You finally break free from the traffic jam of the serving line with a heavy tray in your hands. That’s hands, plural. Don’t bother trying to pull out your phone to call one of your friends and see where they’re sitting. You don’t have a free hand.

Even if you found a place to set down your heaping platter of food to call one of your friends, they surely couldn’t answer their phone — they’re in the same boat as you. And in a place like Brody Square, that boat is a mile-long Carnival cruise ship, so good luck finding them.

In dining halls at MSU, one of the most populated campuses in the country, students show up with their friends and then go their separate ways to get a place in line at one of the many food stations. One friend goes to get burgers, another to the Mexican grill. Some get pizza or wait in the Homestyle line. Before you know it, you’ve collectively left your footprints on every corner of the cafeteria.

Now you’re just scanning around aimlessly while trying to balance a full tray. Hmmm, if only there were a way to make things easier. We could streamline the process of finding friends in the caf — all it would take is a few signs.

Behind the ID-swiping stations at the entrance of dining halls, there could be signs with arrows. Green, blue and red would point to the left and yellow, purple and orange would direct diners to the right. That would make six distinct seating areas. In front of each section, there could be a large sign corresponding to each color.

Then, before you split up from your friends and fill up your trays, you could say, “Hey guys, meet back at the blue.”

Problem solved.

Kevin Lange is an intern at The State News. Reach him at  opinion@statenews.com.