Lorensen at 21:23, 16 December 2012

2012-12-16T21:23:59Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:23, 16 December 2012
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	~~Home of the Silo Sandwich~~
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	For most of us, the summer and part-time jobs we had during high		For most of us, the summer and part-time jobs we had during high
	school and college had little to do with our final careers. But, they		school and college had little to do with our final careers. But, they
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	you, but if I did I would have to kill you.		you, but if I did I would have to kill you.

	Bill Lorensen, Lansingburgh '64		''Bill Lorensen, Lansingburgh '64''

Lorensen: New page: Home of the Silo Sandwich --------------------------------------- For most of us, the summer and part-time jobs we had during high school and college had little to do with our final caree...

2012-12-16T21:18:50Z

New page: Home of the Silo Sandwich --------------------------------------- For most of us, the summer and part-time jobs we had during high school and college had little to do with our final caree...

New page

Home of the Silo Sandwich
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For most of us, the summer and part-time jobs we had during high
school and college had little to do with our final careers. But, they
often provided valuable lessons for the real world that would follow.
One summer, I worked as an inspector on a drill boat for the Army
Corps of Engineers, monitoring the blasting of the Hudson River bottom
that deepened the Hudson for the Port of Albany. I worked a variety of
paper felt processing jobs at Albany Felt in Menands. While attending
RPI, I filled orders for drug stores at Thompson's Wholesale Drugs on
River Street.

My most enjoyable, educational summer and vacations were spent working
at Anderson's Dairy Barn in Speigletown. Anderson's was a local dairy
that supplied milk, ice cream and dairy products to the Capital
District. In addition to the dairy operation, Anderson operated a
restaurant, Anderson's Dairy Barn, located just south of the dairy
plant on route 40. Besides ice cream, shakes, sundaes, etc., the Barn
had indoor dining. There was a food counter with seats and sit down
dining at tables and booths. They served breakfast, lunch and dinner.

My search for a real summer job started in the spring of my junior
year at Lansingburgh. One of my parents' friends worked at the Dairy
and told them that the Barn was looking for a dishwasher. I made an
appointment for an interview for the dishwasher job with the
restaurant manager Bob. We sat at a table in the corner of the dining
room. The first thing Bob asked, "Can you cook?" This caught me a bit
off guard because I thought I was applying to be a dishwasher. I told
Bob that I had done a little cooking in the Boy Scouts and I had
earned a cooking merit badge. But other than that I had no cooking
experience. "Good!", said Bob. "I'm going to teach you to be a cook."

The Barn was about 1.5 miles from my house. The walk up Northern
Drive, Oil Mill Hill and Brickyard Road took about 40 minutes. On a
bike I could make the trip in under 20 minutes. Hitchhiking only took
5 minutes once I hitched a ride. A perfect job for someone without a
car.

My plan was to work weekends during school and full-time during the
summer. The pay was good, $1.25/hours plus free food and ice cream.
The first two weekends, Bob started teaching me the basics of short
order cooking. According to Wikipedia, a short order cook is a cook
who prepares fast, easily-assembled meals to order, often working in a
diner or cafe. That described my new occupation to a T.

Sandwiches, burgers, fries, fried fish, french toast and lots of eggs.
I worked behind the counter in full view of the customers. At the
Barn, the cook also waited on customers who sat at the counter. I
picked up most of the cooking quickly. The deep fryer was easy,
sandwiches were not a problem, and I could handle the burgers on the
grill. Eggs were a bit more challenging, because of the variety of
orders and the difficulty in preparing them just right. But, with two
cooks working during my training, Bob and I easily handled the
workload of cooking for the counter and the dining room.

After two weekends of training, Bob hit me with a big surprise. "Next
Sunday, I have to go to a wedding, so you will be the Sunday breakfast
cook." Sunday breakfast was the busiest meal of the week. Bob had a
lot more confidence in me than I did. That Sunday came quickly.

Talk about trial by fire. The place filled up early and the orders
rolled in. I was completely overwhelmed. I remember making scrambled
eggs for the first time; breaking the eggs on the grill and stirring
them a couple of times with a fork and scraping them onto a plate.
Over easy, over hard, sunny side up were all new terms to me.
Fortunately, the counter crowd was friendly and some customers gave me
advice on how to make the orders. One of the waitresses came behind
the counter and helped. The dining room customers were also patient.
Most of them were regulars and they were willing to wait it out, while
the new kid figured out how to cook. The whole experience was a blur,
but I survived.

By the time summer came, I was an accomplished short order cook. I
loved working out front and enjoyed the interactions with my regular
customers. I got to the point where I could handle any size crowd. I
even learned how to manage the waitresses who often blamed "the cook"
if there was a problem with an order. I gathered a few fans who came
especially for my french toast. Although the other cooks used one egg
and milk for french toast, I used two eggs and a little less milk. I
remember thinking that I might want to be a cook for life.

I worked about 60 hours a week in the summer. Eventually, I opened the
Barn at 6:00am in the morning. On my days off, I often rode up to the
Barn and hung around, chatting with my co-workers and customers.
Eventually, I received a raise to $1.30/hour. I even got a dishwasher
job for my best friend George, or “Noontime George” as we called him.
Another friend, Lee, scooped ice cream.

In addition to cooking, I learned a lot about interacting with
customers and co-workers. I was exposed to stealing, laziness and
workplace politics. In one incident, the boss noticed the cash drawer
was occasionally short $25 or $50. This only occurred on shifts when a
certain waitress was working. Once confronted, she confessed and was
fired. Another incident involved a shift supervisor. She did very
little to earn her pay and when things got busy, she disappeared. This
affected the morale of everyone. Finally, I had to tell Bob. He had
other complaints about her from employees and customers. He fired her.

One early morning, sleeping at home on Fourth Avenue, my grandmother
woke me up and said the finance guy from Anderson's was downstairs and
wanted to talk with me. He explained that they were firing Bob. He
claimed there were some shady finances going on at the Barn and they
had to let Bob go. He wanted me to run the Barn until they could get a
replacement for Bob. I was shocked that they wanted me, a summer
employee, making $1.30 an hour to run the restaurant. Besides that
ridiculous proposal, they were asking me to replace a man I respected,
someone who had become a close friend. I refused. I stayed working at
the Barn but it was never the same without Bob.

I ended up working at the Barn through part of the next summer, after
high school graduation and before RPI. I discovered later that there
were unexpected benefits to my time at the Barn. One of those
customers who enjoyed my french toast, knew that I was going to RPI
and gave me a part-time job at Thompson's Wholesale Drug in Troy.
Ellis Robison was the owner of Thompson's.

My most important customer was my future mother-in-law, Leone Warwick.
She, her husband Jim and their daughter Terri, were frequent customers
at the Barn. They went there for breakfast after church on Sundays on
their way to visit relatives in Schaghticoke. Of course I had no idea
about this until a few years later nor did Terri. I never met Terri
while I worked at the Barn. We met in Saratoga after my freshman year
at RPI in 1965. A couple of years later, after it was clear that
Terri and I were serious, and I might become a member of the Warwicks,
Leone told Terri an interesting story. The first time I brought Terri
home, her mom recognized me, but said nothing. A few years before,
while having Sunday breakfast at the Barn, she mentioned to her
husband Jim how nice it would be if Terri could meet a nice man like
that fellow cooking behind the counter.

My friends and family still cringe when I say, “Did I ever tell you
about the time I was a short order cook?”

I almost forgot to talk about the Silo Sandwich. The Barn Menu was
titled, “Anderson's Dairy Barn, Home of The Silo Sandwich.” The Silo
Sandwich in 1963, pre-dated the Big Mac's debut in 1967. It consisted
of two hamburgers served on a three-piece sesame seed bun, with a
secret sauce. I could divulge the ingredients of the secret sauce to
you, but if I did I would have to kill you.

Bill Lorensen, Lansingburgh '64

Home of the Silo Sandwich - Revision history

Lorensen at 21:23, 16 December 2012

Lorensen: New page: Home of the Silo Sandwich --------------------------------------- For most of us, the summer and part-time jobs we had during high school and college had little to do with our final caree...