Every day at the servery checkout line, students are greeted by a familiar face. The responsibility to feed 498 students and 137 faculty members while also running the servery line falls in the hands of Eman Said and her colleagues.

Said works weekdays in the servery to restock snacks, serves as cashier for students and faculty and helps her coworkers in the kitchen when they need an extra hand.

Sophomore Sophia Shin said she is grateful for Said because of the kindness she has shown her and the liveliness she brings to campus. 

“Eman is the most reliable, kind and charismatic person I’ve ever met. She will always say hi to me and ask how I’m doing,” Shin said. “It could be a rainy day, it’d be a sunny day, it’d be a horrible day — or it’d be a good day. She will always say hi to me and ask how I’m doing and make sure that I’m happy and that I’m doing well, and it’s just the sweetest thing.”

Monday through Friday, Said wakes up at 4:30 a.m. to prepare breakfast and set up the servery for the rush of students at 8:00 a.m. She manages the daily lunch checkout line flooded with students and teachers.

“I see all the students like my daughters,” Said said. “All the kids here are like my children. The people are so friendly here.”

Not only does she wake up early, Said also spends her nights studying until 12:30 a.m. She is studying at Pierce College to become an accountant. Eleven years ago, she moved from Egypt to America, leaving behind her family to pursue her work. 

While studying business, Said said she works with her favorite professor to improve her English. Moving to the United States as a native Arabic speaker has posed a challenge for Said because having conversations each day with native English speakers is an aspect of her work in the servery.

“It’s so difficult because [of the] different culture, different language, different people, different everything,” Said said.

Speaking English is an essential part of Said’s job because she has to communicate with students and staff daily. Although the language barrier may be a struggle, Said still has fluid conversations with students like Shin. 

“She makes my day when I go to get breakfast or go to get lunch,” Shin said. “She recently told me about her Thanksgiving plans. It was just so sweet, and I love to talk to her.” 

Director of Dining Services Meghan Lambert said Said has a strong work ethic and compassionate nature. Lambert works with Said five days a week, and she said she appreciates her attention to detail and hard-working character. 

“It’s definitely hard to find people in the workforce like Eman,” Lambert said. “[Most people] are the kind of people where they come into work, and they obviously they don’t want to be there…but Eman is the total opposite of that kind of person…she just makes the best out of any situation.”

Just as Said appreciates the Archer community, Lambert said she has noticed that one of the reasons Said enjoys her job so much is because of the individual students.  

“I really think that part of why she likes coming to work here at Archer is because of the community,” Lambert said. “She gets to see all of the students and the faculty and the staff and talk to everybody, and I think she really enjoys that.”