yesterday you, grandma cindy and i took a trip up to logan to introduce you to my good friends at the italian place! the italian place is the sandwich shop i worked at for a few years while i was going to school up at utah state. that job was by far my favorite job i have ever had, my two bosses, peggy chanson and john harder, are by far my favorite bosses i have ever had, and the sandwiches are by far my favorite sandwiches i have ever had! haha it's safe to say i love pretty much everything about the italian place!
when i first started working there i was terrified of john. he is a very scary and intimidating person if you don't know him. people call him the "sandwich nazi" because he is so scary. it is mostly all in good fun, but i did see him get really mad at someone one time, and that was not fun! he makes fun of pretty much everyone who comes in to get a sandwich...whether because they order white bread with no veggies or anything exciting on their sandwhich, or because of the way they are dressed/do their makeup/what their boyfriend looks like etc. etc., he just loves to tease people all day long and i was no exception.
like i said, for the first couple months i was terrified of him. he is a very demanding person, and in his opinion there is only one right way to do a job - his way. he liked the lettuce chopped a very specific way, when his vegetables got too low (not empty, just too low) he liked them replaced, same with the eggs, condiments, meat, etc. there was a certain way to do the dishes if he was around. if we didn't do it his way, we would hear it from him. i don't remember what the reason was, but he made me cry one time! i think i was just so stressed out from him yelling at everyone all the time!
once i got used to his personality and the way he expected things to be done, i absolutely fell in love with him. i would usually open with him which meant i was in there alone with him for a half an hour before we actually opened the store, and that half an hour was often my favorite part of the whole day. i would tell him everything that was going on in my life...what i was learning in school, the argument i had gotten in with your dad (who was my boyfriend at the time), what we were doing in chi omega, drama with grandma and grandpa, etc. he loved hearing all i had to say, and he would always offer me his opinion and some advice to go along with it. i guess i am very dramatic when i tell stories, and john loved listening to me tell them. i really think he looked forward to it, because when i walked through the door he would instantly ask me what i had for him that day. :)
peggy was my other boss, and i love her too. she was a chi omega when she was at utah state, and once we both figured that out (that we were both chi omegas) we instantly bonded. we also share the same birthday! peggy and john were once married and they started the restaurant together i think. their marriage didn't last long, but all these years later they are still business partners. they would often bicker, which was quite entertaining, but for the most part they got along well. the italian place catered lots of events up in logan and the surrounding areas, which sometimes made for long days and nights at work, but since i was usually the only girl working, peggy would let me leave first! i think this sometimes made the guys mad. :) also, because i was the only girl, there were certain jobs/chores that i never had to do, such as cutting the cheese and meat, changing out the soda, lifting and carrying heavy loads, etc. i think peggy loved having me there because she needed another girl with all that testosterone! haha
there were a bunch of guys who came and left while i worked there - jack, taylor, bean (peggy's son andrew), alex (peggy's other son), and some others that i am forgetting - but there was one guy who has been there forever...riley brown. i wouldn't be surprised if he took over once john and peg retire! i was scared of riley for a good portion of the time that i worked there! he was kind of my boss in a way too since he had worked there so long and knew everything, and whenever john and peg were both out of town, riley was the one in charge. i had a lot of fun with riley once i got to know him better, but that took a good year! he reminds me of john in a lot of ways, in that they are both extremely opinionated and can be very intimidating. when it was just riley in charge, work was a lot less stressful and much more relaxed, but we still got things done and worked hard. i really always enjoyed talking to riley and hearing his opinions and views on matters in life. :)
these three people - john, peggy and riley - were what made working at the italian place so much fun. i loved the basic parts of the job - chopping vegetables, wrapping sandwiches, ringing people in at the cash register, as well as getting to know many of the customers and talking to them etc. but it was mostly the people i worked with that made that job unforgettable. i had to quit when your dad and i got married and moved to ogden, and that last day i spent with them was one sad day for me. i cried and cried and cried all not long! i remember i was getting my bridals taken the next day so i kept trying to tell myself that i was going to have puffy eyes for my pictures if i didn't stop crying, but i couldn't stop! even though i was so excited to marry your dad and start a new chapter of my life, leaving my good friends at the italian place was so hard. i still dream about them quite often, and i try and go visit as much as i can...and when i do they never fail to help me remember why i love them all so much. :)
they were all very excited to meet you. john took a look at you, said, "he's cute, but what kind of a name did you give him?! don't you want him to have a chance in life?!" haha he also said he will like you a lot more when you are older and can work! :) oh john, gotta love him. peggy thought you were just adorable and riley said, "wow, he's cute. a lot of newborn babies are really ugly but he isn't at all!" riley also commented on how weird it was to see me with a baby.
we visited with them for a while and then had some lunch. john kept trying to get some good stories out of me, but i didn't really have any drama to share with him! in true john fashion, when we were taking the picture he asked if he could grab my breast (he has ALWAYS verbally sexually harassed me but it's all in good fun) and when he asked what i wanted to eat i said, "john, why don't you surprise me." he said, "sure i'll surprise you, let's leave finn here with your mom and we'll get outta here and i will give you the surprise of your life!" haha omg he cracks me up. he always told me that the day i came into work with red hair was the day he would know i was leaving your dad and wanted to be with him. sorry, this is probably too much information for your innocent baby blog, but i have to write it all down so i don't forget these memories. :)
i am interested to see how you like your first sandwich from the italian place, i am not sure if it has completely gone through my system and into your milk yet. it was a very delicious sandwich, but also very spicy which you tend to not love. we will see! i hope hope hope that by the time you are old enough to actually eat a sandwich that john will still be working there, and peggy and riley too, because i really want you to get to know them and love them, just like i do.
i love you little man, and i am so happy you got to meet my dear friends from the italian place - you have something in common with them...you both changed my life forever (but you have more than them :))!
love,
mom
