Life as a DA

I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since I arrived. It feels like years.

I wake up at 5am for my shift. Right now I'm on the morning shift from 6am-4pm, but I'm sure that will change. I like being on the morning shift because I can participate in all of the community events (yoga, soccer, lectures, library, arts and crafts rooms, music rooms, workout classes, bouldering cave, etc). The pm shift gets off at 9pm so the only community activity still going at that point is Gallagher's..."the" bar. It hasn't been easy getting sleep here. When I go into my room it's always dark (I mean, really dark. There are no windows.) and when I leave my room it's so bright. I never spend any time in my room because my 3 roommates and I all have different work schedules, and therefore we all sleep at different times. It's funny that it doesn't really matter though, because it's always light outside.

I've really enjoyed being a dining attendant (DA) so far. I've already become very close with the people I work with and we definitely have fun during the day. When I get there in the morning there is a spreadsheet with your name and all of your tasks for the day. We write them down in our little green notebooks called "Green Brains". (I use mine to write down all of my thats what she saids : ) ) My schedule usually looks something like this:

Kira: 6-7 DISH 7-8 POTS break 8:30-9:30 C3 9:30-10:30 POTS 11-11:30 POTS

11:30-12:30 FLOOR 12:30-1:30 LINE break 2-3:30 POTS 3:30-4 LAUNDRY

I've noticed that when I have a good day at work it's because I've been assigned "DISH" more than once. Everyone loves DISH. If you're on dish then you get to do all the plates and silverware that the community uses (different from POTS which is scrubing all of the pots and pans the community uses). When people are done eating and drop off their trays, plates, untensils and what have you at the window they always talk to you, say thank you, ask you how your day is going, give you millions of compliments, even ask you on dates sometimes. So, as horrible as this job seems, it's incredibly rewarding when doing DISH. But seriously, I feel much appreciated all the time. Even though I realize I'm at the bottom of the food chain here no person ever treats me like I'm inferior. It really says something about the community, I think.

There are 62 people working in the Galley (the Dining Hall), 34 are DAs. It is CROWDED in there. We look like little blue smurfs with our light blue button up shirts and matching clogs running around all over the place—scrubbing, re-filling, re-stocking, sweeping, mopping, serving, carrying…it's absolutely hilarious. You can always tell when someone has finished his or her task because he or she is walking around aimlessly with a rag in hand trying to find something to wipe.

I learned quickly that the word I will hear most often in these next 5 months is "ergonomics". By using ergonomics we, as unskilled dishand pot scrapers, can increase productivity by using proper lifting and carrying techniques to minimize the amount of fatigue, discomfort and horrible pain one might feel during a ten hour shift. So basically, we look like robots with barbie hands when we are carrying, moving or touching anything. It's pretty funny and looks ridiculous, but we're committed to doing it because if we don't we'll most likely get fired.

There is something really wonderful about accomplishing a lot in a day without feeling like my brain is going to explode. It's not that I'm not using my brain, it's that it's free to think about whatever I want. I usually spend my time thinking about one of the following: the significance of my education, the election, places I want to travel to when I'm done, how lucky and privileged I am, and everything else...like games we can play while we're working and what I should write in my blog. I guess what I'm really trying to say is.... I'm really happy to be done with the portion of my life where I was writing papers for 5 hours a day.

My hands have gotten pretty dry. I've definitely lost a few layers of skin. But I've gained humility and patience.