So for Day 17 they placed us with Bobby who is technically the customer relations person for the catering department, but does a whole lot more for the department!
In the morning we got to sit in on a meeting with Bobby, Shirleta, and Frank where they were discussing this years menu for "Boomer Bash". This is essentially a big tailgate party held 3 hours prior to a home football game where alumni and their families can go to eat. H&FS actually donates the first 3,000 meals of the season (they typically get around 500-700 people per game) and after that they begin to charge ~$10/meal. It's served in the Ball Room at the union building and there are 2 lines opened with at least 2 entrees (like brisket, hotdogs, hamburgers, mac & cheese, shrimp, chicken, etc.), sometimes soup, vegetables, desserts, and beverages. These people seriously get spoiled! They sound like delicious meals. So they went through the menu's and based off of how successful certain items were last year they made changes accordingly. They also gave an extra look to the big games of the season (Notre Dame, OSU, and homecoming) to make sure that the meals they prepare are both pleasing and easy to replenish since the kitchen within that building is small, it can cause more challenges for catering to keep everything supplied.
After the meeting we went over to the union building where Bobby's office is and he went through everything he does for catering. So he will take requests for events that someone wants to have (weddings, receptions, graduations, etc.) and input them into the EMS system they use which states where it's going to be, how many people, the event title, who's hosting, and what kind of food their having with pricing. He also showed us the different suite style menu's they use for the football stadium suites and the new style that they'll be using for this coming year.
Next up Kelsey and I got to be judges for the "Just Desserts" competition that was being held for all Housing & Food Service staff. There were four teams and they each got to create two desserts: one that could be mass produced within Couch for students and one wild card. They were given certain ingredients and objects to use for their prep work which was limited to 30 minutes! It was SO much fun.. not to mention delicious :) what better job could you ask for? Yummm. That was it for the day and we just worked on our project for the afternoon and then spent some time and the pool and relaxed. It really can't get much better!
For Day 18 we spent our second in catering with Dana. He is one of the managers for catering and we got to follow him around to a bunch of different events that were going on that day. To start, they were holding a dinner at the Fred Jones Museum of Art. It was only a small venue with 32 people, but it looked gorgeous! It was our first time inside the museum and the building actually had money and art donated by a couple who had them restructure the actual portion of their home with the art had previously hung. Talk about fancy! So Dana basically just went down to the prep area ahead of time to make sure staffing was alright as well as whether both the amounts and type of food was prepared for the event. We had a little extra time so Kels and I were able to go and look at the special collection they have at the museum: A Century of Magic - Disney! It was so beautiful. There were a million different pictures depicting all of their movies with a small blurb on each piece. It was so cool.
After that event, we got to drive to the surplus location and drop off some stuff then headed back and went to lunch with the director of all H&FS Dave Annis. He took us to Fuzzy's Taco's, a Mexican place on campus corner, and ohhhhh my god the food was to die for! I got a burrito and we had some nachos and salsa before and I seriously have never enjoyed a better meal. It was awesome! We got to talk to Dave about how our experience here has been so far, what we plan on doing after the internship, and just overall what we've been up to outside of working at OU and how we're enjoying Oklahoma. He's such a nice guy and I can see why everyone loves working for him.
We were back with Dana after lunch and got to watch the whole set up take place for a retirement party in one of the lounges at the union building. So when we got there they had just finished setting up the decorative part of the event (table cloths, cutlery, etc.) and were in the process of bringing out the food which was GORGEOUS (pics on facebook). It was so stunning! They had a punch and cake table, a drink table, a fruit/veggie table, and a Mediterranean table with extravagant cheeses, dips, and others set up. The catering was only for a reception so it didn't involve preparing meals for the guests.
Our last event was down at the Health Science Centre in OKC so we drove up there to give them a hand. Technically Dana isn't in charge of the events that are held there but he was helping out since some of the employees he sent were going to be a little late. It was being held for new incoming residence students with their families as a welcome kind of thing with a fiesta theme. So Kels and I helped to set up some chairs, move furniture, fill salt/pepper shakers and place them on the tables, as well as organize sugar/sweetener containers. We got to work with a few of the student employees we see working at Couch all the time which was nice, plus one of the managers over at Cate's where we'll be in two weeks. Afterwards, we headed back in, ate, went to the gym, and just relaxed! All we've being doing so far today (Day 19) is working on our project and for the weekend we're planning on going to Bricktown to explore so keep an eye out for some pictures of downtown OKC!
Friday, June 29, 2012
Day 15, 16 - Concessions!
So at the start of this week, Monday/Tuesday, we got to go through everything that concessions does! This involved checking out the different stands at the football stadium, men's gymnastics and wrestling, softball and baseball stadium, soccer field, tennis courts, and the basketball arena. Hands down my favorite part of being here so far.
So on Day 15, we got to spend the morning with James who is one of the concessions managers. He took us to the football stadium first which is just insane. I was overwhelmed just being there without the people so I can't imagine what people must feel like when there are 85,000 fans for a game! It would just be chaos. So he said they have around 30 concession stands in total, plus 70 suites that are covered by catering. They actually just got permissions this year to start selling alcohol in the private sections since the campus is supposed to be dry, but they expect it to be a huge asset to increase sales even if it is just limited to that one area. James also explained that they bag allllll their own ice for the entire stadium! It takes them almost a week to prepare all of this and sometimes it still isn't enough (they do this because purchasing the amount of ice required is much more expensive than doing it themselves). They also sometimes run into problems at the stadium because the warehouse for dry/cold goods is located on the west side. So if they run out of something on the east side, they have to transport it from one side all the way to other.. with over 80,000 people in your way! So they really have to prepare and be ready. It is serious such a beautiful stadium, and we got to view the field from a number of different spots and it really wouldn't matter where you're sitting, you would be able to see the game extremely well! Each year they spend upwards of a million dollars to invite teams from other states to play (which are outside of the Big 12 they typically play in one season, there are 6 home games that run from September to November), so this coming year they've invited Notre Dame to play which should be a huuuuge game. Bob Stoops is their coach, who makes a crazy amount (approx. $4.3 million) but has taken them to nationals several times and won last in 2000. This year their home games include Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Notre Dame, and one other that I can't remember. I'm so sad that we won't be here for one of the games, but maybe I'll have to come back just to check it out :)
After that, we headed off to the softball and baseball fields which were nice, but small in comparison to other facilities that they have. There were only 2 concession stands at either of those locations. We drove past the soccer field and the tennis courts which only have one (because they're not very busy), then we went into the basketball court... OH ma gossssh it is amazing!! I think I'm even more surprised with this than the football stadium! The basketball stadium seats 12,500 fans, although they also hold concerts there as well.. but still! That is sooooo many people! They have around 12 concession stands (spread out through 3 floors), a beautiful legacy hall, the regular court plus 2 other courts (one each for women's and men's to practice at), and the coaches offices plus a bunch of offices for concession managers. Such an amazing spot. They've had players like Blake Griffin and the Paris sisters (Courtney and Ashley) play for them and said that they would end up selling standing tickets because so many people wanted to come and watch them play! The past few years they said the team hasn't been as successful and with the Thunder coming to OKC it's taken away a lot of their business but it's still their second biggest sporting event at OU.
After exploring the basketball stadium, we got to meet with Keith who is the director of concessions. He got to show us some sales numbers for the football games as well as how they decide on pricing and a bunch of other stuff. With concessions they end up losing money every year (ie. $200,000 this year alone) mainly because the bid for supplying concession stands went to OU H&FS, HOWEVER the athletics department (since they are a separate department) takes a certain percent of everything that they sell there (47%, which is very high!). Plus then they have to deduct labor and food cost from that and end up making very little. Football and basketball seasons are the busiest times (and they sometimes overlap which I hear is absolutely crazy!), and for them to do highest sales possible it should typically be either an 11am or 2pm game, hot weather, and it is also dependent on the team they're playing. So their most profitable game last season was played against Texas A&M, it was a 2pm game with sunny hot weather and they made over $400,000. The whole season that make around $3 million or more. It's funny to think they're losing money, huh? But the problem with their upcoming season is that the majority of Big 12 games are being played in the evenings around 8pm, so people will have already eaten meals, the weather won't be as hot, and fans are more likely to purchase snacks over anything. He also explained that they have to decide on pricing based on what other universities are offering and what other professional level stadiums/arena's are offering. So they'll look at, for instance, what the Dallas Cowboy's, Chesapeake Arena, and Texas A&M will sell a hot dog for and base it off of that. It's a lot of work!
On the second day (Day 16), we got to spend time with Danielle who is another one of the managers. She focuses on doing hiring, training, and anything to do with money. So she spoke to us on how they hire NPO's (non-profit organizations) to run the concessions during games which saves them a TON of labor costs throughout the year. She also explained how they do their training sessions in August and teach those who will be working how to serve certain items (like chili cheese nachos) to provide the customers with the best product possible. She is also in charge of posting any positions within concessions, as well as a variety of random tasks that are throughout all sporting areas. We also got to observe her taking measurements for soda fountains that they are going to be implementing in some concession stands at the basketball arena and it was actually really interesting to see her working with the company guy who is doing the installing. There is actually so much work it takes like finding a water source, finding a drain system, cutting through stainless steel vs. wood cabinets, etc. A lot more then you think goes into the process.
After that we headed off to lunch and went to see Dot. She gave us our mid-point evaluations (can't believe we're halfway done!) and then we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon! It's been a great week so far, and now we're off to catering for the rest of the week :)
So on Day 15, we got to spend the morning with James who is one of the concessions managers. He took us to the football stadium first which is just insane. I was overwhelmed just being there without the people so I can't imagine what people must feel like when there are 85,000 fans for a game! It would just be chaos. So he said they have around 30 concession stands in total, plus 70 suites that are covered by catering. They actually just got permissions this year to start selling alcohol in the private sections since the campus is supposed to be dry, but they expect it to be a huge asset to increase sales even if it is just limited to that one area. James also explained that they bag allllll their own ice for the entire stadium! It takes them almost a week to prepare all of this and sometimes it still isn't enough (they do this because purchasing the amount of ice required is much more expensive than doing it themselves). They also sometimes run into problems at the stadium because the warehouse for dry/cold goods is located on the west side. So if they run out of something on the east side, they have to transport it from one side all the way to other.. with over 80,000 people in your way! So they really have to prepare and be ready. It is serious such a beautiful stadium, and we got to view the field from a number of different spots and it really wouldn't matter where you're sitting, you would be able to see the game extremely well! Each year they spend upwards of a million dollars to invite teams from other states to play (which are outside of the Big 12 they typically play in one season, there are 6 home games that run from September to November), so this coming year they've invited Notre Dame to play which should be a huuuuge game. Bob Stoops is their coach, who makes a crazy amount (approx. $4.3 million) but has taken them to nationals several times and won last in 2000. This year their home games include Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Notre Dame, and one other that I can't remember. I'm so sad that we won't be here for one of the games, but maybe I'll have to come back just to check it out :)
After that, we headed off to the softball and baseball fields which were nice, but small in comparison to other facilities that they have. There were only 2 concession stands at either of those locations. We drove past the soccer field and the tennis courts which only have one (because they're not very busy), then we went into the basketball court... OH ma gossssh it is amazing!! I think I'm even more surprised with this than the football stadium! The basketball stadium seats 12,500 fans, although they also hold concerts there as well.. but still! That is sooooo many people! They have around 12 concession stands (spread out through 3 floors), a beautiful legacy hall, the regular court plus 2 other courts (one each for women's and men's to practice at), and the coaches offices plus a bunch of offices for concession managers. Such an amazing spot. They've had players like Blake Griffin and the Paris sisters (Courtney and Ashley) play for them and said that they would end up selling standing tickets because so many people wanted to come and watch them play! The past few years they said the team hasn't been as successful and with the Thunder coming to OKC it's taken away a lot of their business but it's still their second biggest sporting event at OU.
After exploring the basketball stadium, we got to meet with Keith who is the director of concessions. He got to show us some sales numbers for the football games as well as how they decide on pricing and a bunch of other stuff. With concessions they end up losing money every year (ie. $200,000 this year alone) mainly because the bid for supplying concession stands went to OU H&FS, HOWEVER the athletics department (since they are a separate department) takes a certain percent of everything that they sell there (47%, which is very high!). Plus then they have to deduct labor and food cost from that and end up making very little. Football and basketball seasons are the busiest times (and they sometimes overlap which I hear is absolutely crazy!), and for them to do highest sales possible it should typically be either an 11am or 2pm game, hot weather, and it is also dependent on the team they're playing. So their most profitable game last season was played against Texas A&M, it was a 2pm game with sunny hot weather and they made over $400,000. The whole season that make around $3 million or more. It's funny to think they're losing money, huh? But the problem with their upcoming season is that the majority of Big 12 games are being played in the evenings around 8pm, so people will have already eaten meals, the weather won't be as hot, and fans are more likely to purchase snacks over anything. He also explained that they have to decide on pricing based on what other universities are offering and what other professional level stadiums/arena's are offering. So they'll look at, for instance, what the Dallas Cowboy's, Chesapeake Arena, and Texas A&M will sell a hot dog for and base it off of that. It's a lot of work!
On the second day (Day 16), we got to spend time with Danielle who is another one of the managers. She focuses on doing hiring, training, and anything to do with money. So she spoke to us on how they hire NPO's (non-profit organizations) to run the concessions during games which saves them a TON of labor costs throughout the year. She also explained how they do their training sessions in August and teach those who will be working how to serve certain items (like chili cheese nachos) to provide the customers with the best product possible. She is also in charge of posting any positions within concessions, as well as a variety of random tasks that are throughout all sporting areas. We also got to observe her taking measurements for soda fountains that they are going to be implementing in some concession stands at the basketball arena and it was actually really interesting to see her working with the company guy who is doing the installing. There is actually so much work it takes like finding a water source, finding a drain system, cutting through stainless steel vs. wood cabinets, etc. A lot more then you think goes into the process.
After that we headed off to lunch and went to see Dot. She gave us our mid-point evaluations (can't believe we're halfway done!) and then we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon! It's been a great week so far, and now we're off to catering for the rest of the week :)
Day 14 + the Weekend - Purchasing & Baseball!
Last Friday, day 14, we got some time to work on our project sporadically throughout the day. First thing in the morning we got to spend some time with Matt in purchasing.
Matt gets to contact the vendors and suppliers for near everything that the university orders from. He sends out bids for certain things that housing or food service would need. This is mandatory for the university. So, for example, if the university wants a vendor for locally brewed coffee (which they are currently in the process of sending out a bid for), then they make a proposal and post it so that all places within Oklahoma have an opportunity to make an offer. They don't necessarily take the best price offer and have to take into consideration who in the long run may be able to provide more that the university may be interested in besides just the one main product. So if anyone from any of the various locations on campus (concessions, couch, crossroads, etc.) need to bring in a new product, piece of equipment, fabric, etc., then they have to contact Matt and he'll prepare something to be sent out to potential vendors. He also explained that the university can bring in more then just one vendor and be able to have a prime vendor, but also a secondary vendor to supply other product. Matt also explained how these contracts work. So, for example, with US Foods, they established something within their contract that stated they would always have curly fries in stock for them (its the big product at Crossroads that students love). So if OU requires an order by Friday or something, then US Foods HAS TO deliver it by that day. There was an actual instance where US Foods had to ship them via FedEx because it is written into their contract! Matt also talked about how they have signature items which means that they will only order say 25 cases of a particular item that the university wants to try or something, then US Foods has to have that minimum amount of cases ready at all times for them. But, if the university ends up not wanting those cases, then they have to use up the rest of what they ordered where as with non-signature items they can decide they don't want to carry them anymore and it's no problem.
After chatting, we got to sit in on a meeting with Matt and Shawn with Coca-Cola reps who were giving them information on the "Coke Freestyle" machine. This isn't yet available in Canada (I asked!), but it's been available in certain states only within the US but they're planning on expanding. It is THE coolest thing I have ever heard of, and it took 7 years for them to develop. This machine is purely touch screen and has over 100 different flavors in it! So you just pick and choose what you want and then you put your cup underneath and it'll pour. How crazy?? We got to see the booklet and they spoke on the success of the product which has been fantastic. Get ready Canada, it's gonna be insane! They also said that eventually you'll be able to create your own drinks via a mobile device and scan it onto the machine and it will make your drink for you like that! These guys serious think of everything..
After that we got to go on a run with Bacon and Matt to pick up some scanners for the university, went to lunch, then we were essentially done for the day! We got to go home early :) That night we went to her brother's baseball game which was so much fun! I'd never really been to one and it was actually really entertaining. We're planning on going to an OKC Redhawks game as well in the next two weeks so stay tuned for those pictures!
So on the weekend we went to another baseball game Saturday morning then went out for lunch at Louie's. I got to try fried green beans for the first time and they were FANTASTIC. Soooo good! With a chipotle/ranch dip.. perfect! The food was great too, it's just a local chain restaurant but it was delicious. I also got to go to the Warren movie theatre that night which was so nice, set up like a very old fashion place and it was stunning! We didn't go to the this kind of theatre spot, but some sections have a balcony and director's suite which you pay more for, but are the best seats in the house! So nice. It's one of the top biggest movie complexes in the nation. Then Sunday was just a relaxing day, nothing too exciting but a very interesting weekend!
Matt gets to contact the vendors and suppliers for near everything that the university orders from. He sends out bids for certain things that housing or food service would need. This is mandatory for the university. So, for example, if the university wants a vendor for locally brewed coffee (which they are currently in the process of sending out a bid for), then they make a proposal and post it so that all places within Oklahoma have an opportunity to make an offer. They don't necessarily take the best price offer and have to take into consideration who in the long run may be able to provide more that the university may be interested in besides just the one main product. So if anyone from any of the various locations on campus (concessions, couch, crossroads, etc.) need to bring in a new product, piece of equipment, fabric, etc., then they have to contact Matt and he'll prepare something to be sent out to potential vendors. He also explained that the university can bring in more then just one vendor and be able to have a prime vendor, but also a secondary vendor to supply other product. Matt also explained how these contracts work. So, for example, with US Foods, they established something within their contract that stated they would always have curly fries in stock for them (its the big product at Crossroads that students love). So if OU requires an order by Friday or something, then US Foods HAS TO deliver it by that day. There was an actual instance where US Foods had to ship them via FedEx because it is written into their contract! Matt also talked about how they have signature items which means that they will only order say 25 cases of a particular item that the university wants to try or something, then US Foods has to have that minimum amount of cases ready at all times for them. But, if the university ends up not wanting those cases, then they have to use up the rest of what they ordered where as with non-signature items they can decide they don't want to carry them anymore and it's no problem.
After chatting, we got to sit in on a meeting with Matt and Shawn with Coca-Cola reps who were giving them information on the "Coke Freestyle" machine. This isn't yet available in Canada (I asked!), but it's been available in certain states only within the US but they're planning on expanding. It is THE coolest thing I have ever heard of, and it took 7 years for them to develop. This machine is purely touch screen and has over 100 different flavors in it! So you just pick and choose what you want and then you put your cup underneath and it'll pour. How crazy?? We got to see the booklet and they spoke on the success of the product which has been fantastic. Get ready Canada, it's gonna be insane! They also said that eventually you'll be able to create your own drinks via a mobile device and scan it onto the machine and it will make your drink for you like that! These guys serious think of everything..
After that we got to go on a run with Bacon and Matt to pick up some scanners for the university, went to lunch, then we were essentially done for the day! We got to go home early :) That night we went to her brother's baseball game which was so much fun! I'd never really been to one and it was actually really entertaining. We're planning on going to an OKC Redhawks game as well in the next two weeks so stay tuned for those pictures!
So on the weekend we went to another baseball game Saturday morning then went out for lunch at Louie's. I got to try fried green beans for the first time and they were FANTASTIC. Soooo good! With a chipotle/ranch dip.. perfect! The food was great too, it's just a local chain restaurant but it was delicious. I also got to go to the Warren movie theatre that night which was so nice, set up like a very old fashion place and it was stunning! We didn't go to the this kind of theatre spot, but some sections have a balcony and director's suite which you pay more for, but are the best seats in the house! So nice. It's one of the top biggest movie complexes in the nation. Then Sunday was just a relaxing day, nothing too exciting but a very interesting weekend!
Day 13 - Payroll, Reslife, FIR
On Thursday last week, day 13, we got to spend sometime in several different places including payroll, Reslife, a manager's meeting, and we got to explore some of the faculty-in-res rooms.
To start, Brandie in payroll got to explain to us how they manage that area of housing and food service. She gets to deal with all the new hires which includes doing background checks, lots of paper work, and managing the direct deposit stuff. So every two weeks, they go through all the logged hours that employees have work from clocking in (those who aren't on salary base) and make sure that nothing is a miss, then they input these in the computer and that is how they make sure everyone is payed correctly. If there is a problem when an employee gets paid, they will typically get a phone call and review everything. At the start of every month, they also get time sheets from those staff who are on salary and input the days that were taken as sick leave, vacation etc. which automatically adjusts their pay for the month. She is also in charge of posting any new jobs which are available through the university.
Next we were off to Reslife with Erin who is in charge of the Walker Centre residence hall. So essentially she is in charge of about 1200 students! Crazy I know. There are 4 of them to cover all 4000 frosh since it is mandatory for them to live in res for the first year. In total, there are about 70 RA's (one per hallway) and 2 RD's per building to help her. They essentially hold floor meetings, do room checks, and help out for program events put on by the faculty-in-res professors. So Erin gets to deal with a whole variety of things herself. So say if someone was caught with alcohol in their room (which is not aloud since they are a dry campus), the RA will send down the individual to talk with Erin and she has to go over rules on this basis as well as give them their first or however many strike. Once a student get's 3 strikes then they are officially kicked out of residence but she said that this rarely happens. She also gets to help organize move in and organize what is similar to our frosh week at home. She is also like the 'house mom' so if any freshman, or RA for that matter, needs to come and cry on someones should then they'll go to down her office on the first floor of the building.
After we spent some time with her, we got to go to lunch and then we sat in on a manager's meeting. They were going over things like switching suppliers for non-slip shoes (H&FS will give $30 towards a new pair of non-slip shoes for their employees, per year, from a company which makes them - this goes out for bid and the best offer wins), crimson corner (frosh week event), using C-bord, and a few other small things. Nothing too exciting and a lot of it didn't really pertain to us.
We then got to go and check out one of the faculty-in-res rooms that are currently being renovated for the summer for a new prof and their family. This is hands down one of the coolest things I've ever heard of a university doing! So essentially what it is is there are 6 of these apartments available on campus (one in each residence building) which are used for professors only and their families. There is a waiting list for profs who are interested, however the president of the university will typically choose those who he feels would be good for the position. So if chosen, then the prof and their family gets to stay for up to 3 years in the apartment free of rent and utilities, given free meal plans, fully furnished living room, as well as a budget to run programs which is the main part of the deal. As a FIR, then the professor must hold 'programs' for the students within the building, at least 3 per semester with a mixture of academic and for fun type events. The apartments consist of a living room open to the dining area and kitchen and this section is where the programs are typically held. It can be closed off from the rest of the apartment (3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, several storage spots) where their personal belongings are during when the program is run. This main area is what is furnished by the apartment and it is beauuutiful!
We actually got an opportunity to go and visit with a french professor who is currently living as a FIR. He explained how he runs some of the programs for the students in the Adam Centre where his apartment is at (all apartments are on the first floor). The most successful program that he's held with his wife for the students was a 'massage night', which he's done both years he's been there, where they rented students from the massage school in OKC and allowed students to sign up for 10 minute sessions.. for free!! How amazing is that?? He's also held during finals week midnight breakfasts where they make pancakes for the studying students, as well as a Harry Potter week where right before the last movie came out in theaters he played through all of the movies. It is the coolest thing. Although he did mention that some profs aren't as enthusiastic as others, and he also mentioned that his wife (who is also on staff at the university) is almost more exciting to do the programs then he is! She's always baking and putting treats out for students to come and have. It really is a brilliant idea as long as you get the right kind of people doing it.
After work, Kelsey and I went to a small get together that her brother was at for his baseball team at one of the host houses. He was here for the week playing in an all-star tournament for high school players. We only stayed for a bit after meeting some of his teammates and then headed home to relax. That was it!
*****NOTE: all my pictures are going to be up on facebook now because it takes too long to upload them here! But I'll try and post as soon as anything happens :)
To start, Brandie in payroll got to explain to us how they manage that area of housing and food service. She gets to deal with all the new hires which includes doing background checks, lots of paper work, and managing the direct deposit stuff. So every two weeks, they go through all the logged hours that employees have work from clocking in (those who aren't on salary base) and make sure that nothing is a miss, then they input these in the computer and that is how they make sure everyone is payed correctly. If there is a problem when an employee gets paid, they will typically get a phone call and review everything. At the start of every month, they also get time sheets from those staff who are on salary and input the days that were taken as sick leave, vacation etc. which automatically adjusts their pay for the month. She is also in charge of posting any new jobs which are available through the university.
Next we were off to Reslife with Erin who is in charge of the Walker Centre residence hall. So essentially she is in charge of about 1200 students! Crazy I know. There are 4 of them to cover all 4000 frosh since it is mandatory for them to live in res for the first year. In total, there are about 70 RA's (one per hallway) and 2 RD's per building to help her. They essentially hold floor meetings, do room checks, and help out for program events put on by the faculty-in-res professors. So Erin gets to deal with a whole variety of things herself. So say if someone was caught with alcohol in their room (which is not aloud since they are a dry campus), the RA will send down the individual to talk with Erin and she has to go over rules on this basis as well as give them their first or however many strike. Once a student get's 3 strikes then they are officially kicked out of residence but she said that this rarely happens. She also gets to help organize move in and organize what is similar to our frosh week at home. She is also like the 'house mom' so if any freshman, or RA for that matter, needs to come and cry on someones should then they'll go to down her office on the first floor of the building.
After we spent some time with her, we got to go to lunch and then we sat in on a manager's meeting. They were going over things like switching suppliers for non-slip shoes (H&FS will give $30 towards a new pair of non-slip shoes for their employees, per year, from a company which makes them - this goes out for bid and the best offer wins), crimson corner (frosh week event), using C-bord, and a few other small things. Nothing too exciting and a lot of it didn't really pertain to us.
We then got to go and check out one of the faculty-in-res rooms that are currently being renovated for the summer for a new prof and their family. This is hands down one of the coolest things I've ever heard of a university doing! So essentially what it is is there are 6 of these apartments available on campus (one in each residence building) which are used for professors only and their families. There is a waiting list for profs who are interested, however the president of the university will typically choose those who he feels would be good for the position. So if chosen, then the prof and their family gets to stay for up to 3 years in the apartment free of rent and utilities, given free meal plans, fully furnished living room, as well as a budget to run programs which is the main part of the deal. As a FIR, then the professor must hold 'programs' for the students within the building, at least 3 per semester with a mixture of academic and for fun type events. The apartments consist of a living room open to the dining area and kitchen and this section is where the programs are typically held. It can be closed off from the rest of the apartment (3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, several storage spots) where their personal belongings are during when the program is run. This main area is what is furnished by the apartment and it is beauuutiful!
We actually got an opportunity to go and visit with a french professor who is currently living as a FIR. He explained how he runs some of the programs for the students in the Adam Centre where his apartment is at (all apartments are on the first floor). The most successful program that he's held with his wife for the students was a 'massage night', which he's done both years he's been there, where they rented students from the massage school in OKC and allowed students to sign up for 10 minute sessions.. for free!! How amazing is that?? He's also held during finals week midnight breakfasts where they make pancakes for the studying students, as well as a Harry Potter week where right before the last movie came out in theaters he played through all of the movies. It is the coolest thing. Although he did mention that some profs aren't as enthusiastic as others, and he also mentioned that his wife (who is also on staff at the university) is almost more exciting to do the programs then he is! She's always baking and putting treats out for students to come and have. It really is a brilliant idea as long as you get the right kind of people doing it.
After work, Kelsey and I went to a small get together that her brother was at for his baseball team at one of the host houses. He was here for the week playing in an all-star tournament for high school players. We only stayed for a bit after meeting some of his teammates and then headed home to relax. That was it!
*****NOTE: all my pictures are going to be up on facebook now because it takes too long to upload them here! But I'll try and post as soon as anything happens :)
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Day 9, 10, 11, 12
Hey guys, sorry for the delay in posts! Nothing exciting was really going on until this week and I've been busy busy. But here is the updates from basically just this week.
Last Friday we really just finished up our project and hung out in the office. We also got to go to the union store and do some shopping. When I say some, I mean a LOT. There were fantastic sales and I am currently living in my OU sweater ($7 might I add!). If anyone wants anything from here just send me an e-mail, they literally have anything you can think of. Besides that we walked around a new part of campus and took a bunch of pictures so they're at the bottom.
The weekend didn't consist of anything really, we're waiting for another two weeks until we get our first pay check to go out and explore the town. We just hung out by the pool, went to the gym, and watched the Thunder play in Miami.
Day 10 on Monday we we're supposed to be in the front office and purchasing but we just ended up doing the one thing. So Jenn is in charge of the front office on the first floor where she deals mostly with student meal plans. So she explained how most parents don't really understand the system that they have here and I have to say it is a bit on the confusing side. They have Sooner Sense, Meal Points, and block plans. Sooner sense is basically like a debit card that you put money on and can pretty much purchase anything on campus. So if you wanted to buy a meal, clothes, etc. you can use the money on this and it carries on from year to year and won't expire which is great. Meal Points are essentially 'points' that are given to students and each point is equivalent to one dollar. This can be used at any location on campus (Couch restaurants, union food court, Cate's Centre, etc.), and the block plans or weekly meals are either x-amounts of meals for the total semester (not year) or x-amount of meals you can use per week (like 10, 12, etc.). She also was telling us all about the campus and mentioned some pretty hilarious rivalries that go on. Apparently the law and engineering students HATE each other and always are doing crazy ridiculous things to one another. I guess it started when the engineers set off a canon back in the early 1900's and it shattered all the windows in the law building and the feud has just been gathering momentum since. So the old law building had owl statues on the top corners of the roof and every year they would get painted green by the engineering students, then back to red by the law students and on and on. They also let loose a green pig in the law building one year and mice another. Hilarious! Plus, not to do with the rivalry thing, the engineers took over the OU website one year. Remember how I said the squirrels are everywhere? Well they blamed the 'squirrels' and said they had over taken the website! They changed meal plan info to nut stuff and the mascot picture and some other comical things. Very witty, I don't even think they got in trouble haha. But anyways, she offered to give us an official campus tour so we're going to set up a date to do that at some point as well as a tour of the greek buildings off campus which will be super interesting!
We didn't do too much else for the rest of the day. We had our first meeting with marketing but still haven't received some info about menu items from the Flying Cow yet so we basically just discussed everything that they would need from us and how they would be handling recreating the menu. We also decided on a roll out date in July for promoting fitter foods. Just a quick meeting and we'll be spending more time with them once we get the full menu completed. In the evening I had an awful headache so I just manly crawled up in bed and didn't do too much.
Day 11 on Tuesday was probably my second favorite so far! We got to travel to OU's Biological Station right (literally) on the border of Texas! It's about an hour away from Dallas on the outskirts of Ardmore. So we drove up with Frank who has been with the university for almost 30 years and is the newly appointed director of housing and food service. So from the Norman campus it was about a two hour drive but we got to chat about Oklahoma and the Bio station on our way up. Plus I got to observe a lot of the landscape which I have to admit was quite plain and flat, not that I was surprised lol. There were some 'mountains' that we went through that were actually quite beautiful, but it's nothing like at home where there are forests surrounding you essentially everywhere. You're lucky if you get to see more then 3 trees clumped together. There are some areas closer to water sources which are lush and beautiful, like really gorgeous areas, but it's mostly fields with very few rolling hills. You'd be able to spot a tornado from almost anywhere which I don't know if thats a plus or not.. Most of the trees are either elm or oak so it's definitely interesting to see something different from home.
So once we got to the station we got to take a look around. The area is directly on Lake Texoma which has buoys across that middle that divide Texas and Oklahoma. The land for this campus was actually donated from alumni and is probably around 100 acres or so I'd say, maybe a little bit more. It is stunning. It reminds me so much of a military style camp in the building styles and interior design. Very homey and secluded. So the Bio station basically serves as a location for summer sessions of Zoology/Biology students to gain field work and hands on stuff. They go into the woods and fishing on the lake to collect specimens of any and everything you can think of. Apparently they have a two headed rattle snake some where on the campus but we didn't get to check it out. They have bunk bed style accommodations for those staying there and the caf is only open during the times the summer sessions are ongoing. Lots of pics!
We wondered around outside for a bit and there were a bunch of Canadian geese on the lawn. We could actually get pretty close and there were a bunch of babies! So cute, except for stepping in goose poop every two feet. We got to check out right by the water, some cotton trees which were so awesome, and the docks where they keep some of the boats they have. We then headed back inside and had some delicious lunch then hit the road. Once we got back we just headed home then went to the pool, hit the gym, and watched the Thunder game.
So today, Day 12, we got to spend some time in room and board, got to assist on an assessment of one of their food locations, visited administration, and met with Flying Cow.
Room and Board was with Danna, and she works with students and their parents as well to set them up with the work study program I mentioned before. They recently just added a meal plan option specifically for these students which has allowed them to open 80 new spots for more students. Since they typically eat prior to or during their shifts, they can decrease the amount of meals they supply the students creating more funds to increase work study students. It's amazing how much they really get to help out the students that go to their university that require financial aid.
Our assessment was actually really great and very eye opening. We got to work with Shawn who is the manager of Couch Express and Xcetera. She typically does these with Kevin who is the director over at the union food court where we did the assessment. So we were at Wendy's and they've been having some problems with that location. Usually a location will get an assessment once an academic year but Wendy's has had to have 4 in the past 8 months because its consistently not meeting standards. I have to say before hard, it may change your opinion about eating out. The manager there just has an "I don't care" attitude and hasn't taken any of what they've been telling him to fix which makes for an unsafe and disgusting environment there. So I got to team up with Shawn and we assessed the outer dining area, storage areas, etc. There was mold in the drink dispensers, no sanitizer in any of the holders, old food in the seating chairs, cob webs on the plants, and dust every where. I didn't even mention this was right after they opened for the day so half of it is really inexcusable. In the cash area there were week old fries under the cash, log in sheet wasn't dated, cords covered in dust, they left the cheese for burgers sitting out the entire hour and a half we were there, both of us almost fell because there was so much water by the sinks. There was a slice of raw bacon on the floor and other food everywhere. Evacuation notices weren't put up, the ice machine had dirt along the rims, and the ice scoop was literally less then two inches above a garbage. Just ew, and she said things haven't changed since they did the first assessment in September. So they're going to try and get it shut down for a few days and allow them to clean and make changes or else they won't reopen. Or they fire the manager, either or. But maaan did it ever make me not want to eat any where ever. Nasty.
For lunch I got to try Chick-fil-a for the first time and it was delicious! If y'all are ever in the states you should get their chicken strips. Soooo good. Post lunch we headed down to administration and spoke with Nancy. She takes care of setting meal plans up as well as making travel arrangements for both departments, a lot of financial work with numbers and spread sheets to make sure labor, payments to the bursar, and changes made to meal plans are good. She also does counts for employee meals where she figures out how many meals are purchased in one location compared to another. She's actually in the process of setting up a liquor license for concessions to have beer at the football games! Very cool.
Once we were done there, we met briefly with Curtis and Rhonda to discuss how our fitter foods menu was going. They're going to come up with a few options they think might work on the fitter foods menu as well as how they won't the roll out to go. That brought us to the end of our day! Tomorrow we're with payroll, reslife (we get to visit with the registered dietitians), and spend some time in a manager's meeting in the afternoon. Next week is our half way point (CRAZY!) and we get our midpoint evaluations. We also get to spend time in concessions (which means checking out the football stadium!!) and catering. Can't wait to keep it going!
Last Friday we really just finished up our project and hung out in the office. We also got to go to the union store and do some shopping. When I say some, I mean a LOT. There were fantastic sales and I am currently living in my OU sweater ($7 might I add!). If anyone wants anything from here just send me an e-mail, they literally have anything you can think of. Besides that we walked around a new part of campus and took a bunch of pictures so they're at the bottom.
The weekend didn't consist of anything really, we're waiting for another two weeks until we get our first pay check to go out and explore the town. We just hung out by the pool, went to the gym, and watched the Thunder play in Miami.
Day 10 on Monday we we're supposed to be in the front office and purchasing but we just ended up doing the one thing. So Jenn is in charge of the front office on the first floor where she deals mostly with student meal plans. So she explained how most parents don't really understand the system that they have here and I have to say it is a bit on the confusing side. They have Sooner Sense, Meal Points, and block plans. Sooner sense is basically like a debit card that you put money on and can pretty much purchase anything on campus. So if you wanted to buy a meal, clothes, etc. you can use the money on this and it carries on from year to year and won't expire which is great. Meal Points are essentially 'points' that are given to students and each point is equivalent to one dollar. This can be used at any location on campus (Couch restaurants, union food court, Cate's Centre, etc.), and the block plans or weekly meals are either x-amounts of meals for the total semester (not year) or x-amount of meals you can use per week (like 10, 12, etc.). She also was telling us all about the campus and mentioned some pretty hilarious rivalries that go on. Apparently the law and engineering students HATE each other and always are doing crazy ridiculous things to one another. I guess it started when the engineers set off a canon back in the early 1900's and it shattered all the windows in the law building and the feud has just been gathering momentum since. So the old law building had owl statues on the top corners of the roof and every year they would get painted green by the engineering students, then back to red by the law students and on and on. They also let loose a green pig in the law building one year and mice another. Hilarious! Plus, not to do with the rivalry thing, the engineers took over the OU website one year. Remember how I said the squirrels are everywhere? Well they blamed the 'squirrels' and said they had over taken the website! They changed meal plan info to nut stuff and the mascot picture and some other comical things. Very witty, I don't even think they got in trouble haha. But anyways, she offered to give us an official campus tour so we're going to set up a date to do that at some point as well as a tour of the greek buildings off campus which will be super interesting!
We didn't do too much else for the rest of the day. We had our first meeting with marketing but still haven't received some info about menu items from the Flying Cow yet so we basically just discussed everything that they would need from us and how they would be handling recreating the menu. We also decided on a roll out date in July for promoting fitter foods. Just a quick meeting and we'll be spending more time with them once we get the full menu completed. In the evening I had an awful headache so I just manly crawled up in bed and didn't do too much.
Day 11 on Tuesday was probably my second favorite so far! We got to travel to OU's Biological Station right (literally) on the border of Texas! It's about an hour away from Dallas on the outskirts of Ardmore. So we drove up with Frank who has been with the university for almost 30 years and is the newly appointed director of housing and food service. So from the Norman campus it was about a two hour drive but we got to chat about Oklahoma and the Bio station on our way up. Plus I got to observe a lot of the landscape which I have to admit was quite plain and flat, not that I was surprised lol. There were some 'mountains' that we went through that were actually quite beautiful, but it's nothing like at home where there are forests surrounding you essentially everywhere. You're lucky if you get to see more then 3 trees clumped together. There are some areas closer to water sources which are lush and beautiful, like really gorgeous areas, but it's mostly fields with very few rolling hills. You'd be able to spot a tornado from almost anywhere which I don't know if thats a plus or not.. Most of the trees are either elm or oak so it's definitely interesting to see something different from home.
So once we got to the station we got to take a look around. The area is directly on Lake Texoma which has buoys across that middle that divide Texas and Oklahoma. The land for this campus was actually donated from alumni and is probably around 100 acres or so I'd say, maybe a little bit more. It is stunning. It reminds me so much of a military style camp in the building styles and interior design. Very homey and secluded. So the Bio station basically serves as a location for summer sessions of Zoology/Biology students to gain field work and hands on stuff. They go into the woods and fishing on the lake to collect specimens of any and everything you can think of. Apparently they have a two headed rattle snake some where on the campus but we didn't get to check it out. They have bunk bed style accommodations for those staying there and the caf is only open during the times the summer sessions are ongoing. Lots of pics!
We wondered around outside for a bit and there were a bunch of Canadian geese on the lawn. We could actually get pretty close and there were a bunch of babies! So cute, except for stepping in goose poop every two feet. We got to check out right by the water, some cotton trees which were so awesome, and the docks where they keep some of the boats they have. We then headed back inside and had some delicious lunch then hit the road. Once we got back we just headed home then went to the pool, hit the gym, and watched the Thunder game.
So today, Day 12, we got to spend some time in room and board, got to assist on an assessment of one of their food locations, visited administration, and met with Flying Cow.
Room and Board was with Danna, and she works with students and their parents as well to set them up with the work study program I mentioned before. They recently just added a meal plan option specifically for these students which has allowed them to open 80 new spots for more students. Since they typically eat prior to or during their shifts, they can decrease the amount of meals they supply the students creating more funds to increase work study students. It's amazing how much they really get to help out the students that go to their university that require financial aid.
Our assessment was actually really great and very eye opening. We got to work with Shawn who is the manager of Couch Express and Xcetera. She typically does these with Kevin who is the director over at the union food court where we did the assessment. So we were at Wendy's and they've been having some problems with that location. Usually a location will get an assessment once an academic year but Wendy's has had to have 4 in the past 8 months because its consistently not meeting standards. I have to say before hard, it may change your opinion about eating out. The manager there just has an "I don't care" attitude and hasn't taken any of what they've been telling him to fix which makes for an unsafe and disgusting environment there. So I got to team up with Shawn and we assessed the outer dining area, storage areas, etc. There was mold in the drink dispensers, no sanitizer in any of the holders, old food in the seating chairs, cob webs on the plants, and dust every where. I didn't even mention this was right after they opened for the day so half of it is really inexcusable. In the cash area there were week old fries under the cash, log in sheet wasn't dated, cords covered in dust, they left the cheese for burgers sitting out the entire hour and a half we were there, both of us almost fell because there was so much water by the sinks. There was a slice of raw bacon on the floor and other food everywhere. Evacuation notices weren't put up, the ice machine had dirt along the rims, and the ice scoop was literally less then two inches above a garbage. Just ew, and she said things haven't changed since they did the first assessment in September. So they're going to try and get it shut down for a few days and allow them to clean and make changes or else they won't reopen. Or they fire the manager, either or. But maaan did it ever make me not want to eat any where ever. Nasty.
For lunch I got to try Chick-fil-a for the first time and it was delicious! If y'all are ever in the states you should get their chicken strips. Soooo good. Post lunch we headed down to administration and spoke with Nancy. She takes care of setting meal plans up as well as making travel arrangements for both departments, a lot of financial work with numbers and spread sheets to make sure labor, payments to the bursar, and changes made to meal plans are good. She also does counts for employee meals where she figures out how many meals are purchased in one location compared to another. She's actually in the process of setting up a liquor license for concessions to have beer at the football games! Very cool.
Once we were done there, we met briefly with Curtis and Rhonda to discuss how our fitter foods menu was going. They're going to come up with a few options they think might work on the fitter foods menu as well as how they won't the roll out to go. That brought us to the end of our day! Tomorrow we're with payroll, reslife (we get to visit with the registered dietitians), and spend some time in a manager's meeting in the afternoon. Next week is our half way point (CRAZY!) and we get our midpoint evaluations. We also get to spend time in concessions (which means checking out the football stadium!!) and catering. Can't wait to keep it going!
 |
| Soon-to-be Garden |
 |
| Outside the Union |
 |
| Water towaaa |
 |
| Still outside the Union |
 |
| Beautiful path |
 |
| Told ya they're everywhere ... how many can you count? Ps. one layed down on its stomach like it was trying to cool off on the concrete, didn't get a pic but it made my day! |
 |
| "The Gossips" ahah true depiction of women.. |
 |
| The Carnegie Building |
 |
| Evan's Hall |
 |
| The Pe-et Elm |
 |
| New Law Building |
 |
| Chemistry Building |
 |
| Clock Tower |
 |
| Canyon Garden under the Clock Tower |
 |
| Statue |
 |
| Outside the OU Stadium |
 |
| Crazy Big, holds 85,000 |
 |
| :) |
 |
| Right Outside the Kitchen @ Bio Station |
 |
| Baby Kitchen! |
 |
| Cafeteria Seating |
 |
| Outside Patio |
 |
| Classroom Building |
 |
| 'Library' Area |
 |
| Fun Tree (not the best photographer lol) |
 |
| GEESE |
 |
| Housing |
 |
| Shoreline |
 |
| Hello! |
 |
| Just a Fish Head Chillin' |
 |
| Cotton Trees! |
 |
| Cotton from the Trees |
 |
| Home of a Dallas couple |
 |
| Docking Area |
 |
| This is outside the golf course at the Norman Campus! |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)