Post-its. They’re the first thing that you notice when you walk into the tight room that food service manager Krystle Ramos has made her home on campus working at Central for the past three years.

They pepper the walls with neon reminders of work still left to do and dust the boxes of supplies organized snuggly in the crevices of the office. Even the laptop isn’t left untouched by the colorful sheets of paper.

But after observing the way Ramos juggles with sending emails to her colleagues, marking allergy forms for the day, and routinely checking the machinery in the cafeteria, it isn’t hard to imagine why the post-its have become Ramos’s companion in the office she shares with manager Beth Kujawa.

They are the breadcrumbs that she must leave in order to find her way back home.

Nonetheless, despite the overwhelming nature of her job, Ramos still finds a way to distinguish the students that come through her lunch line every day.

“I’m in and out of so many lines that I’m much more likely to recognize students by face,” Ramos said. “But when I fill in for somebody for an extended period of time, I start to learn students by their order.”

And the students certainly appreciate the effort that Ramos and her colleagues make to connect with them.

“[The lunch ladies] are very charitable,” said Rachel Wang, a sophomore who participated in Feed My Starving Children alongside Ramos and Key Club earlier this year. “They’re extremely friendly and try to bring up casual conversation whenever possible.”

Ramos’s involvement with Brown Bags of Hope has also helped bridge the gap between her and students.

“I think more and more students are starting to acknowledge my presence when they see me outside of the cafeteria,” Ramos said. “We also have nametags now, so it’s pleasant whenever a student thanks you by your name.”

Whether or not the students and lunch ladies know each other by name, interactions between the two are mutually respectful.

“Seeing how happy food makes people, that’s my favorite part of the day,” Ramos said.