Purple Pass or Late to Class

 By Yong-Yu Huang

In November, we shuffled into the newly-completed Galley, marveling over the curving limbs of the octopus mural in the corner and the cushioned booths, pristine and untouched. Ahead, our cafeteria staff carefully scooped crisp salads and heaping mounds of rice onto uniform blue trays as the high school waited in awkwardly-spaced lines. 

We’ve come a long way since then––now, seniors have finally been granted their long-awaited lunch privileges. 

“Tantalizing,” Esmarie de Jager (12) announces when asked for a word to describe the experience. The week after Chinese New Year break, seniors began spilling off campus, excited to roam around in the allotted 40 minutes. Especially as more and more seniors have been able to obtain their licenses, the food options have only increased. 

“Senior lunch privileges are a treat, but oftentimes, the service is pretty slow at these restaurants,” Liwei Koh (12) muses. For example, a group of seniors coming back across the street from SAB the first week were forced to get takeaway and eat in class instead. This often results in chaotic scrambles back to school “while trying to keep the food that just went down from coming back out.” 

At first, it was difficult to get back to campus on time. Many seniors were late to class after lunch after their first outing, having failed to calculate a variety of variables, from the unpredictable noon-hour traffic to the mind-boggling long waits for food. The furthest that most people have been willing to venture is to Tesco, the five-minute drive already posing an obstacle as student drivers weave in and out of traffic, determined to get to McDonald’s in time. 

However, the students who elected to stay on campus received their own set of privileges. Colloquially dubbed “purple pass,” seniors no longer have to worry about sprinting like madmen to the Galley. Instead, they can take their sweet time, knowing that they can saunter right up to the very front of the line. 

“Underclassmen have to suffer because they don't have the purple pass,” Ji Hwan Kang (12) gloats, feeling no qualms about cutting. Still, many seniors still find it difficult to do so, citing feelings of guilt. 

“It’s awkward to cut a bunch of people in line by yourself, so senior privilege has the tendency to make us form herds,” explains Taylor Johnson (12). 

“They do move in herds,” Tim Santiago (12) agrees ominously. 

Still, the privilege to form herds at lunch, whether on campus or around Tanjung Bungah, is a welcome reprieve from the months of separation––and the seniors are thankful.