Celebrating in style

Jesse Spencer dresses up for his one-year anniversary as a Cook employee

Tuesday, February 8 was a big day for Jesse Spencer.

That was the day that Jesse, who works in Post-Sterilization Services (PSS) at Cook Ellettsville North, celebrated his one-year anniversary as a Cook employee. To commemorate the occasion, he did something you don’t often see in the business-casual world of Cook—he dressed up.

Jesse showed up for his shift that day sporting a blazer, dress pants, shirt, and shoes, a sweater vest, and—that rarest of all sights at Cook—a tie! Why?

“I just thought it would be a cool thing to do,” Jesse said. “You dress up for other anniversaries. It just kind of felt like a special thing. I don’t really know how to explain it.”

A blessing in disguise

Jesse’s first job after graduating high school in 2018 was at a trailer sales lot, where some of his friends also worked.

“I really liked it there and it gave me some physical exercise—lifting tires all day,” he said. “It taught me a lot too, about how to be a good worker.”

But when Covid hit, trailer sales dropped, and the business was eventually forced to lay him off.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Jesse.

“I didn’t know how much chemical sensitivity affected me at that time,” he said. “I realized after they laid me off, that I just kept getting sicker from the diesel and tire smell and the car wash chemicals we used to wash the trailers.”

Jesse spent the next several months doing odd jobs—yard work and things like that—with some other friends.

Having grown up not far from Cook Ellettsville, he knew about the company. At the urging of a neighbor, who was working in Packaging Quality Control (PQC) at the time, Jesse applied, and was hired, for an open position in PSS.

His job at Cook was unlike anything he’d ever done before. Not surprisingly, there were moments where Jesse felt a bit overwhelmed. He quickly learned, that in moments of uncertainty, his trainers and co-workers were more than happy to help him out—and he quickly learned that the work suited him.

“Asking a lot of questions was the key,” Jesse said. “Having a good memory helps. And just being observant is another key thing too. But as long as I was able to ask questions, then I would know how to handle certain things.”

In looking back at his first year with Cook, Jesse sees a time filled not with challenges, but with opportunities.

“I enjoy learning new areas and being cross-trained—if somebody has a skill and nobody is in that area—they can assign you to that area for the day,” he said. “It’s a lot more refreshing than just staying in one place all of the time.

“But I don’t think it was ever so hard that I thought I couldn’t work here and that I needed to look somewhere else. Once you get the basics down, it’s simple from there.”

A connection between coworkers

Hitting his one-year anniversary at Cook was a milestone on multiple levels for Jesse. As someone just entering the workforce, February 8 marked the first time he held any job for as long as a year.

“It’s just a nice little thing,” he said. “My parents told me it was like a personal victory. They were happy for me.”

And the fact that he hit that milestone at Cook, made it even more special.

“Cook is a nice place to work,” Jesse said. “It’s a place that I think I would plan to stay. You feel the camaraderie. People here are friendly with each other, and you do feel like part of a team.”

That connection between coworkers was especially evident when Jesse showed up on his work anniversary decked out in dress clothes.

“It seemed to light people up,” he said. “That made me happy.”

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