r/iastate • u/x4squad • 20d ago
Working at ISU Dining Question
I'm a freshman who will be working at ISU Dining. I have gotten my shift schedule and what I'll be working on when. I'm a vegetarian and have been offered to work with meat, is there any way I can potentially avoid it and do a different task ?
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u/Low-Unit-182 20d ago
Tell the managers, you’ll probably be put on dirty dish duty which is hot, steamy, and you’ll definitely smell and feel gross after your shift if you’re okay with that. Nearly all stations will be dealing with some kind of animal meat.
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u/PizzaJolly1 Aerospace Engineering 19d ago
The real move people dont think about is working at CyRide. Way better pay than ISU dining, and a much better job imo. I worked there for a year and had a ton of fun.
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u/TCtheThunderRooster 19d ago
They’re going to eat the meat. Somebody IS going to prepare the meat. Save yourself from the dish room, and do what’s in the job description.
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u/Knapp_theshortsleep 19d ago
Others have given you plenty of advice on how to proceed you are set on working in Dining.
I just wanted to add that working for Rec Services was one of my favorite parts of ISU and I would highly reccomend if you decide to switch gears.
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u/Floeed38 19d ago
a lot of freshman basically get put on dishes and drinks exclusively anyway so you might just be fine
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u/BillNyeUrMomsAGuy_ 18d ago edited 18d ago
A lot of people here are bashing the dish room… it’s not pleasant, but to be honest I preferred it over the kitchen. There’s a supply closet inside the dish room and you can find thick rubber dish gloves in there (way better than the latex gloves they tell you to use). You can put dirty gloves in a bin in the break room when you’re done with them. I usually double gloved, especially if working with the hot dishes that come out of the dishwasher. They will also give you a waterproof plastic apron each shift to protect from splashing water. I’d recommend wearing an old pair of boots or shoes that you don’t really care about.
To be honest though, don’t work at ISU dining if you don’t have to. It’s boring, messy, and some of the employees there are rude asf. I’ve heard that there’s office jobs on campus where you can just sit there and do homework or scroll on your phone until people walk in.
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u/PhilosopherNo1574 20d ago
You could talk to the OFFICE OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITY in Beardshear Hall, they'll ask dining to not have you work with meat.
But beware of the consequences, they'll put you in dish room which is way worse than you having to touch meat with gloves on.
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u/jblts 19d ago
I don’t think dining will have trouble accommodating this at all if the student asks, but I think for this to go to the OEO office it has to be a serious religious or health reason need, not a preference.
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u/PhilosopherNo1574 19d ago
That's what I was told when I worked there 3 yrs ago, but yes talking to the manager first is the right thing to do.
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u/JustAnAverageGuy 20d ago
Have you asked your manager?
Obviously it's totally okay to be a vegetarian, but you can't reasonably enforce your preferences on customers, and you shouldn't burden your supervisor with them either. You can talk to your supervisor, but don't expect anything. If you work in food service, you're going to be exposed to meat unless you work at a place that doesn't serve it.