From the desk to the sink...

It's been a month now that I've been working at the Market Place.  No more does the din of printers being turned on and warming up fill the air.  No more am I required to roll up a large metal door or punch holes in print cards and check in and out equipment. No more do I see fellow Art and Design Students during work on their way to or from class.  I miss it all.  However, everything must end.  And when one things ends, another begins.  Cliche, I know.  Still, it's true.

Every moment of working at the Market Place so far has been a great experience.  Even the parts that I haven't been all that crazy about from getting up before the crack of dawn, to scrubbing pans until my nails are dirty, have been great experiences.  The scrubbing pans part is what I do during the week on Tuesday's and Friday's from 7:00 am to 11:00 am.  If you've never any had dish-washing experience on a large commercial scale, I have three large basins in front of me: one on the right with detergent and water at 114 degrees, a second to the left with lukewarm water and a third further left with "Quat-San", also at room temperature.  On the right of the first sink is a high powered spray nozel and a little sink with a garbage disposal below.  It is this contraption that greets me at 7:00 in the morning.  I fill the sinks up and get to work.  And, to be further cliche, it's a dirty job but someone's got to do it.

Every other weekend, I work "PPD" which stands for Pizza Pasta & Deli.  I've always been on deli so far which consists of making sandwiches Subway style and running to the back to get more of whatever we've run out of.  There is another individual that works with me (a different person each night) and one of the "higher ups" that floats around.  Together, we take people's sandwich (or wrap) orders and fill them to the best of our abilities.  When it get's really busy, we all stand at one part of the line and take care of a different part of the sandwich.

Both are fast paced positions but going from washing pans to making sandwiches is to completely change gears.  And speaking of gears...

On the last couple of my allotted drink breaks I made a point of standing in the dish room.  The dish room is right by the beverage dispensers near the front so people can put their dishes on the conveyer belt as they are leaving the cafeteria.  I stood in there in part to be away from the customers so as not to be perceived as slacking on the job but also observe a part of the Market Place that I haven't been trained on yet.  As sad I am not to hear that din of the printers, this new din...the one made by the people working together like a well oiled machine is nearly as sweet.

Although this semester is about half way over give or take, I am looking forward to seeing what this new experience will teach me.