Sub Express

My first paying gig that involved sandwiches was at Sub Express.  It was just like a Subway, except they had different owners.  The restaurant was in the back of a gas station off of I-74, down the road from Kickapoo, Illinois.  

I had just borrowed $1000 from my dad to buy an '89 Pontiac Grand Am so I needed the job to pay him back.  It was my second job & many days during that summer of 2000 I would work 7-3:30pm at a fulfillment warehouse in Peoria & then drive straight to Sub Express for the the 4-10 dinner shift.  It was exhausting, especially coming up on my senior year of high school, I never had time to hangout with friends.  Sure, some of them would stop by while I was working but that didn't do much for me.

Amber, a girl from my high school, trained me & within a week or two I had it pretty much figured out.  Heat up the frozen meatballs in the Bane Marie, microwave the chicken for one minute when someone ordered it, remember to take out the frozen bread dough at the end of the night to proof.  She showed me how to make sets with the meats for the "cold cut" combo, sweep the lobby, mop the floors.  

A few months later, my friend Kyle started working there & I actually trained him.  He'd worked at a few restaurants before so he ended up showing me a few things.  He used to smoke me out quite often in the walk-in cooler, which on a humid summer day was a welcome break.

I ended up quitting at the end of the summer when football season started & I started commuting to practice after school or from my other warehouse job instead of Sub Express.  It was nice to eliminate one job & finally roam the halls as a senior.  

The experience of working with the public for the first time was invaluable & I think most teenagers should have to slug their way through it.  It can draw a person out of their shell & make you better at the art of bullshitting when things don't do as planned, a skill that is important in just about every job that I've had.