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This project was made possible by a grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council

Project Contributors:
John Hunter Allgood, John T. Edge, Amy Evans, Mary Beth Lasseter and Kendra Myers

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Kappa Alpha Fraternity: Treber McGuirt

"Well, I started watching people in the kitchen and, uh, kind of helping them out and kind of getting them through some things and I always wanted to do more than wash dishes and so I just kind of observed and basically learned what to do."

--Treber McGuirt

What follows is a portion of the original interview that has been edited for length. To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.

HOUSE: Kappa Alpha
SUBJECT: Treber McGuirt, cook and maintenance staff
DATE: June 20, 2005
INTERVIEWER: Mary Beth Lasseter

Mary Beth Lasseter: Where are you from originally?

Treber McGuirt:  I'm originally from Oxford. I stay on West Spring Hill. I have one five year old kid and I'm divorced right now and kinda settling down but I've been with the guys at the KA house four years, this is my fourth year.

How did you get involved with the KAs?

Well I was out of work one day and I went to a job service agency that sent me out here. That was, like I said, a few years ago. I've been here four years so I've worked here ever since then.

And do you primarily work in the kitchen?

Uh, basically I'm kind of like an all over guy. I help in the kitchen. I clean up upstairs. I help serve or just whatever that they need to be done.

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How many people work in the kitchen here at the KA house?

It's four of us.

And what is a typical day like?

Uh, well Thursday, Thursdays are real easy. We have paper plates and paper forks and through the week we have like a buffet style and have them like come through the line and get it or most of the time we'll serve them out of platters and stuff like that. And, uh, their favorite meals are pork chops and chicken and, uh, poppy seed chicken. That's what they go for. Sometimes you cook 14 pans or sometimes you cook 12 pans but just on a Thursday just like a hamburger and French fries and we use paper plates and we get out kind of early. Get off and on Fridays we have leftovers.

So how many students are you serving at a typical meal?

I would say at least 165 boys. Yeah, at dinner. Lunch doesn't—they don't really come out for lunch but they do dinner at like 165.

Now do you serve 3 meals a day?

Yes, we do. We serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

And do you do that 7 days a week or no?

No, we just do it five days a week. We're off on Saturdays and Sunday. Just Monday through Friday.

Had you ever worked in food service before working with the KAs?
No, I hadn't worked in food service with the KAs but I worked in food service at Oxford Elementary school. I also cooked and served the kids over there so I've basically been in food service like 4 or 5 years.

How did you decide to go into food service?

Well, I started watching people in the kitchen and, uh, kind of helping them out and kind of getting them through some things and I always wanted to do more than wash dishes and so I just kind of observed and basically learned what to do. The guys they make a lot of meals and stuff like that and I really love [inaudible] cleaning up and kind of help them out around here.

Do you plan the menus here?

No, I don't plan them or nothing like that. But what we do is we sit down and discuss with the house mother what are they eat, what do they eat the most and stuff like that and we order like that and basically come together on it but she kind of plans the menu.

What sorts of foods do you serve?

We serve, uh, lasagna, uh, chicken spaghetti, chicken, poppy seed chicken, string beans, corn. We mostly try to do a vegetable along with the meal but their favorite meals are chicken tenders and green peas and potatoes. That's what we have on Mondays.

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Now who taught you to cook?

Well, I started off at a bakery in Atlanta doing cakes and stuff kind helping out like that.

What bakery was that?

That was called [inaudible]. So I started off baking and decorating cakes. It was a real good bakery.

And did you learn that on the job or had you gone to classes?

Well, I took a few pointers from people and stuff like that and I learned to experiment at home-experiment at home personally. And got good at home. [inaudible]

Now do you get to bake when you work here, as well, or?

No, I'm not the baker. I'm not the baker. I just kind of help out. WE have a baker here, though. He's not in right now. He's out of town for the summer. His name is Willie. He's our baker.

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Okay. And then, um, if you cook here in the day do you go home and cook for your family in the evening?

Basically what we have here, if there's enough left I would take something home or I would have to prepare a meal or something like that before I could eat. Sometimes I [inaudible]. We work 9:30 to 6:30 and we take an hour break and get off at 1 and come back at 3 and start serving to serve dinner. So when you come back in in the evening times we'll set the tables back up with placemats and plates on the table for the boys so therefore we won't have too much traffic coming through the line and everybody will be sitting down.

So what is the time frame where the guys can eat?

They eat at 5:30. They eat lunch—lunch starts at 11 o'clock and it goes from 11 to 1. Then we have dinner from 5:30 until 6:30. We do breakfast from 7 o'clock in the morning time until 9 and we have lady who comes in and cooks breakfast, too. If she doesn’t come in we'll fill in for her and do the breakfast. But basically everything's done by time, like you know say 5:30 we've got to have a group coming in at 5:30 so they can sit down and eat and be out by 6:30.

Besides the three meals that y'all cook do y'all make available any snacks or do you keep the fridges stocked with food they can grab in the middle of the day?

Right, okay. We'll have like chocolate cake, rice krispies. Mostly if something is left after we lock the kitchen we'll just sit it out on the table for them so they can just come downstairs and get it and probably make some tea at night, something for them to drink on and make sure the ice machine is filled up so therefore they have some snacks.

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What is your relationship with Ole Miss? Do you spend a lot of time on campus apart from work?

Yeah, basically come to the games and I do a little COBRA Security on the side sometimes if they need me or something like that but [inaudible] I do spend a lot of time at Ole Miss on my spare time. At Turner playing basketball and stuff during the summer.

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Did you go to school in Oxford High School?

Yeah, I went to Oxford High School and graduated in 1987.

What is your favorite part about your job?

Well, I like that I get along with all the guys. I have no trouble with nobody or nothing like that. If they need something they'll come to me and kind of tell me and stuff like that. I kind of like to play a part around here, like I say, you know, helping the kids just wherever they need me at.

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Is there one favorite recipe or favorite thing that you can share with me before we wrap up this interview? Is there something you like to cook either at home or at the KA house?

I love to cook brownies with nuts in them. That's my specialty.

Okay.

Everybody loves those. Of course, after…the brownie deals are set up outside because I don't like to make a mess with them. But I don't mind cleaning for them because if it wasn't for them making a mess therefore we wouldn't have a job.

So you make brownies for the guys on regular occasion?

Yeah, they'll come back and say, no dessert today? Or nothing and we'll kind of come up with something.

To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.