The Staff

Kara Syx, Mary Jo Alumbaugh, Rick Alumbaugh, Lynn Stockrahm, Aaron Stribling, Henry Thompson, Amy Thompson, Debbie Hostetler, Allison Berggren, Natalie Heleine, Tanner Clausen, Vivian Etling, Judah, Shannon Loughmiller- they make up the Bee-stro staff. To be honest, I don’t like calling them staff, because it seems too distant and unattached plus I always think “staff infection” when I hear the word “staff”. That doesn’t sound positive at all. Maybe I need to call them the crew. That sounds cooler.

To work here, you need to have a good sense of humor, not bring drama, be intuitive, have initiative, and not take yourself too seriously. Skills can be taught, but those things, well, that’s character. And we have a lot of characters around here.

I said in an earlier blog that I told the staff that I wanted us to laugh through this and they took me up on it. Amy gave me a uterus shaped heating pad, so I would always have my uterus with me-hahaha. Mary Jo and Rick let me borrow their blow horn with the following warning attached, “Directions: For Temporary Use Only!! Permanent use may cause loss of employees and extreme irritation of husband & daughter.” Hahaha. And the joke that I may not be able to find things anymore without an activated uterus. It just made the whole affair so much easier to deal with.

On any given day, I am super proud of our crew, but sometimes we throw more at them than they signed up for and they always do it without complaint and generally with a positive attitude. The biggest stress on the crew is when we are open for dine-in and have the food trailer out or catering gig going on at the same time. It never fails, it always seems those times are when we’re short staffed adding to the stress. And wouldn’t you know, we had all three that first weekend post op.

Not only was the food trailer out, but it was out 4 days meaning cooking fresh for 4 days to load it up. I was totally out and not able to do prep. Andy was totally out taking care of me at the hospital throughout the week. We were asking a lot from our crew. And they rose to the occasion like champs.

It wasn’t just the crew that helped us that first week. Amy’s husband, John Thompson, picked up the groceries for the week while we were serving the etiquette dinner the Sunday before surgery. We knew that the crew would need some help prepping and serving, so we asked Sharon Koehler, Sami Miller, Cindy Miller, and Andy’s sister, Teea Lunsford, to help us out. They all had worked with us in the little Bee-stro and knew our style and flow, so it was a relief that they all said yes they would help. Our current crew welcomed them with open arms and it was like a smooth pudding.

I was home for that first weekend. Even though I was zero help with my 10 lb. weight restriction. I just stayed tucked back in the residence since I kept clad in my jammies. I popped out to join the staff for lunch, but didn’t think guests would understand why I was roaming around in my jammies during dine in hours. After all, this isn’t Wal-mart.

And as an aside, wouldn’t you know it. When I did pop out to the kitchen to “guide”, I couldn’t find the first two things I looked for. I guess an activated uterus really is a tracking device.

Part 5- The Power of One, tomorrow