Dining Hall Staff Scolded by Boss

"There has been a lot of clowning around" between students and serving ladies in the Houses, William H. Echols Jr., manager of College Dining Halls, said yesterday.

According to Echols, students in Winthrop and Eliot House have complained that some serving ladies are holding up lines by talking and carrying on with them. He said, "Standing there talking to the girl who's going to give some mashed potatoes to him can waste a student's valuable time."

Echols said he spoke to the entire staff about this at a meeting which would ordinarily be devoted to a discussion of worker absences and other administrative matters.

He said he has no objection to students talking to serving-ladies whom they have known for three or four years buth sympathizes with a student who would hate to be rude and walk away.

This is the first year in "quite a while" (he has been at Harvard seven years) that Echols has received such complaints. A part-time lady in Winthrop House has been a particular offender, he said.