IS: Dopo due o tre anni che abbiamo lavorato all’ospedale, ho cominciato a dire a mamma che volevo andare a lavorare su un alto posto, perche avevo diciotto/dicianove anni, venti anni, e mi piaceva andare fuori qualche volta, e sono andata a lavorare su una piccola azienda in una fattoria, e poi dopo è venuta questa signora che faceva... come si chiamava?...

MB: Market research?

IS: Market research, e mi ha detto “parli bene l’inglese”, dice “vuoi venire lavorare con noi?” e io ho detto “sì”, forse non sapevo cosa dire, e il giorno dopo mi hanno chiamata, e hanno detto che aveva un posto per me, e così ho lasciato l’altro posto che lavoravo, ero solo lì per un paio di settimane, e sono andata a lavorare con loro.

IS: L’università non c’era; c’erano i tre collegi, l’agricultura, il veterinario, e Mcdonald. Sicché sono andata a lavorare lì, e sono ancora qui adesso.

MB: Sì! E come era la prima esperienza qui?

IS: La prima esperienza quando che.. sono andata lì... la signora che m’aveva datto la posizione era gentile, però le altre erano tutte canadesi, eravamo solo i sette, sulla shift [seven servers at Creelman], e io non parlavo l’inglese, you know, and l’ho trovato dura, perche pensavano che gli immigranti che venevono avrebbero portato via lavoro che loro avevono.

MB: Sì, e quella è la ragione che la donna ha fatto il commento del “boat load of WOPs”...

IS: Yeah, yeah... poi dopo, una persona mi ha chiesto se volevo far’ la supervisor, però il ero la unica straniera, e [una donna che lavorava lì] me ha detto “just what we need! A boat full of WOPs coming in and taking over the country”. I’ll never forget that. You know, and, la lingua inglese, l’ho trovato difficilissima, perche certe cose che... trovo che la grammatica che abbiamo noi e completamente differente perche, quando dice una cosa sulla nostra lingua, in inglese è differente. Tutti qui ti danno del tu. You say “you” to everybody. And you can say “tu” [to a friend] ma al profesore si deve dire “Lei”. And everything changes. So, you know what I mean?

MB: Credo che l’inglese sarebbe una lingua difficile di imparare.

IS: Oh sì, sì...

MB: La grammatica, non è come l’italiano, in English there are so many exceptions...

IS: Sì, l’ho trovato molto difficile, e certe cose che si dicono, non potevo capire...

IS: Nessuno può sapere quando che siamo arrivati dall’Italia... piangevo tante volte, quando eramo sul treno dicevo: “portami in dietro in Italia”, adesso invece, se un straniero arriva qui c’e tante meno difficoltà che abbiamo trovato noi.

MB: E dopo quanto tempo di lavorare all’università eri promossa al supervisor?

IS: Forse dieci, dodici anni, ma quando hanno cominciato a aprire delle altre cose [other restaurants on campus], ho lavorato sul Creelman al inizio, e dopo sono andata al supervisor su Mcdonald, e dopo sono andata al supervisor sul athletic building, e c’era un building lì, e dopo sono andata a Mcdonald, e dopo sono venuta qui [UC food court]. Ma sono diventata ‘manager of operations’ nel ’73. Mr. Mann era il direttore, e io ero the manager of operations for all the units.

MB: Il presidente era Forster?

IS: Il presidente era Forster, quando ho cominciato, quando la università era fondata c’era McLachlan, e poi c’era Winegard, e dopo Winegard è venuto Forster. È stato qui per otto anni. E poi Matthews...

MB: E nel ’73 era Forster che era il presidente?

IS: Yeah, yeah. Ma quando sono venuta qui, di dietro del clock...

MB: Johnston, sì...

IS: Di dietro lì c’era erba, e dove che c’e the new football field, they didn’t have that, that was all away, that was all nothing there!

MB: Yeah, big new field!

IS: And I used to – I had the car, but I didn’t take the car, because I said “it’s too much trouble”, I took the bus, you know, there was one bus going around, but, when I look back, it’s funny, I can talk to you and then it comes to my mind, but you can rest assured that there was myself and there was another lady that was from Slovenia, and we were outcast, we were never included in anything, you know, never.

MB: In the earlier years?

IS: Yeah. At the Athletic building, they used to have big groups come in, and we had to make salad plates, and they had ice in the arena, and we would make two thousand plates, salad plates for the people that were coming in, because there was these huge people who were coming to Guelph at the time, and it was so condensed in that specific place, now they’re all over the place! At one time we only had Creelman, and if any convention came from anywhere in Canada, there was no place for them to go. So that’s what we did. Many times we came in at two o’clock in the morning, They had the dances – there was the Mac Institute, which was a class that they used to call the “wedding ring class”. They came in from the farm, the girls, you know, and they had a one year course, they learned how to put the peaches, the pears away, you know, and then meanwhile they found themselves a boyfriend, because there was the OAC, the veterinarian, and the Mac Institute girls.

MB: Are there any events that stand out from when you were Manager of Operations?

IS: When I became the supervisor, I was really scared because I couldn’t write English, I couldn’t speak either – when we used to have the union before 1973, there was Versafood from Hamilton, and the union was connected with McMaster University union. So the people that were here, the old people they all went, and there was another lady who was supervisor, Mary Prior, and Mr. Mann came with Versafood but the university made him Director of Food Services and they come up with University of Guelph Food Services. And so the union got kicked out. [The University of Guelph set up an internal food service unit, taking over from an external provider (Versafood)]. Then, I remember I said “Mr. Mann, you’re giving me the impossible”, and he said “no Ines, I’ll be with you all 100%”, he was a little bit of a bluffer! But I got support from him, but I wouldn’t be able to ask his opinion on something because he was completely away from where the operation was.

I’ll never forget, there was the accountant from Pirelli, and he says “Ines, you tell me what we pay for things, and I will give you the figure”. And he would come to my house, and we would make the menus. And I was here seven days a week, from six in the morning to eleven o’clock at night, and we did that all you know, to assign all the – you figure out how much it costs, you say the food costs should be about 30, 33%, the other things some of them are 40, depends what it is. 30% should be profit. You know, I didn’t know I was gonna make it. I remember, we used to-we were in that building there, that yellow building in there, that was my office [pointing to present day Day Hall], and…

MB: Yeah, I don’t know what that building is for now…

IS: That was when I really found it hard, you know, but then I took it in stride, and I never let it bother me, you know, and there is one motto that I have, for all of my life: if this was my place, if I have to make a decision, what would I do? And that’s how I treat it. If you make a mistake, then you learn from it. But you have to make a decision. And I found it very hard to deal with the people, but I was always very frank with them; I told them what I thought, you know? I couldn’t stand anybody putting up a front, I says “you know, you’re a nice person, you’re a good person but you talk too much”. I told them what I thought. And once I was the office, I says “now when you go out of here, we shake hand and forget I said it, and now all I want you to do is what I told you”. And they come back and said “you were right, Ines”. To me, it’s  - how can you explain to anyone that you did this job for sixty two years? They think I’m crazy! Don’t you?

MB: Ha, well you must like coming in and seeing everybody!

IS: Yeah, but it’s nothing now…

IS: Come te dico Matthew, I fired a lot of people, and nobody ever took me up. You have to treat people – I’m friendly with everybody.