As assistant director of food services at the Illini Union, Rollie Smith makes sure that hundreds of thousands of meals served on the UI campus throughout the year are the best they can be. He has been in food service for 35 years, and 10 of those have been with the university.
What’s a typical day like for you?
Right now, during January and February, a typical day would probably be 8:30 to 5. We’re much slower the first two months of the year. But once we get into March, April and May it’s six days a week — sometimes seven, depending on demand. And there are times when those six days in a row are 15-hour days and 16-hour days. It depends on the catering load. Or emergencies that come up with employees. You know, sometimes you have to jump in and help with whatever job needs to be done.
Does that mean you’re on the buffet line dishing up food?
Sure. I’ve been in the business since 1962 and so I don’t have any problem with jumping on a truck and making the coffee delivery at 7:30 in the morning if that’s what needs to be done. And I don’t have any problem going over to Krannert and serving 500 people over there and not getting out of Krannert until 11 or 12 at night. It’s the mark of this business that you have to be available when your clients want you to be available.
Does that make you hate your job?
I love my job. It’s basically the only thing I’ve ever done in my life.
I love the people I work with the people I meet. But No. 1, it’s the people I work with. You’re so close to them all the time and you can’t do it without those people. You just can’t. I’m blessed to have some very good people working on the staff here. They really care about what they’re doing, and you can see that in the job that they do.
What’s the most interesting part of your job?
I was involved with the events at the Assembly Hall when President Clinton was here. You don’t get to rub elbows with those people, but you get to be involved somewhere. And I was director of dining services at Millikin University when President Reagan was there.
We also do some meals at the Assembly Hall for some of the groups that come in. We fed Aerosmith, Brooks & Dunn and Garth Brooks. Some of those people you may see on TV or hear on the radio, but it’s a little bit different when you’re standing there in a buffet line carving roast beef and Garth Brooks walks through with his family.
What was the most unusual experience in food service for you?
When I was at Millikin and President Reagan was coming in, the president’s advance crew came in and went through all my coolers and my freezers with their dogs. Part of food service is sanitation and I just didn’t believe they’d do such a thing. But they took the dogs right into those walk-in coolers and freezers. What made it even stranger, the president came in at 11 in the morning and he was gone by 1:30 in the afternoon, but he was in our building so consequently I had to turn in all my keys to the Secret Service, and they brought in their dogs and we never served one thing.
How would the people who work for you describe you?
Easy going, I think. I very seldom show anger. And I don’t know why. It’s not that I don’t get angry and uptight and frustrated. But I very seldom let that out. So when I do get upset I guess it’s probably readily recognized.
Does your wife approve of your hours?
Not necessarily. It would be nice if it was a Monday through Friday kind of job. But I’ve always said the Good Lord didn’t make us with five-day stomachs. People have to eat seven days a week.
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