The Grove wants members to be at ease, not worry about money, they say. Food servers basically meet every need of the campers as they come to dinner, bringing special orders and any condiments. A reason for the high pay is that the climax of a meal can be extremely stressful. The food is brought out to two serving lines against the building, facing the dining circle. Here meals are assembled and frantic kitchen workers run back and forth changing pans, throwing on garnishes, yelling out orders.
Workers get pushy, trying to meet the needs of their tables as quickly as possible.
Most of us worked split shifts, such as a 7 to 11 AM breakfast, then 5 to 9 PM dinner. We punched in at a little shed near the employee parking lot, then boarded the red shuttle, an old truck with benches built into the back. We were limited to the parking lot and the dining circle, nowhere in between. It was strictly prohibited to try to walk back to our cars. The shuttle took us past cabins, past the little lake, past the stage where plays and events took place.