Next time you’re paying for lunch in LuValle Commons or searching for help in Murphy Hall, take a good look at the person who is assisting you. You may have never seen them before, but a lot of them happen to be your classmates.
In addition to taking classes, many students have jobs in order to pay for housing and student fees or just to earn some extra cash. Not only are they supporting themselves, but they are also a part of what makes our campus function so smoothly. Rather than brushing them off as mere salespeople or food servers, students with jobs deserve the utmost respect and recognition from the rest of us.
Some students have noticed that the sort of recognition they get isn’t the best. Donald Altamirano, a third-year English student, has worked at the North Campus Student Center for two-and-a-half years and is currently a student supervisor.
Along with keeping other workers on task, Altamirano prepares food and works at the cash register where he has contact with customers.
“Most people are really nice, but some can be rude. They get this attitude when things aren’t as specific as they like it. I mean, I know I’m serving you food, but I’m not your slave.”
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen someone demanding more food from the guy behind the counter at Rendezvous or snapping at the girl at the Young Research Library circulation desk for not getting a book quickly enough. I don’t think it’s fair to blame the student worker for what is only a mild inconvenience, especially because these students aren’t purposefully unhelpful; they’re following orders.
“We have policies and guidelines for how things should be prepared and served,” Altamirano said. “We can’t always fill orders the way people like when we’re trying to be as efficient for everyone at once.”
The key part is the phrase “everyone at once.”
With a school as massive as ours, there is no way anybody should expect priority service or special treatment because of their requests.
Understand that the server behind the counter isn’t trying to ruin your day when they don’t toast your sandwich; they’re just trying to get to the five people in line behind you.
While it’s OK to expect some help, these students aren’t miracle workers. Iris Garcia, a third-year Spanish student, is an office assistant in the Office for Students with Disabilities and said that the type of service she gives is affected by the attitude she gets.
“It depends on the students. Most people who come up to me are really cool and I’ll do everything I can to help. But if someone starts causing too much drama, especially when they already know that our office can only do so much, then I get irritated.”
It irritates me, too, when I have to see the drama unfold. When the lines are snaking in and out of the aisles in Ackerman’s Marketplace, the last thing anyone needs is someone cussing out a cashier because of a slow credit-card machine. But maybe I only feel this way because I realize that the one wearing the uniform is in between lectures and probably more worried about an upcoming midterm than appeasing a cranky customer.
Although I’m among the lucky ones who don’t have to have a job to pay for school, I don’t take for granted those students who do.
A typical day on campus has me checking out books from Young Research Library or Powell, asking for something off a high shelf in Ackerman, or trying to find any person behind a desk to answer a question. And one of the only things that keeps me from losing my mind through all that is the fact that it’s another student helping me out.
Having my peers fill some of the positions that help keep this campus functioning makes me feel comfortable asking for help.
They’re more relatable, especially when we can have a brief conversation about finals as they hand me back my change from buying blue books. And when I approach them as just another student, it makes things easier for the both of us.
Garcia said she tries to connect in the same way.
“When a student comes into the office distressed, I’ll walk them through things in a way that I’d want it explained to me,” Garcia said. “And in the end, when they’re not lost anymore because of the help I provided them, it does give me some satisfaction.”
With a student body of our size, it’s inevitable that our classmates are going to be a working part of the various resources available here.
As with anyone who is employed at UCLA, remember that student workers don’t deserve to be seen as just another amenity that makes things easier.
They are an important part of our campus community and might even grill you a mean sandwich as long as you ask them nicely.
Grateful for students who offer a hand? E-mail Louth at klouth@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.