That April day the lunch lady said my tray fort was 4 inches too tall, and I learned the magic number

James Martin · 2026-10-16T01:20:05.653797+00:00

Last April in the Franklin Middle cafeteria, I stacked 11 trays into a castle wall and a lunch lady walked over and told me the whole thing was 4 inches over the safe limit. She pulled a tape measure out of her apron and showed me the line at 18 inches, which she called the tipping point, since anything taller wobbles when a kid bumps the table. I had no clue there was a real number behind it, I just thought forts failed when you got unlucky. Now I want to know if other schools have a limit like that, or if mine just made it up after the tray avalanche of 2023.

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That April day the lunch lady said my tray fort was 4 inches too tall, and I learned the magic number | Cafeteria Tray Tricks - Topic Shares