Let me just say this: although I’ve never been to another high school cafeteria, I firmly believe that Westside’s cafeteria is excellent, well-managed, has friendly staff and has awesome food. One day our school had kale. And it was good. And the sweet potato fries are delicious and honestly one of the best sweet potato fries I have ever eaten. Anything I say in this column is nitpicking.

With that said, I’m going to talk about the sandwich lines in the cafeteria. I love the sandwiches and they supply a good, healthy option for students. But I never have time to get a sandwich. The lines take 10 minutes to get through if you are the last person in line.

Ten minutes doesn’t sound like a very long time to wait in line. And normally it isn’t. But when I’m in school and have a 20 minute half mod to eat lunch, 10 minutes is a long time.

It’s especially difficult to stand in line 10 minutes if you have an open mod, need to eat, but need to get homework done, as well. If you wait in the sandwich line, it will take 25 to 30 minutes to finish eating lunch, which only leaves you with 15-10 minutes remaining in the mod, which isn’t enough time to get very much homework done.

I, personally, end up wanting a healthy sandwich but going to grab something fried. The fried food takes less time, so I sacrifice health and enjoyment of my food for time.

Now this isn’t an easy problem to fix. The cafeteria would need a third sandwich line at least, but this means either adding a new employee or moving an employee from a different job. If money weren’t a factor, I’m sure another employee would have been hired. But, adding a new employee is just extra cost, and all to save a few kids 5 minutes? It’s probably not worth it.

As much as I love the sandwiches, I will keep avoiding the long lines by getting other food.