After class on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays I always meet up with my friends for lunch at Trabant at 12:05. All throughout my 11:15 class my mind wanders to eating my signature wheat wrap (complete with spinach, apples, grapes, edamame, avocado, feta, and balsamic dressing) from Greens to Go of course to debriefing the morning’s shenanigans with my friends. There’s just one problem: the amount of people waiting on line for lunch at Trabant is comparable to the worst traffic jam you’ve ever been in.

Whoever gets out of class first always sends the same text message in our group chat – “I’ll try to snag a table.” By snag a table we mean casually pace around the seating area until it looks as if someone is about to get up. When that happens, we briskly walk over to the soon-to-be-available table and pretend that we’re not about to throw our backpack onto the chair the second the current occupant stands up. Then comes the inevitable “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to rush you…” conversation, and we’re in.

Once we’ve finally secured a place to sit, we have to venture into the tangled mess of lines in order to satisfy our now grumbling stomachs. Sushi is by far the easiest option because you just grab it and get on line to pay, but we can’t do that every day. Waiting on line for a burger or a wrap is almost as bad as waiting in line at the DMV. Of course you can always count on making awkward eye contact with that one person who you were hoping you wouldn’t see, but that’s all part of the fun of waiting for lunch at Trabant.

While I can’t blame the massive lunch crowd at Trabant for having the same break as my friends and I or for wanting to eat at the best place on campus, it would be nice to stroll in and just sit wherever we please. On the other hand, the hunt for a table and the struggle to get our food before our break is over always gives us something to laugh about while eating. Although we haven’t quite mastered the system yet, I’m sure we’ll be experts at table-snagging by the end of this semester.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email