Week Six (6/20-25)

The weekend was a long one. Saturday was manager shadowing day, and I got to see first hand how to handle a food shortage crisis during meal service time. I learned that it is important to communicate with your cooks and to carefully count out portions per hotel pan to ensure you'll have enough food. I also got to see my manager use her customer service skills first hand when she had to deal with an irate customer. We're still not really sure why he was so upset, but my manager listened attentively and told him she was sorry about the issue and would discuss it with the employee in question. The adult leaders of the camp he was a supervisor for came to us afterwards and told us not to worry about his attitude, which was useful because that way, we knew there had not actually been a staff issue on our end. Even so, it was a good thing to see my manager ensure the customer that she would handle the situation rather than try to ameliorate his attitude with concessions and statements of "I understand," which probably would have incensed him further. Conflict resolution is one managerial skill I have yet to really practice, which is good insofar as there aren't a lot of conflicts, but disadvantageous because someday I will have to deal with them and would like more practice!

Kayaking with Natalie!

Sunday was a much less stressful day. Natalie and I went kayaking! I borrowed a kayak from one of the UNI staff and Natalie borrowed one from a friend. We managed to jerry rig them on top of my car and had quite the adventure!

Monday was my conference and personnel rotation. It was scheduled for the whole day but only really lasted until lunch time. I learned about how hiring and firing work, union rules, how disputes are handled, and about proper compensation required for employees under the Americans with Disabilities Act. We also went over the massive multi-year budget and how costs and profits are divided between venues. The unique thing about UNI is that Fresh Beginnings (the veggie, meat, and cheese prep venue), the bakery, and the truck delivery departments are cost operations only. These venues do not generate profit themselves since they provide materials for other venues. Thus, their expenses must be divided between other venues based on the amounts of product they order. It is also important to consider this when making product decisions: is it more cost effective to process or purchase broccoli when factoring in food cost AND labor? Budgeting is a balancing act that involves constant evaluation and comparison. It is integral for a manager to have a clear understanding of what adds value to their facility’s image as well as the capabilities of their staff.

I spent the rest of the day finalizing my event decorations and examining the finances of my event: did the forecast for food production match up with the count numerically and according to the population's typical food choices (my event will be catering children aged 9-19). 


Tuesday was my rotation a the Panther Plot, the university's student run garden. Lexie, the plot manager, and I spent the day picking weeds and planting peppers. Even though it was routine work, I really enjoyed hanging out in the garden with Lexie and her coworkers! That night, I had a delicious vegetarian dinner with Natalie and some of her friends before going to see Inside Out with my fellow Piazza people! I'm proud to say I coordinated our movie night-yay team building!  

Lexie, my boss and new friend!

Take that, weeds!

Wednesday was a project day, so I did a little more planning and designing and working on some other intern projects. The main event of the day was the salsa dancing party at a bar on the Hill! The Colombians came and danced with us as well as some of Natalie and I's friends, making for a great night of salsa dancing fun!

Thursday was not much different than Wednesday except instead of salsa, I went line dancing! It turns out that one of Lexie's coworkers from the Panther Plot is an accomplished swing dancer. We had so much fun-it's not every day you find someone that can actually swing dance, and we were both so happy to teach each other some new moves.

 Friday was a long day, but very educational! Lisa, Stacey, and I toured the Martin Brothers, Inc. distribution center in town. I'd never seen the inside of such a place before, so for those that share my ignorance, let me tell you it is HUGE!! 285,000 square feet, in fact! The employees dart around rows and rows of packaged products on these little forklift machines much like little ants running about their mound. The air is full of honking horns as they swing their loads around corners and shoot down aisles.

A row of roughly 50 charging electric, mini fork lifts.

These speedy workers turn over the warehouse inventory 23 times in one year. For those of you keeping score at home, that's a lot. Some of the shelves hold fresh fruits, veggies, meats, and dairy products, so they are located in special temperature-controlled rooms. The employees who work in here get a little extra padding to their paychecks in return for walking around work dressed like Alaskans. Fun fact: Martin Brothers even delivers to a little Oklahoma town called Guymon!

Picture this warehouse full of these rows floor to ceiling!

After our Martin Bros. tour, we drove up to a small private Iowa college called Wartburg University. They have a much smaller student population to serve, which allows them to provide some more intimate meal options such as allowing sick students to order meals online for pick up in the dining center. Wartburg allows students with special diet needs to order individual meals much like UNI. One interesting thing Wartburg does is email these students the week's meal for each dining center and students RSVP which meals they will be attending. This communication allows the dining center to reduce waste and helps them ensure they're providing services for as many students who need special meals as possible.

Their dining center looks a lot like the facilities at UNI, so it was easy to navigate and get our lunch. According to our tour guide, the main dining center serves about 700 students each night for dinner during the typical semester. This is quite small compared to OSU and UNI, and their facility reflects this smaller count.

After we came home from Wartburg, I packed my backpack and drove to Chicago to visit my best friend from high school for the weekend. I'll see you all after I return home!

A very inclusive Wartburg salad bar.

This shows where Wartburg purchases their local products from!

Wartburg's cereal bar, oh la la!