Gale Imperl, Oak Park and River Forest High School’s longtime food server, was asked about if she ever wanted to be a cook in the cafeteria. She gave a firm no. She said she might cook for herself and her family but never had a desire to be a school chef. The school’s new open campus, she said, also hasn’t caused too much work for her and the lunchroom staff. One other interesting topic she discussed was what happens when there’s a power outage at the school (Dan Haley, our publisher, recently wrote about the perplexing predicament of what happens when the power goes out at a local Walgreens and the cash registers stop working). Rather than staring at the machine and collecting no money, Imperl said the school lunchroom staff writes down the students ID and what they purchased on a slip of paper. When the power comes back on, the cashiers enter that info into the registers. And, she said she has no problems counting out change without a register, something that you’re kinda taught to do growing up, she said.
Lastly, Imperl said her hobbies include gardening, going out with friends and traveling during the summer–California is her “passion” as she has family in Anaheim.