It is the start of second lunch.
The bell rings, and the sandwich line fills with two dozen hungry students. There is a hum of chatter as people meet up with friends and talk about the day. Necks crane from the back of the line to see how far it is to the front. One girl towards the rear wears a blue and green striped shirt and sports a bright red backpack. She is trying to catch the sandwich maker’s attention. Colleen, the beloved cook, looks up and sees her. She waves and then bends over to put a sandwich in the Panini press. The girl moves up from the back and waits for her sandwich.
This scenario is not unusual. Over time, students get to know the people who are affectionately referred to as the “sandwich ladies,” and buying lunch becomes not only about the food, but about the people who are making the food.
Annika Skjoldborg ’13, started buying sandwiches in the middle of her sophomore year. She is now on a first-name basis with Amber, one of the other ladies who is famous for her sandwich making.
“If there’s a day when Amber is missing, I always ask her where she went and tell her that I missed her,” Skjoldborg said. “No one can make my sandwich taste as good as she can.” Skjoldborg gets the same “truly amazing” sandwich every day, she explained. She gets ciabatta bread with turkey, lettuce, tomatoes, American cheese and “lots of cajun sauce.”
Since she has been getting this sandwich for so long, anyone can go up to Amber and just ask for the “sandwich that Annika gets.”
Skjoldborg explained that she loves to know the person who makes her lunch every day. “Amber is really nice, and we sometimes talk about what we did over the weekend or break,” she said.
Many people feel similarly. David Katter ’12, got to know Amber very well, after buying a sandwich every day for lunch. “She went out of her way to talk to me about my day, make fun of me when my favorite sports teams lost, she congratulated me when I got into college, baked me cookies for Christmas, and even looked the other way when I cut the lines…sometimes,” Katter said.
Courtney Mullen ’12 has also bought a sandwich almost every day since her freshman year. At first, Mullen would get the same sandwich every day: turkey and cheese on Portuguese bread.
“I’ve definitely branched out a lot over the years. This year I’ve been switching it up a bit, but after trying so many different sandwiches, I definitely have a few favorites,” Mullen said.
Freshman year, Mullen started getting a turkey and cheese sandwich on Portuguese bread. Since then, she began to also like the chicken pesto with tomato and red peppers as well as wheat bread with turkey, mozzarella, spinach, tomatoes, and red peppers.
Over all the years, Mullen got to know both Colleen and Amber while she waited in line. “I could always count on them to make me the ideal sandwich,” she said.
Elizabeth Coogan ’14, is another one of the regulars. Last year, she began to buy a sandwich every day for lunch, and over time, Amber got to know her.
Since Coogan would get the same lunch each day, Amber began to remember her order. “One day, I walked up to the counter and she just bent down, reached into the fridge, and handed me my usual sandwich (Italian bread, turkey, lettuce, and mustard). It was so cool!” Coogan said. “She told me she had made it that morning and ever since then she always had my sandwich pre- made.” Coogan said she enjoys not having to wait in line anymore.
Not everyone is lucky enough to become one of the “regulars” in the line. But the long lines prove that it is a popular place to be. Even halfway through any of the lunch periods, the lines are still full of students. “The sandwiches are so good; they are worth the wait,” Mullen said. “Even if I had lab lunch, I always made sure I made it to the sandwich line.”
Students who buy lunch all agree on how nice the lunch ladies are, no matter if they know them well or not. Rachel Paul ’14 said that the ladies “never fail to compliment my outfits. Their nice, friendly efforts are noticed and appreciated.”
One of the things that the seniors on internships miss most are the sandwich ladies and the sandwiches they would buy each day. After three years of having the same, favorite sandwich every day, it is a big change to these students’ daily schedules. “The sandwiches I make at home are never as good as the ones amber made for me so I miss them. But mostly I miss talking to amber,” Katter said.
