LAURA JANE KENNY | staff writer

Students express their disappointment with working in Food Services, with the amount of stress involved being a top complaint.

All APU students partake of their product, but what is it like to work for the industry that serves us all?

This semester, food services has left some student employees dissatisfied with their jobs, and have caused others to seek employment elsewhere.

Food services is one of the biggest student employment offices on campus, with about 250 students employed. They offer more job positions than any other department and are known for their flexibility with student’s schedules.

However, the stressful environment has caused several students to quit, leaving them unsatisfied with their experience.

“It isn’t a pleasant environment, Wherever you work in food services, there is a lot of pressure,” Senior English major Aleen Bradley said.

Bradley worked for food services for two years, starting as a freshman and recently quitting this semester. Bradley has worked in the cafeteria and Heritage Court. She found the environment to be frenzied at the cafeteria and too busy at Heritage.

Bradley never understood how the management chose where the employees work. She always wanted to work in the coffee shop, but she said it seems that the job was given to new employees instead of her.

“[The coffee shop] is more fun and you get to learn how to make drinks. It’s less gross,” Bradley said.

When students apply for food services, they can request where they would like to work. Director of Hospitality Services Samuel B. Samann explained the decision is left up to the advisors of the individual food departments so they can decide if the student is qualified for the job and if he or she would work best with their availability.

Samaan explained that the Cornerstone Coffee House is the most popular place to work, but only a certain number of people can work there. The staff tries to place students according to experience and availability.

Sophomore journalism and psychology double major Lauren Peugh quit working for food services five weeks ago. After working there for a year as a student and as a temporary employee, Peugh has left food services feeling dissatisfied.

“It was hectic and I sometimes felt that it was unprofessional,” Peugh said.

Peugh said that in her early months of employment, her management would yell at her in front of costumers. Even after the management apologized later, they would continue to reprimand her openly.

Samaan explained that although no one screams, it is sometimes necessary to respond quickly in food services because the food is getting served to students.

“Sometimes the urgency or the situation itself makes you do that, not that they are going to scream at anybody but sometimes they have to get loud because the dangers of making mistakes in the food can cause someone to get sick,” Samaan said.

Peugh now works in the Marshburn Library on campus and feels that the atmosphere is much less stressful.

Bradley and Peugh were disappointed with the management. They both had concerns about individuals in managment and how they interacted with each other. Peugh described how the managers would not talk to each other due to a conflict between them.

“Whenever they were in a fight or something like that, they would kind of impose their fight on other people,” Bradley said.

Both managers have denied the claims and explained that they do not remember any such instances.

Other students have expressed their affection for working for food services, and do not see quitting in their future.

“I love working at the caf!” freshman liberal studies major Joanie Paauw said.

Paauw admits that the cafeteria can sometimes be stressful, but thinks that it holds such a variety of jobs that it is not overwhelming.

“I’m happy with my job. When I have a problem with work, it is not so much the Caf but just the idea of work,” Paauw said.

The desired positions vary from employee to employee. Senior physical education major Andrea Schrick suggested that the cafeteria is more hectic than Heritage Court, due to rush hours and being under pressure to deliver food on time. Paauw enjoys working at the cafeteria because of the people she gets to meet and work with.

Schrick prefers the grill to any station, even though she has worked in the cafeteria, the Den, and for Banquet Services.

“It’s way less stressful, way cleaner and everyone is way nicer,” Schrick said.

Freshman global studies major Sam Carballo is one example of a student who appreciates the benefit of working for food services. Carballo received $1500 toward her tuition for work-study from working for food services. She enjoys working there and does not consider the hard work to be overbearing.

“I think that people are just not used to working for food services in general. They think it is a hard job because they are put in the dishwashing once. They don’t understand that and they aren’t expecting that. If you follow directions and you are always on your toes, you’ll be fine,” Carballo said.

Food services has made many strives in improvements with their food this year, attempting to cater to student’s need.

“We are always making progress. We are changing stuff every year,” Samaan said.

This year, food services has changed the oil that the food is cooked with, making all the oil zero trans fat. They are working to provide more fresh vegetables, fruits and other healthy choices. They offer vegan and vegetarian items and are offering new wheat dough for the pizza attempting to help those who have problem eating the dough right now. They have added to the number of seats, from 111 to over 200 seats. They have also added a new section in the cafeteria.

Food services is working with students to try to offer the best opportunity they can.