Chuck Faulkinberry

For the past 28 years, I have had the opportunity to hire and work with people with disabilities through a variety of different roles. I didn’t start on a quest to hire people with disabilities; it happened because my eyes were opened by one special lady. For the purposes of this Blog to protect her anonymity, I will refer to this special lady as Marie.

The first account I was assigned to right out of college was in Alabama – this is where I first met Marie.  Marie, a Sodexo employee, had a hearing and speech disability. This was the first time I was working closely with a person with a disability and at first, I wasn’t sure how to act around her. I would smile and greet her, but always felt she may not understand who this young kid with a tie was or how our roles relied on each other. It was an uncomfortable feeling for me, which made it difficult because I knew it was my responsibility to provide Marie with all the tools she needed to provide a quality product for our guests. 

Then, one day Marie frantically came into the dining room in the middle of a lunch rush, obviously upset. She was waving her arms and signing to me, but I did not understand. In her frustration she grabbed me by the wrist and rushed me into the kitchen. Marie walked me over to the dish machine, and began verbalizing and signing. I felt helpless that I could not understand. She saw my concern and stopped, calmed down and like a nurturing mother realized my confusion. Quickly, Marie showed me the gauges on the dish machine that indicated the temperature which flashed 120 degrees for the final rinse. Marie then walked to a dishwasher procedure poster which indicated final rinse should be at 180 degrees. BANG, I got it – The dishes were not being sanitized.  We needed to make some quick decisions, so we switched to paper, and I called for a repairman. Thanks to Marie’s quick thinking our lunch service continued uninterrupted.

After the event, I reflected and realized a couple of things. I assumed that because of Marie’s disability I would need to monitor her work closer than others. I was wrong. The fact was that she knew her job, the equipment and how important her role was in the functioning of our daily operation.  That day, I also realized Marie was a really good teacher because she taught me a lot about people with disabilities.

Marie and I grew close after and she made it a point to teach me some simple sign language. I appointed her as our Safety Committee Chairperson and she took the role very seriously. She conducted training with assistance, made sure I addressed equipment and safety issues, and she also monitored our record keeping daily. In order to facilitate our conversations, I posted a white board in the dish room and we communicated by writing notes.

Marie was one of the most loyal, conscientious and consistent team members I had at that location in Alabama. Before I left that account for a new assignment, Marie was voted the Employee of the Year by her fellow teammates, which was well deserved.

At the end of my career, I hope to write a book about my foodservice adventures. I will have a list of my all-star staff and you can bet Marie will be on it.

Chuck Faulkinberry is a resident district manager at Gonzaga University and serves as the National Co-Chair for SOAR; Sodexo’s Business Resource Group for People with disAbilities . He began his food service career over 28 years ago as a Sodexo  student manager while earning his bachelor’s degree in Hotel and Restaurant Administration from Florida State University.