Minnie Hill serves with a smile

It’s 7 a.m.
Most people are in their comfy beds still snoozing, but Minnie Hill is busy scrambling eggs and flipping french toast in preparation for the breakfast crowd at Sodexho.
“What would ya like, honey?” Minnie, while holding a spatula in one hand and a frying basket in the other, asked a student waiting to be served. The student requested eggs, and Minnie responded with, “Coming right up, darling.”
“Eggs are my favorite thing to cook,” Minnie said, with her contagious smile, stretching from ear to ear. “All you do is pour them out and scramble. Easy as that.” “Oh, but do I sure hate making pancakes,” Minnie said, while performing a dismissive hand motion and shaking her head. “There’s too much hassle. You have to make circles and get them even.”
A special bond exists between Minnie Hill, the Georgia College & State University students and her co-workers at Sodexho. David Nimeskern, who has only been employed at Sodexho for one week, had only the best things to say about Minnie.
“She is always helpful and tells me how to do stuff, since I’m new here,” Nimeskern said. “Minnie is a very sweet lady.”
Not only do her co-workers know that she is special, the students she serves notice it as well. Frequent Sodexho consumer Anthony Sermarini believes that Minnie’s hospitality is what he has looked forward to for the past three years he has been eating at Sodexho.
“Oh, man, she is just so sincere,” Sermarini said. “She always greets me with a smile.”
Minnie, a native of the “beautiful countryside” of Baldwin County, works at “The Grille” station during the breakfast hours, but during lunch she serves as the cashier. Minnie has worked at Sodexho for 24 years.
“The job just came naturally to me,” Minnie said while dressed in her blue Sodexho shirt and black apron. “Except the salad bar, I didn’t like it because I had to cut up everything by hand. Now, everything is already prepared.”
For 10 grueling years, Minnie worked at the salad bar with dismay. She would cut everything, from the lettuce to the carrots to the cucumbers.
“I told them that I just didn’t want to do it anymore,” Minnie said.
Outside of her job, Minnie loves to kick back and enjoy watching “American Idol,” not to mention “Fear Factor” and “Passions.”
“I really like that Clay Aiken,” Minnie said, her smile grew a little bigger. “I think I like Reuben more.”
During her break, Minnie always enjoys a deli sandwich — a deli sandwich stacked with the works: sliced turkey with olive oil, mayonnaise, mustard, tomato, a piece of green, crispy lettuce and topped with a sesame roll.
Minnie speaks fondly of providing healthy meals for tomorrow’s future.
“Serving the students is what I take away most from the job,” Minnie said. “But, [I've] burnt so much stuff.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 6 2004. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry