Zhipeng Li – Staff Writer
Good news: if you are short of cash at this moment and you do not go through all the inconveniences of working off-campus, there is one good solution on campus at this moment. Due to the short staff situation at the Caf, “(they are) now hiring student employment for the wage of 15 dollars an hour, and 16 dollars an hour for student supervisors… there are plenty of positions still available.” said a staff member at the financial aid office. However, this is not a permanent decision, the wage increase will only be valid for this spring semester.
The Caf has been closing off some of the stations earlier as well as shortening the open hours of the Caf in order to cope with the short staff situation. According to Kevin Birr, The Assistant Director of the Dining service, “Pre-COVID, Dining Service had around 300 student employees, last semester, we had 157. Because of this, we had to limit hours in the STEAMery and Market Place. Even after cutting hours, and closing the Rotisserie and other stations as needed, we were not able to maintain consistent hours. In the fall semester, about 25% of the work shifts were not filled.”
“Pre-COVID, Dining Service had around 300 student employees, last semester, we had 157”
In regard to the situation update since the announcement of the wage raise, Birr provides some specific details: “In late January, we announced that we would be raising student pay from $10.33 per hour to $15.00 for Dining Service employees only, and only for the spring semester. This was intended to be able to fill enough of the open shifts to be able to have more consistent expectations for the students. After announcing the increase in wages, I have added around 50 new staff, and am working with nearly 30 more.” Currently, there are two requirements for potential new student employees: “We are only adding students that are not currently working on campus, or can not possibly earn their complete award through their current employment on campus,” said Birr.
“We are only adding students that are not currently working on campus, or cannot possibly earn their complete award through their current employment status on campus”
If you happened to try to grab a late bite and found out the Caf is either closed or only offering little food options, joining the Gustavus Cafeteria staff team would certainly help to improve the situation. And indeed it is going to be beneficial for the Gustavus community as a whole, especially considering students often have all-nighters in order to get the necessary school work done. With newly replenished crew members, the Caf can provide a better diversity of food with longer service hours that would better enable Gustavus students to work late at night.
For students who are wondering what the working experience is like as a member of student staff, here are a few student’s testimonies to improve your decision making. The students chose to remain anonymous. When talking about her experience working as a Sophomore student at the salad bar, the first interviewee said: “It is quite an easy job. Mostly the job involved replenishing food once a while and maintaining the general cleanness around the salad bar, However, if you happened to have the last shift of that day, you will be helping other staff members to clean up the station and preparing for the next day’s service, which usually only takes about half an hour.” Another student who had worked in the pasta station reported: “The pasta station job is even easier. There are two things you usually need to do besides serving food, the first is prep work for pasta, such as boiling pasta and blending some olive oil in, the second one, of course, is maintaining general cleanness around the station.”
If you have only four classes this semester, joining the Gustavus cafeteria staff can be a very good add-on overall for your semester. Feel free to Contact Kevin Birr for more information in regard to this topic in general.