Wednesday, September 7, 2016

St Anthony's Padua Dining Room (JULISSA)


Julissa Torres
8/8/16-8/10/16
St Anthony's Padua Dining Room
Bob, Mimi, Lupe
3500 Middlefield Rd, Menlo Park, CA 94025
(650) 365-9664

I was pretty aware of the type of people who I was going to be serving because I myself used to go to the dining hall with my grandmother to get food when I was younger. However, this did not change the fact that I was extremely nervous before I went. I was scared that I was not going to be helpful enough or that I would be told I was doing things wrong. The next day when I arrived I was proved completely wrong. I was welcomed with open arms and the first thing someone asked me when I walked in was if I wanted to chop vegetables.I was impacted a lot more than I thought I would be through the work I did. On the first day I mainly only worked in the kitchen and not serving food. I knew that what I was doing was helpful to the cooks, but I didn’t see the true value of my work until I worked in the service line. When I was passing out bread, which was at the beginning of the line, I got to see everyone’s face who walked in. Among these people were adults, teenagers, children and “abuelitas”. As soon as I saw a little kid, it immediately hit me how important the work I was doing. In fact, it’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but I almost cried because it it reminded me so much about my own childhood and how much I loved coming with my own abuelita. After the day was over I felt very good about myself. I was felt like the work I did really helped the people in the communities. I cut so many tubs full of vegetables and fruit. And I got to see the people who I served which was great too. They were all very appreciative and I loved seeing the smiles on their faces.