Dining hall workers find a home away from home
By Alene Tchekmedyian
Feb. 23, 2010 10:03 p.m.
The dining hall is pretty vacant around 2:30 p.m.; a few pairs of students are scattered throughout the building, finishing up their meals with conversation before they trickle out. Customers are not being served, but by no means does that mean the work is done.
In a few short hours, the salad bar needs to be wiped down and restocked, the soft-serve ice cream machine refilled, utensils organized, tables wiped down and floors cleaned ““ work that falls to the staff of UCLA food service workers who wear iconic black polo shirts with the Bruin Bear stitched on the left side, black and white pin-striped aprons and black chefs hats.
“I know I’m exhausted at the end of the day,” said Janelle Baines, a food service worker of six years. “I’m an O.T. girl, overtime.”
Despite the long hours and hard work, Calvin Farr, area manager for Covel Commons, Bruin Café and Café 1919 said the food service workers operate like a close-knit family.
“A lot of times, employees spend more time here at work and with each other than they do at home. … They are close-knit in not only their work life, but they look out for each other in their personal life,” he said.
Baines said the benefits, her co-workers and the job security make her happy, and balancing the duties of a mother and a wife with work has become routine.
“It’s a healthy habit for me,” Baines said while listening to Kirk Franklin on her headphones.
She has three kids, ages 10, 9 and 8, and one on the way.
“I’ll take maternity leave because my due date is around summertime, which for us we usually go on curtailment or furlough. … I’ll take off the summer to just enjoy (the) new baby,” Baines said.
Baines has a long history with UCLA. She began working as an usher at Pauley Pavilion when she was 16. Two years later, she married, had a son and moved to Jacksonville, Fla. with her husband, who was in the military. They moved back to Los Angeles a few years later, and Baines applied for a job for UCLA Dining Services.
Applying for that job and coming to UCLA was almost natural for Baines. Her mother works at the payroll office and has worked at UCLA for 25 years, and her sister works in the dental department.
“I like what (UCLA is) doing for my family as far as employment. … Even though I know it’s a recession it doesn’t feel like a recession. That’s how I feel,” Baines said.
Unlike Baines, not all of the food service workers live and work close to family.
Yin Lui Kwok moved to California from Hong Kong in 2005 and heard about Dining Services through a job fair advertised in a newspaper. When the school at which she worked as a secretary closed down in Hong Kong, her application for immigration happened to have just been approved. She left her family and set out for the United States to find work.
“I wanted to have a change, a new life, a new future of my life. I like it a lot,” she said.
Kwok visits Hong Kong about once a year to see her mother and sons.
Drawing a parallel between her job in Hong Kong and her job here ““ both for schools ““ she said she sees many differences in what she actually does. Kwok said she is grateful that she stays active while at work for Dining Services.
“The one similar thing is I worked in schools. The different thing is, in Hong Kong I just sat in front of a computer. Here I need to learn everything: how to sweep, how to clean, how to mop, how to serve the food. I knew nothing about these things. That’s a big challenge for me,” Kwok said.
Kwok said her favorite part of her job is interacting with the students.
“The reason why I am so happy to stay here is I can talk to the students and make friends with them,” she said.
Farr acknowledged that the work is heavy, especially when Dining Services is short staffed, but the food service workers operate together as a team and help one another out.
“I have an overall great appreciation for them. I’ve not always been a manager, so I know what it’s like to do the work that they have to do,” Farr said.
