My Day Off.
Yesterday was too much. Susie and I had to go in and cut some cakes, and I had to endure some criticism from the cook for how I was cutting my cake. She eyed it heavily and shook her head back and forth, almost in shame. Then when I was done with that, I had to fill the cups with juice, water, and iced tea and figure out where to put them (I still don't really know who drinks what). Then my boss Renzo came in and started talking to me and I got nervous and I kept on forgetting what to do. Then Susie dropped a cake and she had to clean it up and I had to go around and pour coffee for everyone, and then the soup came out and while I was pouring coffee people were asking for soup, so I had to multi-task. I accidently spilled the soup three times and kept on dropping silverware. Then the dinner came out and I passed those out, but then apparently the cook ran out of rice, so she had to wait to make more. I felt so bad telling the people that didn't have their food that I couldn't get any more for them for a while. They looked so hungry. Then while I was waiting to get people their food, a bunch of people wanted ice cream, which isn't too bad or hard to do.
The worst part was the dishes.
There were SO MANY DISHES. Susie and I had to gather all of them up and clean them. Just Susie and me. There's probably about 100 plates and cups, too. It was way too intense.
But the imprtant thing is there is NO WORK TODAY!!! I can relax.
I'm still amazed that I've been able to actually do my job well. It's my first job ever, so I was afraid I wouldn't perform very well. But I'm actually doing okay.
It's sad to look at the elderly people. Not just because they're old, but because their family abandoned them in there. They're bitter and lonely. A lot of them don't have much to look forward to. Some of the people have dementia and can't even feed themselves. They have tired hispanic women feeding them by spoon, tilting their cups so they can drink, and cleaning up their drool with a rag.
There's this one old woman that always forgets what she's doing. She'll sit at her table by herself, reading the TV Guide, far after dinner is over. She hardly ever speaks, and when I offer her coffee or food, she just smiles sweetly and nods. The other night, I went up to her and I said, "Do you need anything, Ma'am? Any coffee or food?"
She smiled that same smile and shook her head politely. I said, "Are you sure? If you want anything, you can just ask me, okay?"
She didn't do anything for a while, so I started collecting her dishes and then she spoke the first words I've ever heard her say:
"You're such a sweet girl."
I looked at her, surprised, and then I smiled and I said, "Thank you."
It's words like that that make me really happy that I work there.
The worst part was the dishes.
There were SO MANY DISHES. Susie and I had to gather all of them up and clean them. Just Susie and me. There's probably about 100 plates and cups, too. It was way too intense.
But the imprtant thing is there is NO WORK TODAY!!! I can relax.
I'm still amazed that I've been able to actually do my job well. It's my first job ever, so I was afraid I wouldn't perform very well. But I'm actually doing okay.
It's sad to look at the elderly people. Not just because they're old, but because their family abandoned them in there. They're bitter and lonely. A lot of them don't have much to look forward to. Some of the people have dementia and can't even feed themselves. They have tired hispanic women feeding them by spoon, tilting their cups so they can drink, and cleaning up their drool with a rag.
There's this one old woman that always forgets what she's doing. She'll sit at her table by herself, reading the TV Guide, far after dinner is over. She hardly ever speaks, and when I offer her coffee or food, she just smiles sweetly and nods. The other night, I went up to her and I said, "Do you need anything, Ma'am? Any coffee or food?"
She smiled that same smile and shook her head politely. I said, "Are you sure? If you want anything, you can just ask me, okay?"
She didn't do anything for a while, so I started collecting her dishes and then she spoke the first words I've ever heard her say:
"You're such a sweet girl."
I looked at her, surprised, and then I smiled and I said, "Thank you."
It's words like that that make me really happy that I work there.