Tastess Excursion!

Tastees Subs Excursion

I have to be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure what Tasstees Subs was when I heard that was where we were going on our excursion. However, I knew I should be excited because the GOLD team was ecstatic. After hearing more about this shot, I liked what I heard. President Obama had visited a few years earlier to talk to the owner and promote small business success throughout the country. When we finally arrived at the shop, I will admit I was not impressed. It’s a small shop that probably the size of my apartment with only a few parking spaces outside. As soon as you walk in, besides bumping into a line (there are always costumers at Tastees), you see the photo of President Obama holding his sub hanging on the wall, as well as only 5 or 6 tables in the front of the shop.

We were asked to come up with a few questions for the owner who was generously taking some time out of his day to answer them and give us a run-down for the business. The main theme of the set of questions I had proposed to ask on our trip to Tastees was the leadership/business philosophy that the owner had come to acquire over his years of working and owning the sub shop. His response to me was that he never really thought about a specific “theme” or philosophy that he took with him throughout business, but while he went on answering questions and giving his “rundown” of the store, he came across a few things that have helped him succeed in his business- inadvertently answering my question.

 Something that really struck a chord with me was when he said it’s always important to him to treat others the way you’d want to be treated. I loved the way he phrased this because I think it’s important for everyone to live this way. It’s an essential aspect of a small business, one that keeps his business thriving.  I really liked the way he was nonchalant about his ideals, but you could tell he still took it seriously because it was his family's business.

Now thinking about how the business ideals apply to this owner’s job, I can’t help but see the similarities between that and New Student Orientation. The thing that I definitely love the MOST about NSO, like Tastees, is the family atmosphere. With the risk of sounding super cliché, I really do believe we are a big family, and even if some people don’t feel it now, I really think this feeling will grow stronger as the summer grows. Just as families are a little crazy, I’m sure there will be some similar traits, but, most important, we watch out for each other. We support and care for each other. When one of us isn’t have the best day, I am proud to say that any one of my co-workers would do what it takes to change that, not only for that particular person, but also for the general well being of the group. Like the Tastees owner, we treat each and every person in NSO the way we want to be treated. Only knowing my fellow OL’s for a few months now, I have not once seen a conflict or problem between anyone. Even more importantly, we are trained to treat the students exactly how we would want to be treated, it’s in the job description. We understand how serious orientation is for the new students, it’s part of our roles as orientation leaders to make them comfortable in their time here and excited to join the Rutgers community!