"My friends are jealous that I get to eat in Adams," she says.

Carla M. Ceruzzi '02, who also works in Adams, says she has not been turned off yet, and the hours are appealing.

"I like the people I work with, and the hours are at a convenient time. They're easy to fit into my schedule." Ceruzzi, a resident of Mathews Hall, also mentions the convenience of Adams' location.

After a year of washing dishes in Dunster dining hall, Nickolay T. Boyadjiev '01 is still content. Boyadjiev, who is also a Crimson editor, says he originally took the job out of necessity, but has discovered worthwhile benefits.

"The main consideration was money," Boyadjiev says of his initial motives. "I was a foreign student so I wasn't sure how to write a resume or how to behave during job interviews." He applied and interviewed unsuccessfully for a few office jobs before calling HDS.

Now, Boyadjiev says he is paid nearly $10 an hour, substantially higher than most student jobs. What's more, he enjoys the capitalist ethos.

"I come from a post-Communist country and this idea of getting paid by the hour is not a common practice there," says Boyadjiev. "[My job in Dunster] teaches me work ethic if nothing else."

Boyadjiev also notices how different employees relate to each other and how the managers deal with problems that arise, work relations that amount to practical skills in light of his plans for a career in business.

For the most part, says Boyadjiev, the work settles into a nice routine.

"It's just sort of low-key," he says. "Most of the staff have worked there for five to 10 years. It becomes the same thing over and over."

Except, of course, when things go wrong.

"Once I got locked in the freezer and had to knock and scream until someone came to let me out," Boyadjiev says.

A Step Up?

Jobs with HDS do not end with dishwashing and serving in dining halls.

Alexandra E. McNitt, project manager for Dining Services, notes that in addition to dishwashing, serving, bussing and laundry jobs, HDS employs students as short-order cooks, cashiers, juicers and espresso barristas at campus restaurants. Students also work as door monitors at Annenberg and as deliverers of HUGS, Dining Services' care packages.