Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV

Do I need a cognitive test?

The current POTUS claimed proudly that he was able to repeat a sequence of five words; person, woman, man, camera, TV, and boasted about getting extra credit for repeating them in order. I sincerely doubt that those somewhat related words were the five he was asked to recall, but does it really matter? Is this something to be proud of? Could I remember and repeat five unrelated words in sequence?

Every day I work, I get to test this. Sort of. As I’ve mentioned, I’m spending the season working at Hamilton College in upstate New York. My very glamorous job involves scooping hot food into to-go containers for students who use campus dining services. I serve lunch and dinner, to hundreds of kids. They file by requesting all sorts of permutations of the meal’s offerings.  

Beef, potatoes, yams, rice, beans

There is always an offering of rice and beans at lunch and dinner. There is also a meat entree, a vegetarian or vegan entree, a vegetable, and a starch or two offered. They rarely want the vegetable. They want tons and tons of carbs. The big guys who come through also want large quantities of meat. Shocking amounts of meat. No matter how much I load into the cardboard container they always want a little more. 

It feels like each meal is an endless parade of students. One after another they tell me what they want, “Beef, potatoes, rice and beans”, “Did you mean the mashed potatoes or the sweet potatoes?” “The rice pilaf or the brown rice?” OK, “Beef, sweet potatoes, pilaf, and beans.” I need to remember that for the time it takes to dish the food into the container, then start again with a new set of requests, “Everything but the beef” “You want both types of rice?” “No, the brown rice” or the plain rice, or that rice (pointing).

So many names for each option. Sometimes I just forget and need to have them repeat their order. As I recite their requests I think about Trump and those five words he was so pleased he remembered, could he remember all these varied requests? Am I suffering from cognitive decline because sometimes I can’t? Over and over I repeat their list back to them. I mostly get them right.

Tired, achy, old, cranky, hungry

When I arrive home (such as it is) nightly, I’m exhausted. My feet and legs ache and if it’s been a very busy night, I’m hungry because I haven’t had dinner. I remind myself that I’m lucky to be working, that I’m lucky to be getting a paycheck, to not be sick. The students are pretty good about wearing their masks. There is one young man who invariably wears his pulled below his nose. I gently remind him to pull it up. Twice a day, five days a week.

I haven’t worked this (physically) hard in years and after four months of furlough, it’s challenging to be on my feet eight hours a day. The work, aside from the repetition of students’ choices of food is essentially mindless. I show up, I scoop food for two and a half hours, take a break, then get ready for dinner and scoop food for another four hours. On nights we’re short-handed (which is most nights) l schlep heavy pans of food from the warmer to the line. My shoulder hurts. I want to go home.

September, October, November

I’ve only been here for two weeks, and the next nine weeks stretch out in front of me, like a long, steep flight of stairs. My days off are a relief. Those are the nights I get into bed and nothing hurts. They are the days I eat dinner with the other people here from UPenn. We chat, complain, and remind each other we’d rather be working than not. 

I had intended to use my days off to go out and explore. In this part of New York, many places are open. I could go to the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute or the Utica Zoo. Or I could write, nap, and watch a few shows I’ve recorded. I do have until mid-November to make it to the nearby attractions and why do today what I can put off for another week? Especially when there is the chance of a nap later!