No job will ever top working at the Woolies deli: Buttle

She’s worked in a range of industries but for Mel Buttle, the Woolies deli takes the cake. Here’s the surprising reason why.

I’ve put hot chips in boxes at the Gabba, I’ve sorted out handball based disputes at after school care. I’ve taught in high schools, I’ve worked in marketing for a stockfeed company, and, I’ve hosted tele and radio shows, but my favourite job, wasn’t even on that list.

No job will ever top working at the Woolies deli.

The alluring smell of hot chickens and access to the freshest coleslaw going, being up to my elbows in small-goods was heaven for this foodie in the making.

Sure, the floor got greasy, and we were on our feet all day, but I got to do one of my favourites things, which was to ask people what they’re cooking for dinner.

No job will ever top the Woolies deli.

Some people would be baffled that a service person, actually had a genuine question for them, and others would look at me and give a one word answer, ‘chicken’.

I learned to remember my fellow foodie customers.

One woman gave me an idea that I still cook to this day, it’s basically a pizza, but on a bashed out chicken breast for the base, she was doing no carb way before it was cool.

I also learned to some people there’s a very big difference between 250 grams of shaved champagne ham and 260 grams.

This is where I also learned to say the infamous deli line of, ‘that’s 257 grams there, is that ok, or shall I take some out?’ I used to be in awe of anyone who bought ham off the bone, that stuff was so expensive, so naturally, I turn the charm right up, I was clearly serving a multi millionaire.

During my time behind the counter, I realised that I could step up the assertiveness in my life. A certain woman, who’s face is burned into my brain, would come in right before close, each and every Saturday, which, by the way is prime slicer cleaning time.

One customer would order six slices every time.

She’d order, ‘six slices of hot Hungarian salami, freshly sliced please’. Of course, we called her ‘freshly sliced’ and whenever she approached the counter we’d duck and run into the cold room, on off on our our tea break. Like rats leaving a sinking ship.

Anything to avoid serving Freshly Sliced, as it meant you’d have to re-clean the bloody slicer after you’d handed over the six, yes just six slices of salami.

This degree of assertiveness was new to me, I wonder where she got her confidence from? Sport? Speech and drama lessons as a kid?

I think I hold my earlier jobs more dear to my heart, because in my first few jobs, I was part of a large team, and in these roles, you’re all in the trenches together, these particular trenches involved, cleaning out the deli cabinet of pieces of diced bacon and shelled prawns that had fallen through the grates, to the refrigerated element below.

This sort of camaraderie seemed to fade away the higher I climbed career wise.

Every company I’ve ever worked for has sent us off on team-building workshops where your group must get all members through a spider web of ropes without touching the ground. I think once you get a job with a desk and a chair the diced bacon and shelled prawns level of closeness goes out the window.

Mel Buttle.

Want your corporate team to pull together?

Give them forty, searing hot rotisserie chickens to get out of the oven and quarter for a Melbourne cup luncheon order that you only found out about two hours ago, that’ll get them communicating and putting the change management reporting structure into action.

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Originally published as No job will ever top working at the Woolies deli: Buttle