Theories of Insanity

26 | Working Girl

26 | Working Girl

Monday, January 15, 2018

><

Insanity:

Not being able to take a hint...a really obvious hint.

><

            My parents had put a rule in place for me when I started school back in August: I was not allowed to have an on-campus job for my first semester. But now that it was the second semester and I seemed to blow through money like nobody's business, I had gotten a job at the Chick-fil-a in the campus food court, and the second Monday of classes marked my first day on the job.

            I had never worked in fast food before. In high school I had worked in a terrible grocery store, and I could probably fill another book entirely with stories about that after-school job. It had gotten to the point that I took off my makeup between school and work so that I wouldn't be hit on by the 50-year-old men coming in for their pack of cigarettes at 10:00 at night.

            Working at a college campus would surely be different, and working in fast food was definitely going to be a change from scanning groceries and reminding old ladies that they couldn't buy gift cards at the self-checkout machines.

            "Hi, I'm Morgan Kuns. I'm supposed to start work today?"

            I watched as the college kid standing behind the counter of the Chick-fil-a looked at me like I was insane. (1)

            "Okay. Um...I'll get Leah. She's the boss."

            I thanked him as he turned around and disappeared behind the wall in front of me, returning thirty seconds later with a redheaded woman who looked to be in her late twenties.

            "Morgan? I'm Leah Jensen, the full-time supervisor here at Chick-fil-a!" She reached over the counter and shook my hand, "Just go right through that door to your left and we'll get you all set up!"

            I followed where she was pointing and walked through a door that stood between the Chick-fil-a and the Taco Bell that was right next to it. Leah was waiting for me on the other side and pointed me down a winding staircase to where the locker rooms were located for me to change into my uniform.

            I changed quickly and walked back up the stairs to the back of the store, which consisted of a giant prep area with people from stores all over the food court. Taco Bell employees were putting together burritos, girls in Papa John's hats were spreading sauce on pizza dough, and someone in a Subway apron was running back to their store with a giant bag of lettuce.

            "This is where you'll be on Monday nights." Leah told me as she came around the corner with two other girls behind her, "The three of you will be doing an incredibly important job to our store's success: you'll filet the raw chicken that we have to fry for the customers' sandwiches."

            I nodded slowly, wishing that my first day on the job hadn't had to involve raw meat, but fighting the urge to throw up anyways.

            "This is where we keep the chicken." Leah told us, opening up a giant thawing cabinet from behind the long counter we were all standing at, "You'll have to figure out how many cases of each kind we need when you come in for your shift, and then you'll filet that much during each shift. It's far easier than it sounds.