Book 2 Post 1

Job Description

28 January 2022

Summer at Subway

Last summer, I got a job at Subway because I was bored and they were the first employers to contact me back after I applied. After telling people that I worked at Subway, most people assume it wasn’t an enjoyable job but I consider it to have been a rather pleasant experience. If you don’t know what it’s like to work at Subway, then prepare to briefly enter the world that I lived in for several weeks: Sandwich Artistry. 

A Sandwich Artist is a person who creates artful sandwiches for people in a sandwich shop. The reason most people don’t know who we are is because they don’t consider sandwich making to be a skilled and creative activity. They would be wrong. There is so much imagination needed to make a sandwich: spacing the tomatoes, spacing the pickles, spacing the olives. All those are difficult and creative parts of being a sandwich artist. 

Job Responsibilities 

Admittedly, I may have liked Subway because I was never trained, so I had no real responsibilities. By real responsibilities, I mean the background tasks that the store must complete to serve the customers . Instead, I let the sixteen year olds that were actually trained handle all of those. Here is a list of things that my job did not include:

• Baking cookies

• Baking bread

• Ordering supplies

• Preparing ingredients for the sandwich line

• Opening and closing the store

• Anything that a random person who walks in wouldn’t be able to do

Here is a list of things my job did include:

• Making sandwiches

• Guessing what to put on the sandwiches because I was not trained

• Standing at the cash register

• Washing dishes

• Being friendly with old ladies so they tip

• And my favorite, taking out the trash

Creating My Art

Considering that the customers are almost always there to tell you what they want on their sandwich, it’s not that difficult to make their food. Anyway, the customers don’t know how to work at Subway either so they won’t know the difference if I make a mistake. As long as I’m extra friendly, which I am, and I ask them if their sandwich looks correct, which I do, then they will have no complaints. Plus, the customers probably thought I’d just started working there because I was never given a full uniform. 

Still, I was entirely capable of offering service to a customer during their visit so I’m exaggerating my inabilities. Here’s an example of sandwich artistry. Let’s say a middle-aged woman walks in. Fortunately, by demographic, I can already assume she’s ordering an Italian BMT with provolone. I make a hinge cut through the loaf of bread that I didn’t bake, and place salami, pepperoni, and ham on the bread. I put their cheese of choice on it, toast it if they like, and then let them choose vegetables. Then I cut it in half, wrap and bag it, and process their payment. All in all, it’s not very difficult to make sure the customer leaves happy. 

To guarantee this though, there are rules to follow in sandwich art to make sure the sandwich looks its best. For example, we must add condiments and sauces in three unbroken lines across the length of the sandwich. Vegetables have exact amounts that allow them to be most attractively displayed. Also, we wrap the sandwich in their papers with a certain method – but that’s a trade secret for artists only. 

 

The Social Workplace

My co-workers were generally friendly and I enjoyed their company. My manager was very satisfied with my work considering I was not trained. The only person I did not like to work with was one egg-headed character named Jeremiah. He was forty and liked to pretend that he was the only one who knew what he was doing. For example, he would instruct his co-workers on the correct ways to complete common sense tasks like removing things from the oven. 

He also liked to hang out at Subway when he wasn’t working, tip his co-workers, and tell customers he was going to go behind the building to get high. Jeremiah was always eager to share his experiences with us. However, I took his stories with a pinch of salt. Here is a list of Jeremiah’s claimed experiences and thoughts:

• He’s a college certified rocket scientist

• The police are corrupt, only help people who don’t work for a living, and bully us, the slaves of Subway

• Subway cookies are bad for your blood pressure and marijuana should replace them

• Subway cookies are also bad because they killed his dog

• I shouldn’t worry about my job because I’ll never be as stressed as the time Jeremiah was the most stressed: when he gave mouth-to-mouth to his wife as she died in his arms. I concurred. 

• He had a diabetic episode and passed out in the parking lot, then woke up and came back inside the store to see if anyone needed a shift covered

• His friend stole his car and the police found a pound of black tar heroin in it 

Ultimately, I did enjoy working at Subway. I got free sandwiches and cookies, got to interact with people, and I got free sandwiches and cookies.

Words/Sentence : 13.97

Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level : 6

Reading Ease : 66.3