Lessons from the Deli

Last week, shortly before my manager posted this week's schedule, she pulled me aside and told me that I would be working in the deli. One of their normal workers was going on vacation, and as a result they really needed someone to fill in. I was pretty open to the idea, especially since it would be a nice change of pace from ringing up customers, and it would provide new opportunities for growth. Though I knew what happened on the outside, I was pretty unaware of everything that happened behind the scenes. I would be working six days, and getting more hours which is what I really need right now. I thought that it would be fun, but after the first day I wasn't looking forward to going back the following afternoon.

I was working in the salad bar, meaning that I was responsible for maintaining the salad bar-doing constant checks to see that the containers were full, cutting up things that we were out of, and doing general cleaning. The person who had worked prior to myself gave me a super quick run through of where to find things and then I was on my own.  As it turns out working in the deli is a lot harder than it appears. As the afternoon turned into evening., one of the girls in the bakery (we share kitchen space) asked me if I knew what I was responsible for at the end of the shift, and I had absolutely no idea. Working salad bar at this store means that not only are you responsible for getting the station shut down, but you are also responsible for taking out the trash and recycling, as well as sweeping and mopping the kitchen. It ended up taking a lot longer than I expected to finish.

On my third day of my now least favorite job, the manager told me that I would be working the counter, which meant learning how to operate the slicers. Yikes! Cheese has to be put back in a certain place, each item has to be re-wrapped before putting it away, and there is a constant changing of gloves. At the end of the night, the slicers have to be taken apart and cleaned, the counters wiped down, the scales wiped down, the tags taken out of the cold case (not to mention wrapping everything up individually)...the list just goes on and on!

Saturday night was my final night (until Tuesday) of being in the deli, and looking back, I have definitely learned a lot, and actually ended up enjoying the experience. Along the way I've learned some pretty valuable (and some humerous) lessons.

1. Cleaning the cheese slicer is a pain...ok cleaning all of the slicers are annoying (especially when you are vertically challenged like I am and can't reach one of the screws)
2. Don't be afraid the try something new just because you think you won't be able to handle it; you never know until you try
3. Don't give up after a day. Things might seem difficult at first, but with time they do get better.
4. It's ok to admit that you are still learning. For the most part, my customers appreciated that I let them know that I was still training. They said that they would rather I take my time than risk injuring myself on the equipmenet
5. It's also perfectly fine to ask questions along the way. It's better to do things correctly the first time than make mistakes. You might end up learning things that will make your day a whole lot easier.
6. When taking the nozzles off the soda machine, be careful not to hit the lever....you end up getting your hands sticky
7. Don't add the degreaser to the pot of boiling water. Chances are people won't be paying attention and most of the pot will end up boiling over
8. If you have an hour to get everything closed down, allow for more time, especially if you are still learning. Some things definitely take a lot longer than others
9. Work isn't the best time to have personal conversations on your phone, especially if it turns into an argument. Shortly after this incident my coworker apologized saying he didn't want to bring me into his problems. Sorry, I was already involved after you were yelling in front of me

In the end I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to work in another department. I've learned new skills, and I may find myself needing to know how to do some of the things we do in the deli for another job. It also means that there is always a chance to get more hours at work. When I go back to the deli on Tuesday I'm actually looking forward to it. There is always a chance for growth, good memories, and a pretty awesome hat :)

Ready to Change my Habits

I had nearly forgotten about this blog until I came across some blog entries on Facebook. Posting every few months seems to be the trend for me right now. I promise to be better at posting in the future. It's been about two months si
nce I graduated from FEMA Corps and came back home. I've been working part time at my on again off again job, as well as putting together promotional bags for my dad's work. I've made over 200 bags full of candy and promotion cards! I've also been applying to jobs in Arizona, where I hope to be living by the end of the summer. There is so much to think about though, and I'm somewhat overwhelmed.

The main purpose of this blog was to talk about my quest to get healthy, and my posts haven't exactly been reflecting that. However, perhaps when I say get healthy, it also includes my mental health, as well as the physical aspect of being healthy. It's time for me to take control of my life, and that includes getting rid of unecessary clutter which means seriously going through my things and figuring out what I need and what I don't! I feel like I'm constantly cleaning my room or coming up with piles of things that I no longer want. I'm really hoping to be able to organize a garage sale for this spring, and donating whatever doesn't sell to charity.

 It's been extremely difficult to get motivated to get in shape. Recently though I began to realize that I am ready to change my life for the better, and I'm recognizing that some of my habits aren't the most healthy. Spending all day sitting in front of my computer isn't really going to accomplish my goals. Over New Years, I was getting a lot better at portion control and recognizing when I'm full. It was really nice to be able to spend new years with my fiance, who would give me a gentle nudge or a reminder when I started to eat more than what I needed. We were active just about every day, whether we were playing ultimate Frisbee or going for walks around the neighborhood. I've been walking just about every day at home, and have recently begun adding ten minute ab and cardio routines into my day. It's been pretty chilly here, and when walking wasn't going to happen the other day because of the super low temperatures, I went to Youtube and looked up some fitness routines. Fitness Blender workouts are now my new best enemy. Typically I will do a ten minute cardio workout and a ten minute ab workout. It isn't easy, and I can't do every single exercise yet, but I'm trying! They (various online sites), say that it takes about six weeks to notice a change, and so each week I'm going to take a picture and see what happens. In six weeks I might even post pictures from week one to week six, but no laughing!