Freshbox Blog

Meet Mike: Prep 2 Employee

Mike has been an employee Freshbox since December and it’s clear that he’s got what it takes to do the job well.  We love working with him because he focuses on the little stuff like making sure that the meat covers the entire piece of bread and that the roasted peppers are spread out evenly on his favorite sandwich, The Prime.  Mike’s off-the-wall comments about songs on Pandora, life in Columbus, and Oreo-stacking competitions, keep everyone laughing. Check out the profile below for information about Mike’s favorite hobbies and what certification he’s preparing to receive at the Columbus Board of Health.

What’s something that sets Freshbox apart from other jobs you’ve had in the past?
I would say Freshbox is still growing and there are still changes going on.  I feel like I’m a small part of that.  Like the sink plugs, for example.  We didn’t have good sink plugs for a while when we were washing the dishes.  One of the first things I said was that we needed plugs, and now we have them and they work fine.

How did you hear about Freshbox?
A staff member at Faith Mission told me that he’d seen me do a lot of great volunteer work at the shelter and he thought I’d be a great candidate for the job.  I volunteered to help in the kitchen at the shelter for over three months.  He helped me get set up with the online application and I applied.

Why do you choose to stay invested in Freshbox?
I’m staying because I’m making money and it’s interesting; I’m learning more and getting better at the job. I’m more efficient than I used to be.  I know what I have to do and when to do it.  I’m not perfect but I try the best I can because the final product is what matters.  I’m in Prep 2 stage of training right now and next week I’m going in for Person In Charge training at the Columbus Board of Health.  It’s a certification that I’ll be able to use down the road.  (Editor’s note:  Person in Charge is a course to help shift leaders and managers get trained in restaurant food safety and sanitation issues.)

What are some challenges you’ve faced?
Before Freshbox, I’d never worked with food.  I was into more physical labor; I did flooring for most of my life with my dad.  Full-time from age 20 to 35.  The only bad part was that it didn’t help me on my résumé.  When my dad retired I got a job doing apartment maintenance and it was a good job but it was temporary.  When I was applying for other jobs, it was hard to prove that I’d done flooring for 15-16 years since there weren’t work receipts and stuff.  I spent my savings to pay rent, and eventually I had to leave my apartment and I didn’t know where to go.  Someone told me about Faith Mission so I went there.

What do you look forward to?
It’s hard to look forward to things when you don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. I’d say that I’d like to get back in shape; I’d like to get into boxing and possibly going to a gym.  I’m looking forward to having my cat with me again.  For now I want to volunteer at Pets Without Parents.  I’ll tell you what, when I looked at the website I was touched.  I read about some of those animals and their stories, and I think it would be cool to help them.  I’d pet the cats and dogs and it would be something positive.

What are some adjectives you would use to describe yourself?
Serious.  Attentive.  I’m the kind of person that when I start to get comfortable with what I’m doing, I get pickier and try my best to do it right.  If I had the right training and the right opportunity I could run a kitchen.

What Pandora station do you pick when it’s your turn in the kitchen?
70’s and 80’s rock.  I’d say The Cars and maybe Led Zeplin, too.  I don’t have a lot of favorite bands because I like the one-hit wonders.

If you could invent a totally new Freshbox sandwich, what would it be?
It would have customized ingredients.  Something like pepper jack on roast beef…with extra cheese, that’s a big thing.

In an Oreo stacking competition between all the Freshbox employees, who would win and why?
Well I stacked 9 and tied Ryan in the last competition so I’d say me because I know the way to do it now.  You have to find the flattest, thinnest cookies and pick those.

Fun facts
When I was a teenager I used to go fishing every day – spring, summer, and fall – I fished for everything that Ohio had to offer.  I went to farm ponds, rivers, creeks, but it was river fishing that I grew up on.  One of the best memories I have is of going to Chilicothe and taking a boat out and catching blue gill and bass.

When I was in my early 20s, I went to a friend’s house in Columbus and he had a drum set in his basement.  I sat down and tried to play and I thought it was the neatest thing I’d done in my life, so I bugged my dad and he helped me get a set of drums.  A few guys that I knew heard about my drum set and said they needed a drummer.  Of course I’d never had lessons or anything, but I took my drums to their house and we started practicing together.  We started a band called Stronghold and played at some small clubs around Columbus.  We played at Alrosa Villa and that was pretty cool.  A lot of people don’t get the opportunity to play in a rock band.

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