I remember telling my buddies on my dorm room hall that I was not coming back home to the campus until I have a job. I needed drink and drug money quick.
There was a low point my freshman year when I desperately needed money. I had been at Clemson since the summer before my freshman year and was living on the male hall of Byrnes. Located on the east side of campus, the Bryan Mall community consists of a “low-rise” Mauldin and the “high-rises” Byrnes, Leaver and Manning. Each hall houses two students per room and everyone shared the bathroom and showers centrally located down the hall of each floor.
This is where I learned the line that the manager would say all the time, “if there is time to lean, there is time to clean.” We had to keep the kitchen clean and tidy, all the time. It was a stepping-stone to a successful future in the world of business. I learned to work in different position such as hand filleting and breading the chicken, preparing sandwiches, nuggets, and strips and cooking the delicious waffle potato fries.
I learned also how to food prep. This is where we were in charge of preparing all of the cold items such as the salads, fruit cups and other side items. We prepared the salads, wraps, and other cold menu items. I also learned how to label and stock all ingredients on shelves so they can be organized and easily accessible. I had to prepare ingredients by washing and chopping vegetables and other ingredients. There were also days when I had to wash dishes, sanitize surfaces and take out the trash.
When they offered me the job, I was very excited. I have to say that when I showed him my resume, he read that I was an Eagle Scout and a Clemson student, he about fell over his shoes to get me working. He said “I’d like to offer you a position today. When can you start? I want you to be on the Morning Kitchen Team. You will prepare, cook and present the food in a safe, quick and efficient manner with the key aim of delivering food to our customers within 90 seconds.”
This was my first experience with food safety. I had never heard of the term. I remember going into the cooler and sneaking a slice or two of cold cheesecake. Man, it was so good. I thought that since I was working so hard there that I had the right to eat all of the grilled chicken sandwiches, nuggets, strips, fries, etc. Getting there super early was tough as a college freshman. In fact, it would have been tough on anyone to be there for the breakfast shift.
That job lasted for about 3 months or so, then I decided to try my hand in starting a pressure washing business with a fellow ‘user,’ Vance. We had big dreams to actually start two businesses. One was this Pressure Washing Plus business and the other was a business delivering and spreading the free mulch that Clemson offered the community.
