Working Hard or Hardly Working?

Today, I experienced to work hard and realized that I was hardly working.
Today, I got to work as an all-around canteen assistant/helper and it's exhausting but satisfying.
Today, I proved to myself that I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth.

I was excited when I started my day for I know I would experience something new in my life and I did. I learned the job description and was confident that I could fulfill my duties. The job is easy but very tiring.

Waking up at 5 in the morning, arriving around 6 am at the school where the workplace is, fixing the table and chairs in the dining area, sweeping out the dust and dirt out of the floor from yesterday's print, going to the kitchen and finally washing my hands.

To help prepare food

That's the primary duty and I did help. I have knowledge of basic food preparation but I don't pride myself in the actual cooking. I'm only useful at prepping, cooking is not my cup of tea.
So basically I did some minced-diced-chopped, loads of serving and a lot of dishwashing.

I didn't expect you'd know how

Said the female assistant who has the same job as mine and it entails the common stereotype. Of course, I'd know how to wash the dishes, to scrape leftover foods from soiled dishes, and to prepare food in the kitchen. I am not born naive of those things even people take me as one.

Let me describe how busy the kitchen is in the morning having 4 workers (2 cooks and 2 assistants, though basically all, are all-around workers).
Leftover rice from yesterday was turned into fried rice; bacon, corned beef, and eggs were all cooked. these would serve as breakfast meals for students who skipped breakfast at home = cornsilog & baconsilog! All were served on each plate while ingredients for siomai, carbonara sauce and arroz caldo were being readied. Sauce for siopao was instantly prepared until packs of siopao were prepped for steaming. Molo wrappers for siomai and other ingredients were bought immediately. The syrup for sago't gulaman was cooked while loads of ice were being purchased. Numerous washes of chopping board and knife were made as well as several minced, diced, and chopped were executed.
The kitchen was indeed busy as a bee and it needed every hand it could get, yet I afforded to standby. Although I managed to take pauses, I witnessed how effective and efficient everyone does their job. I guess this is what their daily work looks like.

But that's only the preparation! When the clock hits 9:30am, the real challenge is serving the food to students who are patiently waiting in line, hungry and curious about what the canteen has to offer for the day. That's my favorite part of the job - serving. Asking boys and girls what they like to buy and serving it to them. I actually enjoyed saying 'enjoy' and 'thank you' once in a while. Somehow, in some way, seeing students enjoy eating what you all prepared relieved my tiredness. However, also in some way, seeing the soiled dishes and scraping leftover foods broke my heart.

That's the way things go

Said Tita Vivian, the old lady who cooks along with Sir Myrold, my former adviser who, on the other hand, offered me the job on his disposal.
Prepare - cook - serve - scrape - wash - all repeated for Lunch where pork menudo, fried fish fillet and pork chop, mixed vegetables and mushroom soup were all prepared, cooked, and served.

As I was saying, the job is easy and simple but very tiring. The most tiring is probably washing the dishes at lunch. I and Jhoubilyn, the other assistant, did hundreds, more or less, of kitchenwares - from plates to utensils; from bowls to basins. She did the cleaning with soap; I did the washing with water. That's when I felt my knees shaking that I had to grab a chair to continue working. I said I was sorry I am not used to standing up for long hours working. She assured that she experienced the same during her first day - it's her fourth day on the job by the way (also hired at Sir Myrold's disposal). I heard the same thing from Tita Vivian, at her 55, as she understands my situation being a first timer.

There is less work in the afternoon as only biscuits and cookies are served at the counter and we didn't have to cook another set of food. I was honestly tired and managed to take a nap a bit before 3pm which is their afternoon break. That's when I served as the cashier and Sir Myrold let me even he usually serves as the cashier; (he has classes to attend to throughout the day yet he manages to still magnificently supervise the school canteen). Good thing, their prices are set uniformly so I didn't have such a hard time memorizing them.

Jhoubilyn and I started to rest while I saw Tita Vivian still busy in the kitchen, fixing stuff, wiping glass counters, returning materials to places and the like.

I realized she was working hard and I was hardly working. 

I say this generally as I got to converse with her and to learn little things about her background and found myself admiring how strong and hard-working she is as a mother of six. Moreso, I also got to interview Jhoubilyn who happens to have the same age as mine and waiting for college til August as I do. She's experienced and I'm not, but that made me realize that I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth and should never even think that I was. Not that I'd wished that I am because I would rather choose to work hard for the life I desire than to have the desired life I didn't work hard for. 

I received my salary for the day from Sir Myrold before he leaves for his classes, which I didn't honestly expect for I thought he only wanted me to kill my time and to experience such thing. Having thought I could earn,  I started to like the pressure of service.
People normally think I exhaust in physical work but guess what, I'm not just a thinker but also a doer and I'm proud to experience such job and have a new look at life!

26 June 2018
-TBWS

PS. Go Beyond Your Comfort Zone!