Opportunity Center Week #2 - Kitchen Duty

This week I helped Gwendolyn in the kitchen for most of the day. Gwendoln is a short-haired, no-nensense black lady sent from another local service organization who apparently will be running the kitchen during my shifts. We were serving burritos that we would warm up in the microwaves, pastries, and the everyday noodles, oatmeal, etc. In the middle of the day we got a bunch of stuff dropped off by Whole Foods: salads, fruit bowls, rice bowls, and the grand prize, sushi plates. Apparently they are a hot item at the center. I was shocked at how much really high quality food they were just giving away... these are items yuppies in PA routinely overpay for at the market. It felt great seeing the clients take the food. I got the impression that some of them come to expect to get such luxury items... not very humble or grateful.

Towards the end of the day Gwendolyn and I are talking about how a few of the clients come in and just eat all day. She was bothered by these people and showed frustration at having to serve them. Then she got into how she herself had been homeless for 7 years, so she knows what it's like to be in need. That's why she had little tolerance for the greedy people. The conversation got emotional and she even shed some tears relating her story of her past. As I could not possibly relate, I just nodded and tried to understand. Still, I personally do not feel compelled to treat the greedy clients different than the humble ones. But since I was in Gwendolyn's kitchen, I didn't want to undermine her. For example, at one point she told people we were "out of water" because she was tired of clients taking the jug she would fill from the sink tap and pouring a bunch of it into their own large containers. I thought this was ridiculous, given that there was a faucet right there in the kitchen. But not wanting to cross her, I turned a few clients down. Later, I regretted it when Gina came by asking why clients were being denied water.

One client picked up a burrito from the tray and while unwrapping it asked me what was in it. When I told him it was bean and cheese, he suddenly got mad that there was no meat and threw it in the trash. I told him he shouldn't be wasting food like that, and he said that he couldn't put it back since he touched it. I told him with some firmness that that's fine, but next time ask before touching the food. He sensed that I was upset, but I told him I wasn't mad at him, but mad that food had been wasted. He thought for a while, then came back and thanked me for "putting him in his place." He said I was right, that he shouldn't be wasting food and sometimes he needs someone to be firm with him on these sort of things.