I've been trying to figure what is the best way to describe school cafeteria workers without sounded too formal or too rude (just a normal way of saying cafeteria worker)
Would you say
"食堂员工” “工人”？
Or is there a less formal way to imply “worker” in this instance？
You can use 食堂师傅 as an informal way to refer to those cafeteria workers. Actually, you can use 师傅 every time you want to refer to someone with a skill, e.g.修车师傅(bike/car reparation worker). But here 师傅 has nothing to do with Master Shifu in Kungfu Panda. It is not like that Shifu :D
Generally, I often call cafeteria workers 大哥 or 阿姨, these sound good, and they feel better than 师傅
For description you may use 食堂/饭堂伙计, buddy in cafeteria.
伙计 also can be used during order. 伙计,给我一碟XXX。
