Cold Line Improvement Intro

Here at Purdue, I work in one of the dining courts. My job varies by day and Over the last year I've become one of the most experienced of the tan shirts (low level student workers). One of the best things that comes with experience is knowing how to work efficiently. Interestingly, working efficiently is rewarded in Purdue's dining courts by giving that worker 'points.' This series of guides details some of my experiences working at Purdue and how you can be a better worker too.

Today, I'm going to give a quick overview of how to work Cold Line solo.

First, a bit about Cold Line. The station serves Ice cream from 3 machines, ice cream toppings, soda from 3 machines, Juice from two machines (4 different juice packs each), Milk from 2 machines (3 types in one, 2 in the other), Organic Milk from 1 refrigerator (3 types), Tea from a machine, lemons, limes, condiments from 2 dispensers (4 condiment packs each). Also, it has a microwave, provides cups from 2 dispensers and 8 stacks, and a working counter twice that of any other station.

This monstrous item list seems daunting at first, but it is not as harsh as it seems. All of these items are packaged is large quantities and are in easily replaced containers. The exceptions are the limes, lemons, and cups. Of these, only the cups need to be watched and replaced regularly; the rest are filled only as needed.

Now, normally Cold Line has two tan shirts (student workers) assigned to it, with one black shirt as oversight. These two have it fairly easy, as they can leave much of the longer term replacements to the black shirt, and ignore many of the rarer empties by pleading ignorance. Basically, their work load is obnoxiously light. This is the normal state of things, where two newly trained tan shirts force a black shirt to ignore the rest of their route to help.

However, if you swap one of those two with an experienced worker, things change slightly. The experienced worker can get the more complicated items while the less experienced keeps the cups and counter-top in order. This configuration has a fairly uneven distribution of work and is difficult for the experienced worker, but boring for the other.

The epitome of Cold Line is the solo worker, someone has extensive experience with Cold Line, cleanup, and general consumer densities for their shift. It is difficult to do, and it is VERY hard for a student who hasn't spent multiple months in the two man style. Even with that experience, the change in style can be difficult.

Still, it is necessary for the staff to assign only one person to Cold Line at times, sometimes even during high traffic shifts. This guide (over the next few posts of similar title) will give general hints, tips, and knowledge necessary to pull off a solo Cold Line Shift during high traffic and make it look easy.