For most of us, working in a cafeteria would not be pleasing. But for 50-year-old Tony Smith, it means so much more.

The Student Center at Spring Hill College plays host to the one and only cafeteria that is on campus. Students and faculty pack the cafeteria from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the weekdays to fill their stomachs. Cafeteria worker Tony Smith has been working at Spring Hill College since 2003.

Originally from, New York City, or as he likes to describe himself as “Do or die, never ran, never will, just a Brooklyn guy,” has a wide variety of skill sets in which makes him different than any other cafeteria worker. Mr. Tony says, “I can do it all baby, I can bartend, carve, I can fry, grill and set tables. I can even entertain and dance a little bit.” As you can see Mr. Tony is constantly full of energy and the students well, they seem to love it.

Spring Hill College junior Marquez Jones, says, “He’s such a personable guy and he gets along with everybody. He always has a smile on his face. He will come up to you whether he knows you or not, and he will make himself know you.” Even junior Caroline Herrera shares that “he is like a ball of energy.”

While the students enjoy Mr. Tony’s presence, he says the students are why he loves working at Spring Hill College, but the fall semester of 2017 led him down a different path. Mr. Tony got an infection in his right foot which caused him to be taken to the hospital to have surgery. The surgery entailed amputating his big toe, and the one right next to it, which you could imagine was very painful. But for Mr. Tony, it seemed like a breeze.  “I felt that, is that all you got? I’m a badger for life, so it doesn’t matter if you hit me or knock me down I’m going to get up fighting harder. The nurses were saying I was walking up and down the halls laughing and joking and talking to people like I always do because I’m a people’s person.”

Spring Hill College now has gone almost an entire semester without Mr. Tony,  and when asked if he thought if Spring Hill College students missed him, his response was, “Hell yeah, because it is me, Mr. Tony.”

Jones says that “You can’t think of Spring Hill without Mr. Tony, honestly, you can’t.” Obviously, the students think highly of Mr. Tony, and cannot wait for his return, which is this month. Mr. Tony says that “I’ve had students come up to me and they see that I am having a bad day, and they say you know Mr. Tony let me give you a hug, you have always given me a hug, let me give you one. So every day we get up, we thank God for another day and we go out there and talk to somebody.”

And it’s just like that — where a man who has been working in a cafeteria for almost 15 years can have such a big impact on not only serving food but in students’ lives as well.