“I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing.”
― Herman Melville
The life of a Dining Attendant in McMurdo Station is a wondrous thing. It has similarities to that of normal restaurant work but with numerous differences. For one, we conduct under the classic "Mess Hall" procedure where people can help themselves to the available food (so long as we have enough). D.A.s work in the Galley, a beloved part of everyone's life here on the ice.
The Galley:
In Building 155 there are many useful things to find within these hallways. There's H.R., Housing, the store, the recreation board, but most importantly there's the Galley. This is where we all get to eat, hang out, and for some of us, work.
When walking through the hallway and following the aroma of the finest dining, you will reach a trophy case on your right containing numerous interesting scientific objects and pictures. Once at the end of this hallway the room opens into the main part of the Galley. Immediately on your right you can pick up your tray and a plate for today's meal. Just on the other side of these trays you will find the entrance to the Dish Room. This is a strange land where food is magically removed from dishes and given back to the community for reuse. There's usually a lot of singing and dancing coming from this room and is a place where you can either get a friendly smile or a stern look followed by a half growled, "Excuse me."
On the other side of the room, however, you can see something that will truly make you happy. There are two stations where hot food is served and "The Action Station" where cooks have prepared a special something for all of us to enjoy. Here, people will line up single file around the side of the Galley. If you are waiting in line and look to the right you will see Bakery Island. This is where you can find fresh baked bread for dinner but most importantly, where you can find dessert. The desserts are, quite literally, something to write home about. There are smoothies, cakes, pies, and many other exotic kinds of goodies to be had depending on the theme of lunch or dinner.
Once you pass Bakery Island you will see the entrance to the Dining Room. There are two levels to this area. There is the lower part which is known as the "Republican Section" where you will find more of the older crowd consisting of many people who have seasoned multiple times. There isn't a name for the rest of the Galley dining room. When looking for a place to sit, people might ask if you'd like to sit in the Galley or the Republican Section (which is a question that has never been asked by anyone who sits in the Galley).
Once you've finished with your meal you now head to Trash Alley. Here you can discard all of your remains into "Food Waste." Afterwards, on the adjacent wall, you have the dish window where you have to separate your dishes and silverware. There has been a large debate over this process but that's for a later tale.
Duties of the infamous Dining Attendant:
There are multiple shifts that are worked throughout the day by our Dining Attendants but I mostly have worked the PM shift so I'll walk you all through what that's like.
Our day starts at a prompt 10AM in the galley. There is a tasking sheet with the assignment for the day and is ALWAYS subjected to change at any moment. There are 4 different things that you can typically be tasked for.
Dish: This is where we get to man the dish machine known as Bertha. She is a large, old, sassy machine with many issues that are immediately apparent. She is an inanimate object with more personality than many people you'll find in the world (inanimate being a relative term that I have fought with myself back and forth and have decided that, "It's my blog; fuck it, I don't care if it's correct."). This is a duty that can be performed with 1-3 people at any given time. We take the cups, mugs, plates, bowls and silverware from the dish window, wash them off a bit and send them through Bertha for her to do her wondrous magic. On the far end of her conveyor belt, dishes emerge (most of the time) clean for the person on that end to "catch" and sort into it's proper area. This process is ALWAYS accompanied by loud music. The accompaniment of singing, dancing, and laughter is up to the discretion of the current D.A.s and volunteers.
Pots: This is within the same vein as Dish but drastically different. Behind the doors to the kitchen there is the "Pot Room."
"I don't even know why they call it that. I've looked everywhere and I can't find weed ANYWHERE."
-Brad Geer Winfly September 2012
When standing in the doorway, on the right, there is shelving with many different types of clean pots and pans. On the left side is the end of a bench where clean pots come out of our other washing machine known as Slim. He is a single compartment washing beast who is very seasoned but very reliable, unlike Bertha. On the other side of Slim you'll find three sinks for washing and rinsing our various pans. At the end of the sinks there is a bench that protrudes perpendicular to the rest of the washing area. This is the beginning of our system. Here, there is a hose that comes from above the person who is designated as, "The Sprayer."
This person is the one who gets things going; the person who controls the pace of the Pot Room which is very important. On either side of the sprayer there can be either a few pots and pans or an evil, unmanageable pile of shit. I've personally seen sheet and hotel pans inches away from the ceiling.
I stand at 6'2ish and have long extremities and have had trouble reaching the tops of these mountainous stacks. But once those piles have reached such heights things start piling on the ground; objects of all shapes and sizes that make life seem superfluous and unfulfilled. But with the help of your coworkers, some extra loud, pump-it up music, and a little time, you will soon see the floor and hope reappear.
Needless to say, this could be the funnest or the worst room to be in on station.
Line: This job can be very frustrating at first but will ease up as it is practiced. This person is responsible for refilling the various dishes in our two hot lines and our vegetarian line. The reason this can be frustrating is purely on the community as they cue up to fill their plates. When you're holding a 4" hotel pan with about 12 pounds of potatoes that are at roughly 175 degrees waiting for someone to move out of your way who is simply weighing whether or not they want to get another pork loin can be a little annoying (hah). But once you get the hang of the job you begin to adopt an attitude where it's more like, "You can either move or I'll make you move!"
Floor: This activity can be a cake walk or a frantic messed up situation. This person has many responsibilities, most of which just involve keeping things stocked. You can imagine that it would probably take a while for 14 liters of milk to run out. WRONG! Once we have the bulk of our community here they, for some inexplicable reason, like to come in herds. When a few hundred people come in at once and all need a fork, knife, and spoon then shit runs out fast! When we have the ability to serve salad you'll see a D.A. full-stride power-walking across the room to grab more salad containers throughout lunch or dinner (helpful tip: GET OUT OF THE WAY).
In between meal periods, D.A.s will go on their own designated breaks for food and stretch break where we keep loose and limber to avoid repetitive motion injuries (ideally). Beyond that we also clean up the mayhem that previously ensued. We'll restock napkins, wipe down tables, and vacuum the dining area. Clear the garbage out of trash alley, sweep and mop the floors, and do laundry. And somehow we'll also remove the food from the hot lines and other places around the galley to make it look presentable again.
Needless to say, the life of a D.A. can be very rewarding but can also make you hate people more than you should be allowed.
And then there's the life of a Jano which is drastically different...
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