For the Gold Team’s class excursion we went to Tastee Sub Shop in my hometown of Edison, NJ. Tastee has always been my favorite sub shop and I always got a sub from there whenever I could when I was little. This business has no flashy stars or grand elaborate scheme to attract customers, but it attracts thousands of customers each and every week. The reason is because to me this sub shop screams hospitality and makes me feel like home every time I walk into it. The same people who have been working there ever since I was younger still work there and love what they do. When you love what you do you never work a day in your life some say. Their small town family shop kind of feel is why I choose this location. I based my decision off of my experiences I had going their when I was growing up, but also because I personally see the way I conduct an orientation group in this businesses values. There are many fine establishments to go to, but Tastee reflects many lessons orientation leaders learn through what they do over the summer.
What I asked everyone in my group to do after our excursion was to write
just a paragraph reflection on the trip to Tastee as a reflection for them. I
also learned a great deal about the history and traditions Tastee Sub Shop has
like Rutgers does. Starting as soda pop shop in the old days, Tastee
transformed with the vision of David Thornton into a famous mom and pop type of
establishment. We sat down in the very small shop and started to ask questions
to Dave when my favorite part of the whole day happened. He started to answer
the first question when another customer walked in a he immediately greeted
him. Many people would find this simple gesture meaningless, but for me this
shows me that he knows his customers. For orientation it is very important to
be personable and show every student or family member we take the time to get
to know them and show them we care about what they have to say. Also, two of
the Gold Team members, Dan Carballeira and Monica Fung, made great points in
their reflections. Dave talked about how you need to be humble and friendly to
all your customers. Also, you have to go above and beyond for your customers to
ensure their satisfaction and to guarantee they will return. This relates to every single part of orientation.
Whether its answering phone calls, doing parent/family orientation, or the game
show, all our staff has to be able to make a great impression.
What I hoped the Gold team learned
through this experience was a little bit of why we do what we do for
orientation. We make sure that every single first-year feels welcomed at Rutgers, like Dave does to
his customers. I love to get to know my first-years and be able to direct them
towards areas they are interested in. Orientation Leaders have many areas they
know a lot about, but not every orientation leader knows about all the services
Rutgers has to offer. That is what we as orientation leaders last year did for
students who had questions about an area they were not fully knowledgeable in.
Teamwork is very huge in the sub shop. Tastee has their own way of teamwork
which has to deal with the people stocking and are behind the scenes and the
ones on stage on the line. Every person has their own important job to keep the
sub line moving efficiently. Dave said it looks easy, but can get easily
overrun if you are not used to huge rushes. For example, when we were there the
person who took the order, while cutting the meat, would have almost four
orders of meat and cheese in his head at a time. Very talented people were on
display Dave liked to say. Customer service and making sure you never looked frazzled
is a talent you have to learn on the job. I relate this back to teaching when
everyday you go to work and you can’t show that you are mad or sad or tired,
you have to be lively and friendly Dave likes to say. This almost directly
relates to Orientation Leaders who have to be live for their groups this summer
and should be showing every person in their group a great first impression of Rutgers.
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