Behind The Mozz Sticks

“Hi, I ordered an Oreo shake a little bit ago. Is that on its way?”

“Yeah, I’m working on it right now. It’ll be out shortly. So sorry about the wait!”

I scramble to scoop ice cream fast enough into the blender to satisfy my customer’s request. I look down at my list of orders: five chicken quesadillas, three orders of chicken tenders, four orders of mozzarella sticks, two smoothies, a root beer float, and an Oreo shake. A Griller can’t get a break at 12:30 A.M. on a Saturday night.

At the counter, two girls debate whether the curly fries I am plating are for them before I confirm their suspicion.

“YES! Oh my god, I don’t think you know how much of a service you’re providing here,” one of them says. “You’re feeding the future leaders of this country.”

I look down at the blender so I can pretend I didn’t just hear these customers arrogantly imply their superiority over me because of my job. I pour the shake, give it to its owner, and turn to the fryers.

I am a Co-Manager of Quincy Grille. As of this month, I will have been serving our signature mozz sticks and chicken quesadillas for two years. I started working at the Grille my freshman spring, and have worked at least one shift a week since then. I was promoted to Assistant Manager and then to Co-Manager at the end of last semester.

As a fourth generation food worker and an avid amateur cook, working at Quincy Grille has given me the opportunity both to do something that I love and to learn about the business side of the food industry. I have been able to get to know House staff, other grillers, my Faculty Dean, and my customers pretty well over the course of the past two years. Some of my favorite memories from the past two years have been my interactions with our customers: my fellow students. And I truly believe that the Grille provides an important service not only to Quincy House, but to the broader Harvard community as well.

But I’d be lying if I said that this job is easy. It’s been far from it. In fact, I bet that few of my customers understand just how difficult it is, and what doing it means. Physically, it’s been demanding: I have quite literally shed blood, sweat, and tears while on the job, and have effectively given up my social life. Working shifts not only involves cooking, but also efficiency, customer service, and cleaning. As manager, I have other duties—making sure that every shift is filled, that we have food in our freezers, and that everything is clean and up to code. Needless to say, I don’t get much sleep.

Even more trying than the physical are the emotional stresses of the job. Although interacting with customers is mostly a pleasant part of working at The Grille, they sometimes get under my skin. While working shifts, I have overheard misogynist comments, experienced racial microaggressions, been solicited for sex, and been heckled by impatient customers, among a litany of other cringe-worthy situations. It’s moments like these where the stereotype of the elitist, out-of-touch, unappreciative Harvard student does not feel too far off the mark.

Of course, I want my classmates to understand how hard everyone at Quincy Grille works. But it’s not just Grillers whom I want them to appreciate. More important are the hundreds of HUDS staff who work tirelessly to make sure we get food three times a day, or the other food workers out in the world like my father, my grandmother, and my great-grandmother, who inspired me to work in the food industry.

As Harvard students, we can sometimes forget how much labor goes into making sure our lives are comfortable, to the point that we demean the labor itself. Harvard is set up so that students don’t have to think about these things and can go through their four years oblivious to the issues both student and non-student employees face. It is imperative, however, that we recognize these inequalities and actively work to eliminate them—a process that begins with learning to respect and understand the experiences of these unsung campus heroes. Working in the service industry, especially when it comes to food, is dignified, and we need to treat it as such. If you were in our shoes, I’m sure you’d want the same.

Allyson Perez '17 is a Social Studies concentrator living in Quincy House.