The Slug Dining Hall Work Experience
Is Scrubbing Stevenson’s Dishes Worth the Wage?
As a freshman at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Giovanna Basile has been working at the Stevenson and Cowell dining hall since the fall quarter. As she sits currently, propped on the edge of my bed, in ripped jeans and a knit sweater. It’s hard to picture her in her usual work attire: no-slip shoes, jeans, and the iconic bright blue t-shirt and matching baseball cap. However, for many students at UCSC, that’s who Gio is– the friendly worker who serves dinner and stuffs the curst of pizza with extra cheese!
From babysitter to dining hall worker. Adjusting to her current job has come with a lot of new responsibilities. Despite the intense labor of washing dishes and needing to remain standing, Gio’s got a lot of love for her job. Flexible shifts allow her to choose a schedule that suits her classes and extracurricular activities. Gio remarks, “While it takes a lot of discipline and organization to be a student worker, they make working at the dining hall very doable.”
Beyond the manageable work hours, the people, to Gio, are really what make the space special. As I let the clamoring of my keyboard halt, I shift my gaze upwards to meet Gio’s face. Meeting her eyes with mine, I notice a glimmering sparkle across her eyes. Pausing as if to recall a memory, Gio reveals, “I especially enjoy the full-timers,” before letting a smile slink across her face, she continues, “They really are the ones that get me through my shift, just all-around super sweet people.” While scrubbing moldy to-go containers and scooping liquidy mashed potatoes isn’t always fun work– with the right company, anything can be enjoyable.
After such high praise, I, pulling nearer to Gio, awaited what I assumed would be an endless list of the drawbacks of the job. I mean, how great could a job at the dining hall really be? To my surprise, though, Gio continued with her positive attitude, stating, “It’s not necessarily bad. It's just work, and sometimes work is just hard or ...boring.” With the support of a good staff, accommodating hours, and the desire to help her family, the job’s negatives don’t feel significant to Gio. To her, work is work. Right now, that work is in the dining hall– so she is happy to be there.
Despite her positive attitude– that is not to say she doesn’t have a few suggestions for improvements. Pausing at my question of “How her job could be made better,” Gio tilts her head back and forth, clearly taking the time to reflect on her experiences. The room is silent except for the slight noise of Tik Toks streaming off my roommate's iPhone. Finally, she begins, “...well, for starters, three-hour shifts don’t get any breaks. I would really appreciate a 15-minute break here and there– it would just make it a lot easier.” Having to stand for three hours can take a toll on the body, especially considering that often, in her case, her shifts follow long soccer practices. Allowing dining hall workers short breaks seems like an easily incorporable adjustment– I wonder, though, if management will ever make the change.
Taking only the time needed for me to catch up typing notes, Gio begins speaking again, now talking a mile a minute. She explains that despite the difference in labor, dining hall workers and library staff get paid the same. Rambling on, she states, “It just doesn’t make sense that a library worker who sits all day gets paid the same as us, who are out here doing HARD labor– washing dishes, sometimes even burning our hands!” Based on the tone of her voice, I can tell that this is something that really bothers her– as it should.
Scootching my body back so I can lean on the wall, I begin to get angry for her. She’s right; it doesn’t make sense, and it isn’t fair. While library workers are contributing in a very valuable way, their work is not equal to the labor of dining hall workers. Dining hall workers should get a pay raise, and if that is not attainable for the university. Could we incorporate a way for students to “tip” workers with their slug points? At the bottom line, workers should be compensated equitably, regardless of whether they are student workers or not.
Upset that I can not help with the wage issue, I lean into a different question, “As UCSC students, what can we do to make your life easier?” Chuckling at my question, she begins at first with the basic things: fully clear plates, cleaning up after yourself, giving back To-Go boxes before they mold– common courtesy asks. However, what comes next catches me off guard. Smiling, she comments, “I enjoy friendly people. It's just nice when I am serving to have a short conversation.” Despite going to the dining hall at least two times a day, when I look back at my memories, I can’t say I recall a single time I engaged in a conversation with a worker.
Perhaps we can all take her words as a reminder, a reminder that the small things matter—that a smile, a short conversation, a door held open, or a sweet compliment– can make the greatest difference to someone else's world.
-Talia Kerlow
Is Working RCC Bakery Worth the Wake Up?
Remembering what life was like before joining the dining hall staff, Emlyn sat still, gazing out at the redwood tree outside our window. Suddenly, it all came flooding back, and that’s where this story begins.
Shifting her attention back towards me, Emlyn said, “I got one of those emails from the school, you know, saying the dining hall was hiring.” The all-online appeal of this application got her with its convenience as she thought, “Oh, I need a job.” With her “why not?” mentality taking the wheel, she applied for the opening from the comfort of her home. Coming into her first quarter of college life, Emlyn had secured a convenient job with good pay, all before moving in day.
With Rachel Carson College dining hall being new to the school this year, every employee and manager alike was new to the job. The entire dining hall’s working staff came there together to begin a brand new operation. This, of course, brings unexpected ups and downs, leading to some issues towards the beginning of the year. Emlyn described some of them to me, such as the inconveniences everywhere from their current lack of resources–reusable plates and utensils, access to the balcony, etc. Although, through these inconveniences their working staff grew stronger and faster than expected.
Emlyn explained how the work environment at this particularly new dining hall was “alright” but nothing special. The management was consistent, including nice people who understood schedule conflicts and worked with each staff member to meet their needs as working students. Though, she did say “They’re all nice people, so that's good, but it's stressful because you're hella working all the time.” When working pretty much any position, there isn’t much time for breaks, which she said specifically was not a good aspect of the job.
To try and counteract this, Emlyn started working the bakery shift. The bakery shift is from 4am to 8am, and includes the making, packing, and delivering of the pastries we see across the entire UCSC campus. Delivering supplies for every dining hall, cafe, and market on campus, she told me, was seeming to be more fulfilling than her previous favorite shift as the cooks assistant.
Sometimes waking me up by accident too, she began setting her alarm for 3:30 am, leaving the least amount of time to get ready for work, and trying to maximize her sleeping hours. This early wake up proved to be daunting and unmotivating, especially on a Friday morning, but at the time, she thought it was worth trying out. In comparison to the cooks assistant, the bakery proved to be way more interesting in every way but one–the timing of it all. She grew tired of waking up at 3:30 am on Friday mornings and began finding this job more of a chore than a way to make money.
Through this, she grew unmotivated, and over time, her work ethic decreased dramatically. At the beginning of her journey with this job, Emlyn overworked her wages, saying, “I was hella working to not get fired.” Over time, she realized that she should be doing the appropriate amount of work for what she was being paid, and she stopped overworking herself.
This helped a lot with her mental and physical stamina for the workload and school work she balanced. She found that working harder at the RCC dining hall does not get you anywhere, and she found it beneficial to do minimum work for the job. Not to get confused with underworking of course.
As it comes to an improvement in work ethics, she told me it doesn’t look like they will be improving much in the future. She has found a good balance between too little work and too much work. Emlyn said, “I see myself improving when I get paid more.” She works for her pay, what else can they ask for?
Would she recommend working at the dining hall? Depends. If you are looking for something like a food service job, according to Emlyn, this one sounds just like the school describes it. Working for the Rachel Carson College dining hall is an overall easy job to have, but it is not fun to work there. If you are willing to work a minimum wage job, with more than minimum work, then yeah, this job might be for you.
More specifically, Emlyn advises to work as hard as you have to for what you are paid. She said, “Some of these people be working too hard. They need to calm down a bit–some of these people don’t do anything at all, and that’s more annoying because it affects everyone else working there in a negative way.” When you work less than you are paid, you are putting more work onto those around you, which is not very kind and will affect the whole workplace. At least when you work too hard, it makes everyone else's lives easier.
Overall, do what you are supposed to do, not more, not less. As for Emlyn, she will not be continuing to work at the dining hall next year. Sitting in our dorm room, she sat and thought, once more watching as the calm breeze sways the branches of the tree in front of us, then she said this: “The only reason I worked at the dining hall was because of its major convenience, but for me, even that proved it wasn’t worth what it was.”
- Emma Tuttle
Is Cheese Worth the Wage?
“With half of the tuition paid by parents, the other half is left with me to pay. If I continue to work the way I do right now, I'll be debt-free when I finish university.” I could see the misty breath as he asked my questions. His dad is a veteran, which provided him with some financial aid. He was smart to work right away since the longer the loan is the more interest piles up. “ I've applied to a green application, which would make my life easier.” In the dining halls, there are two student positions, blue shirts and green shirts. Blue shirts are at the lowest, as they clean the area and help to make the food. While the green shirt position supervises the blue shirts, has an increased one-dollar pay, and helps to create schedules. We've been walking together with no destination in mind, we smell the fresh air, listen to the nearby laughs from the dorms, and walk to paved paths ahead of us.
Working from McDonalds to the Dining Halls, Atlas explains that the working environment is incredibly better. To my surprise, he enjoyed his current job and had nothing negative to say. “The coworkers are friendly, I enjoy the job because of them” explaining the mild difficulties of the job, he says “Work is work, not meant to be easy.” The Dining Hall workers are able to create their own schedule and hours without the higher ups interfering which provides a lot of flexibility for the student school life. As always there is a condition, if you aren't able to show up to work, your points are deducted, meaning that when you get to a low amount of it you'll get fired. “It's rough but completely fair. It holds us accountable.” Atlas recommends me to apply, it's a great job that treats you fairly but places responsibilities on you. “It helps you build a working mindset for future jobs.” As I question him further to find any negative comments, he smiles back and provides me with only positive feedback. “The full timers here are incredible, I feel happy coming to work.”
From popping up to the Dining Halls every day, I had many unanswered questions waiting to be cracked open. I curiously ask “Where does the food come from and where does the leftover food go?” As he recalls, I learn that most of the produce comes locally, even from UCSC! He witnessed himself that some of the meat is from the Harrison Ranch nearby. Suddenly Atlas springs to joy and radiates a bright smile when he mentions the cheese they got recently changed. He went into great detail how this cheese is a life changer, that it's much tastier and when it's placed on pizza, it stretches miles away! We laugh for a few minutes on how much joy the cheese brings to us and another question arises. “Atlas, what are your favorite and hated foods?” He answers “Pepperoni cheese pizza for sure!” Were dying of laughter struggling to get any air back. After I wipe a few tears away trying to get my composer back he tells me a list of favorite foods. Waiting for a list for any food he hated he couldn't come up with any, I list the foods that I find to be greasy and he responds with “I agree they are bad! They're terrible! But I do love greasy food.” At a loss for words he tells me that it's weird but he likes it. As long as the food makes him happy then the better. For the unanswered question he tells me how under conduct that the food must be thrown away to the compost boxes. The Dining Halls don't want any contamination or waste to ruin anything. “There was a time where the compost dispenser was off by two inches from the compost container and it spilled everywhere on the ground. NOT A FUN NIGHT.” As he agonizes over this traumatic memory we spot a racoon in the forest staring at us. We stop in our tracks and witness the racoon standing on its two feet like a human. “If you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you”.
-Maxim Larkov
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