Over 40 Hours Part Time

I'd been an A.V.I. Vending Attendant over a dozen years when I took on the A.N.C. account. But, this was nothing like what I'd been doing. The caterings they added to my job weren't technically caterings. I didn't fix or serve the food. At first the A.N.C. office ordered from the local Deli or a restaurant, and then I had to stop whatever I was doing to go pick it up and set it up in one of the companies conference rooms. Then I could return to finish my work while they served themselves. Somehow that evolved into my being the one to order the food also. It was just a lot of interruptions that had me juggling my vending work to get everything done. It was watching the clock and deciding if I had time for a task before I had to leave and pick up lunch for the office. At first I was interrupted again to clean up after them. (They often didn't finish till long after my quitting time.) The Boss's secretary took pity on me and took on that task herself. About the same time she quit ordering and left that to me. And, it was using my own car to pick up for them that got annoying.

Then there were the cakes. A lot of employees were old timers and there was a steady stream of retirements. A.N.C. bought cakes for the whole factory each time someone retired. One for each area and each shift. To make that more complicated, most of the factory was on 8 hour shifts, but one department was on a 12 hour shift. So instead of delivering cakes on three shifts, I had to pick up and return cakes 5 times. I couldn't pick up the cakes all at once, because no car will carry all those cakes. One area times two shifts, and three areas times three shifts. After I got to know the supervisors, I was able to talk them into letting me leave the night shift cakes in their offices so I didn't have to go back at 2 AM and 4 AM. That was just above and beyond the call of duty for any part time job!!! The cakes I always knew about ahead of time. But I never knew about the caterings till the canteen phone rang with an order for that day or the next. Gradually I was able to slide into some semblance of a routine, but that job kept me on my toes and no two days were ever alike.

I'm a very conscientious worker, but my conscience was fine with adding an hour (or two) a week for the use of my own vehicle. It probably cost me more than that. Especially picking up all those cakes. I could never get more than 3 full sheet cakes in a car at a time. The evening and night shifts only needed half sheet cakes. They were lighter and could be stacked two high, but it still took two trips. (You should have seen some of the looks I got at the grocery store when we wheeled out all those big cakes.) During that 9 years at A.N.C., I even bought a car with those cakes in mind.

On top of all that, my vending company "thanked'' the factory for their business with 2 or 3 specials a year. It could be submarine sandwiches, or sloppy joes/shredded chicken, or ice cream or something else. And guess who got to serve all 5 shifts on those occasions? (OK, my supervisors did show up to help on the day meal in the main canteen. But I was on my own for the other shifts.) I remember one "special" where they brought in a truckload of watermelons and musk melons. All at once. And left them on every surface of my storeroom, including the floor. I had to manage my regular job with the machines, (around all those melons in the way) and cut and serve melons for two days. It was even worse then the bright idea of having me serve ice cream sundaes. I set those up, kept the ice cream and supplies coming, and let them make their own! Thank goodness for my sense of humor and the wonderful people at A.N.C. who always pitched in and helped me with the "specials." Despite the stress and upheavel, it was usually party time fun.