Work Shenanagins

When I was 17, I got my first job at Sabattus House Of Pizza in October, 2nd, 2024. During my training on cold station I was with another lady who had worked there for almost a year and I was really nervous. My training experience was great, I felt like I could ask questions and I felt a little bit confident to start making my sandwiches without someone telling me what to do next. Little did I know, that my training shifts we’re done and I would be by myself my next shift on a Friday night which are known to be very busy for every station.

I walked into my next shift feeling good about the shift thinking it was going to go smoothly, when I walked inside and set my stuff down for my 3rd shift of the week after school, I was told by the girl who trained me that I would be by myself for the night. When I heard her say that, all my confidence had suddenly left my body and i felt nervous and not ready for the shift ahead, even tho i felt confident the day and the next day after my second shift. I had clocked in feeling the impending doom of the night that was about to start, then I heard a phone ringing and i had tried to prepare myself incase this order was for me. I had waited at my station while my board was clear just reading the labels on the wall that tells me what sandwiches i make at the unit that I am in and what goes in each sandwich so I can be prepared.

After reading the labels for a while I had saw a order pop up on my screen and it was a take-out order for a bowl of chicken noodle soup, I wasn’t aware that we even had soup since all I saw on the labels was sandwiches and pasta like Red sauce and Alfredo sauce. I had looked underneath my unit and had looked for the long rectangle container that we put our foods in like lettuce, raw fresh steak to cook on the grill, vegetables, other meats, etc. I was reading the label and didn’t see any chicken noodle soup, so I had to do the one thing that suddenly gave me anxiety and overwhelmed me, asking the manager if we had any soup and where it was, but knowing me I would find a away around it and find the soup so I went outback and I had looked in the fridge where we keep extra ingredients for all of the units in case you run out and need to refill your unit. I looked for the label that said “Chicken Noddle Soup” but I didn’t see it in the fridge either, so I went to the last place it could be, the walk-in by the dishwash area. I walked into the bone chilling freezer, and to my right was the same rectangle containers so I checked those labels too but I never saw it. I looked to my left in the walk-in which had boxes of vegetables and blocks of cheese so I didn’t think it would be there so i left.

Since I never found chicken noddle soup which made me feel even more anxious because now I have to ask someone so the person gets thier food. I nervously went up to the manager and I had asked her if we have any chicken noddle soup, she had looked at me with a facial expression that I didn’t want to see. She had given me a look as if I was stupid and had 3 eyes. She then snarkily said “there is some in the walk-in, its in a box”. so I said “thank you” with a voice of someone who sounds like they are going to cry and went to the walk-in and looked for the box and found it in a cardboard box with other soups like Italian wedding, lobster bisque, and chicken and dumpling, in a plastic bag. While I was in the walk-in I had heard my manager say in a whisper but loud enough where I had heard it. “Why can’t some people just open their eyes for once, its not that hard to find f***ing soup.” When I heard her that I knew that it was going to be a long night, I had put the soup in the bowl and had microwaved it and I put the bowl of soup in a paper bag to retain the heat and to be easier to carry.

After the long shift I was glad that it was over, and I was able to go home after cleaning my unit for the night for the next day and went home to take a nice shower to freshen up before going to bed for the night.

“Pizza Before” by A.Currell is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.