“WORK?! You work?”
“A job? You got a job?”
“Wok? You cook?
“I am very disappointed in you, Tommy.”
I don’t know why everyone is so surprised. Do I not seem like the person that would work? I work at the Harrison Grille, which is a restaurant in the lobby of my residence hall. While other buildings are buffet-style, we pride ourselves on our more personal customer contact and quality of service. This past week has been training and I learned to make flatbreads, wraps and scrub potatoes and fry chips. I’ve heard what other people have said about work: that it sucks, that it is eroding their self-esteem, that the radiation gives them cancer. But I disagree.
Call me crazy, but I actually like work. Though it has been pointed out to me that this is my first job ever (true). I’m still caught up in the teamwork and nice smells. Even dishwashing isn’t that bad. There’s this huge industrial dishwasher the size of a minivan that we use after scraping the dishes. It blasts them with all sorts of detergents and drying agents and they come out the other end, still wet, but looking like they’ve been through some sort of hell for dishes.
My first day just happened to be opening night, Sunday, 5:00-9:15. I was put on fryer with a senior supervisor who I think is a junior. I was basically supposed to put something in the basket and hit the right button.
I was a bit shaky and first because there is only one 15″ touch screen LCD to view orders on and everyone crowds around it. I can’t fight my way towards it, so I prefer the system where they would yell new orders out and I would fry them.
Four hours, I fried popcorn chicken and fries and spicy chicken sandwich patties and potato chips and nachos. I have never sworn so much, while frying, while fully clothed. The brown paper laid on the counter was overtaken by oil splatters and the floor tiles were slick enough to be curled on. (Canadian curling, not real curling.) Good thing, then, that I’m powered by Vault because I have to do this every Monday (9:00PM-1:00AM) and every other Friday and Sunday. Not necessarily frying something, but I’ll be up to my neck in something.