My job frustrations
I've gone back and forth within my head about the professionalism involved in discussing my job-seeking frustrations online. Given that Janella noticed my frustration last night, I've decided that bottling it up isn't good so this may give me some outlet.
First, a little background. I have been increasingly obsessed with food as a hobby and a career option for the last ...mmm... eight years. It started when I turned vegetarian and progressed the more I investigated food. I think what attracts me to it is its expansiveness as a subject. I feel that even if I spent 16 hours a day every day of my life studying the production, history, culture, artisanship, biology, and preparation of food I would never run out of interesting and varied topics to study. For anyone who knows me, that would be naturally attractive to me.
Let me also outline to you that I am a wannabe hippie, at least in my values. I am extremely liberal in my political and social beliefs, but not really in my lifestyle. I'm not sure whether this disparity is because of my own inhibitions or not, but I have to admit that externally I'm no hippie. But that liberal value system rules a lot of my internal choices of career and money-making ventures.
I should also inform those of you who don't know me (which sometimes includes those who are close to me, just because I don't share things sometimes) that I'm not what I consider a socially typical vegetarian. I was, but am so no longer for reasons that I may delve into in future posts. I don't mind talking about meat, admiring its artisanship, touching it, working with it, cooking it... just doesn't bother me, in fact in some warped way I think I find perverse pleasure in it, kind of like a funeral director pushing around dead humans for others to genuflect around.
So, in spite of the fact that for the last four years I have been teaching preschool children in some way, shape or form, this move to Ann Arbor has given me permission (as did Janella) to work my way into food. Problem: I have no experience. I have vast knowledge about food through the independent study I've been doing for the last eight years which has accumulated a respectable little library of reference materials, but nothing to really put down on paper. If I lied a little, I could say that I helped cook at Ganas, but that would be a little overblown.
One of the defining factors in my decision to delve into food occupations was moving to Ann Arbor and seeing Zingerman's. Let's face it, in some realms I'm a snob. I love really good food. I could try to pass myself off as a connoissseur or a gourmand or whatever, but I'm basically just a food snob and embrace that fact. For anyone who has walked into Zingerman's, which includes everyone who comes to visit me, they understand that it is a food snob's heaven. Not only is it filled with the best food you can imagine, but with educated employees who love to talk about the food. The more I learned about Zingerman's, the more I came to understand that I had to work there. Janella was one of the first to tell me that. I'll write about the beauty of Zingerman's as a company in some future post.
The other place that my hippy nature was naturally drawn to was the People's Food Coop. It fit my needs to support sustainable agriculture, local community, and liberal politics. They even liked me enough to interview me and tell me they would have liked to hire me if I didn't need three weeks off for my wedding and honeymoon. But I did.
Having been thwarted at my attempts to work at either of those places, I branched out a little bit and investigated the locally owned natural food stores and landed a job at Arbor Farms. It had just moved to a new location (4 minute walk from my house), expanded its floor space considerably, and was willing to hire me temporarily until my wedding. I worked in the deli and got to work with food and talk about food to customers (one of my very favorite things) and coworkers throughout my workday. In the very short time I was there, coworkers learned to trust and depend upon me for both my responsibility and my food knowledge.
I think I'll continue my post wedding experience in the next post.
First, a little background. I have been increasingly obsessed with food as a hobby and a career option for the last ...mmm... eight years. It started when I turned vegetarian and progressed the more I investigated food. I think what attracts me to it is its expansiveness as a subject. I feel that even if I spent 16 hours a day every day of my life studying the production, history, culture, artisanship, biology, and preparation of food I would never run out of interesting and varied topics to study. For anyone who knows me, that would be naturally attractive to me.
Let me also outline to you that I am a wannabe hippie, at least in my values. I am extremely liberal in my political and social beliefs, but not really in my lifestyle. I'm not sure whether this disparity is because of my own inhibitions or not, but I have to admit that externally I'm no hippie. But that liberal value system rules a lot of my internal choices of career and money-making ventures.
I should also inform those of you who don't know me (which sometimes includes those who are close to me, just because I don't share things sometimes) that I'm not what I consider a socially typical vegetarian. I was, but am so no longer for reasons that I may delve into in future posts. I don't mind talking about meat, admiring its artisanship, touching it, working with it, cooking it... just doesn't bother me, in fact in some warped way I think I find perverse pleasure in it, kind of like a funeral director pushing around dead humans for others to genuflect around.
So, in spite of the fact that for the last four years I have been teaching preschool children in some way, shape or form, this move to Ann Arbor has given me permission (as did Janella) to work my way into food. Problem: I have no experience. I have vast knowledge about food through the independent study I've been doing for the last eight years which has accumulated a respectable little library of reference materials, but nothing to really put down on paper. If I lied a little, I could say that I helped cook at Ganas, but that would be a little overblown.
One of the defining factors in my decision to delve into food occupations was moving to Ann Arbor and seeing Zingerman's. Let's face it, in some realms I'm a snob. I love really good food. I could try to pass myself off as a connoissseur or a gourmand or whatever, but I'm basically just a food snob and embrace that fact. For anyone who has walked into Zingerman's, which includes everyone who comes to visit me, they understand that it is a food snob's heaven. Not only is it filled with the best food you can imagine, but with educated employees who love to talk about the food. The more I learned about Zingerman's, the more I came to understand that I had to work there. Janella was one of the first to tell me that. I'll write about the beauty of Zingerman's as a company in some future post.
The other place that my hippy nature was naturally drawn to was the People's Food Coop. It fit my needs to support sustainable agriculture, local community, and liberal politics. They even liked me enough to interview me and tell me they would have liked to hire me if I didn't need three weeks off for my wedding and honeymoon. But I did.
Having been thwarted at my attempts to work at either of those places, I branched out a little bit and investigated the locally owned natural food stores and landed a job at Arbor Farms. It had just moved to a new location (4 minute walk from my house), expanded its floor space considerably, and was willing to hire me temporarily until my wedding. I worked in the deli and got to work with food and talk about food to customers (one of my very favorite things) and coworkers throughout my workday. In the very short time I was there, coworkers learned to trust and depend upon me for both my responsibility and my food knowledge.
I think I'll continue my post wedding experience in the next post.
posted by Solomon | 11:18 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home