The Unfortunate Ergonomics of the School Cafeteria

Diana Wynne, blogger extraordinaire and a design manager at an unnamed company in San Francisco, opines about the sorry state of ergonomics in your child’s cafeteria.

At Microsoft, we have a vaguely similar setup, except that our receptacles are all consistent in shape and size. Typically, a Microsoftie finishing lunch in a cafeteria will bring her tray over to a set of receptacles, toss her can into the provided aluminum recycling, knock leftover food off her plate into the trash, and toss her plate into the polystyrene recycling square. Finally, trays are deposited onto a stack for removal and cleaning.

Of course, hijinks can ensue if any of the following circumstances apply to the ‘Softie:

• You’re using a polystyrene cup!
• Your plate is completely devoid of trashable foodstuffs and you didn’t even use a napkin! (to inappropriately quote an older, fatter Marlon Brando: “the horror, the horror”)