Hungry? Dining halls at NIU are staples for students, whose stress levels have disabled their abilities to make well-balanced meals for themselves.

Dining hall workers are essential to the success of the student population, but rarely do their days end with a “thank-you” or an inquiry as to the effort put into daily buffets. Sweeps went on a mission to the Neptune dining hall to discover what actually goes on behind the metal counters and find out about the employees running around in different-colored polo shirts.

The evening begins with getting dressed. The mandatory hair net and rubber gloves are donned for sanity while closed-toed shoes are required for liability. Smiling in the presence of co-workers is optional.

“I enjoy working with the students,” said Dana Holt, a cook for eight years. “It keeps me young [and] vital.”

Already midway through her daily eight-and-a-half hour shift, Holt uses her multiple baking ovens as if it were second-nature.

Holt is alone during the 6:30 p.m. dinner rush, but never misses an opportunity to joke with a fellow employee.

The work area is separated into four sections, the major two being the front kitchen and dish line.

“It’s separated because the front kitchen is where everything starts,” said head student manager Jerry Barnes Jr. “That’s where all the dishes get built up. They have to go somewhere, so we’ve got the dish room. It’s a rotation.”

Stationed at the dish line are two to four employees, making sure dishes are separated and excess food is dumped out. The dishes and trays are taken further back to be rinsed and machine-washed.

Neptune’s food service is built upon teamwork. However, like any other business, employees quit.

“We’re getting more staff,” said Renett Ferns, an NIU alumna and Neptune dining hall dish-line worker for seven years. “A couple of weeks ago, it was really difficult, because we hardly had anyone. I had to do a lot of things I didn’t feel like doing.”

At work, long days are a given. In a dining hall, where concentration and attention to detail is important, there must be something crucial which keeps employees motivated. So what is it?

“The good mood, the laughter we have between everybody, a good joke,” Holt said. “We can tell if somebody else is having a bad [day] and just throw a few jokes at them. “

All job positions are indicated by the color of shirt worn by employees. Red indicates a basic position, yellow a managerial position, and black indicates a student employee. Barnes, sitting next to Holt, donned black.

“I saw Jerry as a red shirt and now he’s sitting here, in the highest form of position you can get as a student here in the kitchen,” Holt said. “I basically watch them grow up. They open up to you, start coming to you and you get that motherly thing going. That’s how those relationships get formed.”

Like any other group with a mission, the crew at Neptune hopes the students walk away from their dining experience with a special feeling. Holt’s mission is to make students feel like they’re at home.

“It’s like mom’s home cooking,” Holt said. “I want that feeling, like you’re going to mom’s house to get something to eat. That’s what I’d like to portray.”