When walking into the Demuzio Campus Center people see a clothed table laid out with hot food, cookies, drinks and various utensils, many might think that all of it magically appeared. That is assuming that people gave it any thought at all. No one sees what goes into setting up all the various events on campus from small coffee stations to the surprisingly numerous larger events such as weddings and donor dinners that happen on and off campus. When I worked on the catering team, no one saw me outside Bothwell in the snow at 12 a.m. waiting for security to unlock the door because I had to clean up an event. No one saw me cleaning dishes until 1 a.m. on Homecoming which also happened to be my birthday. People working on the catering team are underappreciated on campus, and this is exacerbated by students not knowing that Blackburn even has a catering team in the first place.
Whenever someone is told by a catering team member where they work, the response is always, “Oh, we have catering?” said Anthony McIntyre, current crew head of Dining and Hospitality. Anthony worked for Catering for as long as I did – two years. “It’s a good job but hard work,” said McIntyre. The reason he decided to switch jobs was largely due to the scheduling. “I didn’t like working sporadic hours. You could go from working two hours one week to working 30 hours the next week. I like structure.”
“Other than finding a job that more closely identifies with my major, the reason I left Catering was because of the long shifts,” said Dallas Newman, current assistant manager of Peer Counseling. “I feel like Catering would have gone better if it had more than the very few positions it has.”
Catering is the face of Blackburn College in many situations because it is what the alumni and wealthy people see before considering giving money to the school. However, Catering is underappreciated and understaffed despite its importance.