shame if they were replaced.
It happened once. It could happen again. Whatever the case may be, remember to always check your order when you receive it.