Journalism at Denison
Journalism at Denison
Playing Hooky
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By Margaret Held
This story is about my terrible job at a pizza truck. One day my coworkers and I were fed up with the poor conditions, so we all decided to call in sick and have a beach day.
Bongiorno! We are hiring! Work at Ileone's for 25 or more an hour. Free pizza by the beach and a tight-knit team on the beautiful Peaks Island, Maine. The ad made it sound like a dream. Work outdoors, island atmosphere. Great tips. I was hired for front of house at a pizza truck, and I was hoping for an easy summer of working in the sunshine by the beach, maybe getting a nice tan and making a good amount of money. The reality was a little different. I wasn't just front of house. I was a prep cook, preparing ingredients for the pizzas, a dishwasher inside the truck with three tiny sinks where you'd have to fit all the dishes like it was Tetris. I picked up deliveries from the ferry. I was even unstocking wood early in the morning for the oven. And besides working almost every job, besides the chef himself, my boss would call me on my only day off, every single week. We were closed on Tuesdays, and that was my one day off, and he would still call me, asking me to come in and prep for Wednesday. And then there was the mice poop.
SPEAKER_01I think I was the one that pointed out that we had a fing nest in the electric box. Yeah, I think there was a bunch of electrified mice, mises.
SPEAKER_00My boss's poor management caused more and more obstacles, and customers were getting angry, and despite ignoring our pleas and suggestions for a better work environment, he had feedback for us. He told the other front of house girl Roxy and I that we weren't making enough tips, so we needed to smile more. Are you serious? Are you actually serious? The tension was like we were all in the wood fired oven together. I mean, and it finally blew when our boss told us he was stepping away for a few weeks to work on opening a new location. He was on vacation in Italy the whole time. I found out because I was taking orders on the iPad and it's connected to his cloud, and we were having a slow afternoon, so I look was looking through the photos and I saw a recent photo and they're all beautiful photos of Italy, and the location says Ischia. So where's the new location that you're working on? So at this point, I mean I'm fed up. My coworkers and I are fed up. We've started talking about our different, you know, pay rates and like adding up our checks, and we're realizing our checks aren't adding up. I mean, I'm making $17 an hour, and I was promised $25 or more. So something really shifted when he came back. I mean, we needed more than a break. We needed we need to take our power back. COVID. One by one, we all called in sick. We met at the ferry, escaped to Portland, and headed straight for the beach. We had one rule. If you had to complain about work, you had a strict time limit. One of my coworkers would count back from 30 as I rambled on about the smile more comments. And then once once you got it all out, you had to shut up and enjoy the sun. And we played cards, we braved the chili water, and shared a massive Thai dinner where we ordered everything on the menu. It was fantastic. For the first time in months, we weren't complaining about work, um, and we weren't allowed to talk about it. We were just talking and laughing. My boss and his girlfriend walking right toward our terminal. He had closed the truck early because he had no staff, and I guess he'd come into the city for dinner. But it was definitely my boss, and we were definitely not sick. We weren't wearing COVID masks. I mean, we were wearing swimsuits and covered in sand and holding our beach towels. So we were caught red-handed, and the shock was instant. Um, my head launched into thoughts of guilt and regret. You know, I shouldn't have done it, and I just I felt, you know, bad in the moment. But as we boarded that ferry back to the island, I realized that I was the only one not still laughing.
SPEAKER_01Oh man, what a goober.
SPEAKER_00So I started laughing because it felt like we were in a sitcom. Most of my coworkers had already quit anyway, and I I had felt bad in the moment, but I had already made that decision for myself. I didn't mean to get caught, but I did mean to, you know, not go to work and and not take, you know, this sort of treatment from my boss. Looking back, that day wasn't just about being hooky or you know, playing a prank and getting back at my boss for being such a bad boss. It was it was about recognizing our our worth. I mean, I had high expectations. I wanted to do a good job and I wanted to learn a lot, which I think I did from this job. But if a workplace doesn't value you, you have to choose yourself. I had to learn to value myself more than um a pizza job, you know. Um and it ended shortly after I put in my two weeks, but um I'm still super close with all of my coworkers. We're, you know, the friendships didn't end. We're we're super bonded, you know, from that situation. And if I had to do it all again, I'd still probably take that beach day. Um, I just might speak up for myself a little sooner next time.