For the past two years, Eddie Fennell has been a veritable fixture behind the grill in Forbes, but few students know what goes into being a Dining Services worker beyond what they see during meal times. From punch-in to punch-out, my Friday with Eddie revealed everything that goes into keeping Princeton students fed:
5:00 a.m.: Eddie wakes up and heads to work. "I live in Hamilton, N.J., about a half hour away," Eddie says. "I just come straight [to Forbes], maybe stop at the Wawa to get some coffee."
6:00 a.m.: Eddie's shift begins. "Most of the time, I'm in at 11:00 [a.m.]," Eddie says. "Usually there's two cooks in the kitchen for each shift, but on Friday, they only have one, which is why I'm here." In addition to getting ready for breakfast – Eddie prepares the waffle mix – Dining Services must also figure out what needs to prepared for the rest of the day and occasionally for the next: "Tomorrow we get in at 7:00 [a.m.], but brunch starts at 10:00 [a.m.]," Eddie says. "So we try to prep stuff because we only have three hours to get the meal out."
7:30 a.m.: Breakfast begins. Eddie makes the waffles.
9:00 a.m.: "Usually as soon as we get breakfast out, we start prepping for lunch," Eddie says. "They come out with the [weekly menu] on Mondays, so when Monday starts, we pretty much know what we have for the whole week." While Forbes is usually well supplied, the staffers must occasionally get things from other dining halls if they run out of anything.
11:30 a.m.: Eddie is at the grill from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. "[Cooking] is pretty easy to do – it's elementary. I know what I have to do; I know how the students eat," he says. "Lunch isn't as busy as dinner." Eddie began working for the University about six years ago, part time at Butler/Wilson. "Back when I first started, the part-time workers didn't get benefits," Eddie says. "I think it has changed since then – and their pay rate went up, too, so they're not getting paid minimum wage anymore." Eddie came to Forbes about two years ago, when a new full-time position behind the grill opened up. "I enjoy cooking and serving the students — it's fun."
2:00 p.m.: Lunch ends, and Eddie has half an hour to clean the grill. If he's working into the evening, he grabs lunch at this time as well.
2:30 p.m.: Eddie punches out and heads home.
3:00 p.m.: Eddie arrives home. He has a wife and one son, who's "six going on 30."
6:00 p.m.: On the nights he works the dinner shift, Eddie usually eats at Forbes. At home, his wife generally cooks dinner, "but she does like it when I cook, cause I'm kind of a professional," he says. For dinner, Eddie likes fish. As for his family, "maybe tacos or pizza — my son eats tacos all the time," he says.
12:00 a.m.: Eddie goes to sleep. "I'm a night owl, so I don't really go to bed early," he says.
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