New Thread within This Thread and Life as a Subway "Sandwich Artist"

Hey again my friends and family.

First off, let me address the first part of my title-"New Thread within This Thread".
This was an idea i had one night while i was lying in bed. I've decided to try and make this site more interactive and less one-way (only me yapping), so, in order to do that, from now on, at least once a month, I'll make a TOP FIVE LIST OF.... (enter word/s of choice). What this means is that you can write in a comment a TOP FIVE LIST OF something you want me to list... And in my follow-up post, i will list those five things. Hopefully then, this site would be less of a dead one.

My "second" title-"Life as a Subway Sandwich Artist" starts now.

So far, as of today (Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007), I have worked 4 shifts at Subway. First 3 were treated as training, and today, i was officially "seen" as a "Sandwich Artist" and was left "alone to do whatever. As in i got to pick what i wanted to prepare in the morning and later on serve whatever way i wanted. Each shift is 7 and a half hours for me, all from 7.30am-3pm. At least so far they've been. After work I'd usually walk to QUT GP to catch the free shuttle for class at 4pm. Sometimes I get really tired.

My roster for upcoming days looks like this:
Friday-10am-3pm
Saturday-8am-4pm
Monday-12-5pm

Standing and walking around for 7 and a half hours puts a sting in your step afterward. And i have slowly become accustomed to it. Instead of pain, it feels like a manifestation of my sense of achievement after a long day's work.

A typical day at work would go like this:

6.10am- Wake up get ready, eat breakfast, get ready for bus at 6.50am
6.50am- Wait at bus stop
7.10am- Arrive at Cultural Centre, Southbank bus stop, start walking to Subway
7.25am- Arrive at Subway, sign in, start "prep" (preparation) work

We prep everything from teriyaki chicken to meatballs to jalapenos to breads.
And i must say, everything is done in a hygenic manner and bread is baked fresh. Our kitchen is clean as clean can be. It's amazing. I expected that after working there and knowing what it's like and how clean/dirty the kitchen is, i wouldn't ever enjoy a sub again. But NOPE! I was wrong... And in this case, I am glad I was wrong.

Normally how we serve people, well for me at least, i would say "Hello, can i help you?" *smile*, customer tells me what they want or if they don't i ask, "Six-inch or Foot-long? On what bread?" Then later, "What cheese would you like?"
Customer tells me, then i ask, "Would you like it toasted?"
It's either yes or no, then i'd ask, "What salads would you like today?"
Customer says, "bla bla bla..."
I say, "Any sauce for you?" Then they'd tell me, then i'd ask, "Salt and pepper?"
Then i tell the cashier what it is, or when we're really busy, i handle the till myself and ask, "would like you like anything else with the BLA BLA BLA SUB today?"
Then i tell them, "That comes to/ That'd be AUD$..."
Then i get the money, give them the balance and say, "ENJOY!" or "Have a nice day!" or "Have a good one!"

That's basically a typical day at Subway. Everything in between in irrelevant to this story.

Perks of working there would be getting free coffee from the coffee maching or soft drink dispensers and getting an employee discount of 50% whenever we decide to buy a sub for lunch. We get a maximum break of 30 mins. But if you take the whole 30 mins you don't get paid for that half hour, or basically if you take anymore than 15 mins break, you won't get paid for the 15 mins. I normally take 10 mins to eat my sub and do a bathroom break. We get to make our own subs and the bathroom's close...

Today i went on without a break. Not cos i didn't want one, it was just cos we were too busy. Doesn't really matter, i ate my sub on the way to the QUT bus stop, it take 15-20 mins to get there from Southbank. Bus comes at 3.20pm and waits 5 mins... Gets to KG at about 20/15 mins to 4pm... So i'm always on time for classes. Only difference is that the soles of my feet hurt and my eyes are a bit tired. But not my brain, and that's the important thing!! Haha...

For now, i'm waiting to see the doctor tomorrow at 2.45pm. Hopefully get a prescription and be rid of this shitty flu. It's been bugging me for 2 weeks now... I thought i could fight it, but i guess my immune system is not that strong.

Also waiting on the one-week easter break when i'll be shooting my first ever film... Mike's doesn't count as MY film... It's one of those OUR films.... not forgetting Bryan in the states of course. Oh, speaking of our film "Departure", we'll find out if we win latest by noon tomorrow, i really can't wait... I hope we do, and somehow i feel we will. We'll see. I have a compressed version of the full 5-minute movie... It is terrific. Mike and Bryan told me they cried when they saw it... and that we had made a "masterpiece". Hahaha... I'll let you guys be the judge of that one day. I'll post the link up here, cos if we win, the movie gets posted on the site... I personally would've been "awed" (IF THAT'S A WORD) even if it didn't turn out as well as it did... Because it is my first film shooting experience ever... I must say, we did a damn good job... And the movie looks amazing... Marie and Doug (the actor, also Mike's brother in the States) look really good together... although they've never really met in person before. It's so amazing...

Will let you know if we win!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup. Life's like this for me so far. Any questions feel free to ask. And don't forget!!! Put in your idea for MY TOP FIVE! You can even make your own list and i'll make mine of the same subject.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and thanks for caring!