Table Manners 101

By 5 p.m. on Monday, the UBC Student Union Building’s constant stream of students started dwindling to a trickle. A quieter tone began enveloping the building in contrast to when back pack laden students filled every corner, live music blared outside, and conversations inflamed over book prices.

It’s ninety eight dollars! Ninety eight dollars!

A cardboard cubicle plastered with design information on the more “sustainable” New Student Union Building stood in wait for student suggestions. So far there were three: affordable food, be open Sunday, and air conditioning or some alternative.

About every ten minutes a student or two wandered in with a slice of Pie R Squared pizza to pick a spot between the garbage-ridden tables. Remnants of a busier time lingered. Paper plates and napkins, glass bottles and cans, A&W and Starbucks cups mingled together with carelessly strewn newspapers. This was a site for fast-paced consumption and hurriedly moving on. A tall student with curly unkempt hair walked by a table, and without stopping, gave a few old drink containers a little shake before heading out the door, leaving the scene of garbage completely undisturbed.

Signs indicating which bins were for composting and which for recycling were located throughout the SUB, courteous of UBC Waste Management. Across the room a well-stuffed garbage can had the words, “STOP! Can this be recycled?” on the lid. Just above hung a hand sanitizer and a sign that read, “The Student Union Building is Monitored by Cameras.”

Three girls sat on the grey couches near the windows to eat their pizza. When finished they stood up, adjusted their backpacks and, while continuing their conversation, made a subtle attempt to leave. One girl stepped back, another leaned in the same direction, but then there was a pause. The memory of some social norm their parents may have instilled in them when they were children surfaced to challenge the new normal around them. They each picked up their plates and threw them in the garbage.

By 9 p.m. the cleaning staff began their nightly ritual. Quoc Nguyen has worked for UBC Food Services for five years. “It’s always the same,” he said, “but the cafeteria is worse! Sometimes the salt and pepper is poured all over the table and people draw pictures in it. But at least I get paid. It’s people’s attitudes. What can we do? There’s nothing we can do. Brain surgery?”

He laughed.