<Begin Segment 19>

SY: So then... okay, so when you first arrived in camp, what was the first thing you did? Did you end up getting a job?

NS: No, I worked in the mess hall right away as a diet tech.

SY: How did you get that job?

NS: Because one of my girlfriends was a dietitian. She was a real dietician, she went to college for it. And then she wanted a helper, in other words, she can't do everything herself, making menu and then getting diets for people, special people. So she wanted me to help, so I became a diet tech.

SY: So what exactly was that...

NS: Well, not much. You just have to help make food, cook certain things for certain... say that you can't have sugar. You're taking care as a diet person, so say that we have to make you a special lunch or a special food. We have to cook it for you.

SY: So you actually cooked?

NS: Yeah.

SY: Did you cook in the mess hall?

NS: Yeah, we have to. There's no other place.

SY: And you brought it to people?

NS: No, no, no. This person comes to the mess hall. Like the camp, you went to the mess hall to eat? Well, that's what they did. They came into the mess hall to eat.

SY: So you got a list of people with your special...

NS: Yes, I had about sixteen people.

SY: And then you cooked something special...

NS: Yes. I had about sixteen people.

SY: And then you cooked something special?

NS: Special. But then the cooks will help, so it was not bad. The cooks over there, they make the bulk amount for everybody, then... I mean, I take the food out of their food and then make it special. Take the sugar out... I mean, don't put sugar in or salt, or no oil or whatever. Special diet was that, that's the only thing, and no spices or whatever. Depends on the patient's diet.

SY: So you did that at every meal?

NS: Three, yeah, breakfast, lunch and dinner. But then you make ahead of time so it's not so bad. Your diet is made ahead of time, day ahead of time. So then by the time the patient comes, then the tray's already made. Because I have the diet already. Unless a new person come in, then they have to wait for it. You know what I'm saying?

SY: And you were trained by just this friend of yours.

NS: Yeah. It took me six months to learn because I have to know, I can't give the wrong thing, so I have to know what to give.

SY: So how did she teach you?

NS: Well, she had a book and then I had to read through all this book. It wasn't hard. It took me six months; it wasn't that hard.

SY: So that was, but you had no experience before that.

NS: Yes, I did. I went to school, I was at school, and I used to help at the diet office. So I kind of... I wasn't not a diet, I was working, helping at the... so in a sense I kind of got used to it, seeing the tray and everything, looking at the tray. I said, "Oh, that kind of food, that looks lousy." [Laughs] So anyway...

SY: So you had a little bit of knowledge.

NS: Yeah, at junior high school, I mean, high school, rather. I had a job and I got paid sixteen dollar a month.

SY: In camp?

NS: No, in school, at school.

SY: At school you got paid --

NS: Oh, yeah, don't you remember? They had what they call NRN... no, what was it? The kids had a job and they got paid sixteen dollar a month. You don't remember?

SY: It was like a student program?

NS: Yeah, yeah, something like that. I forgot what it was.

SY: So that was what you did...

NS: Yeah, during the time I was going school.

SY: When you were in high school?

NS: Well, somebody asked me, that's why, and I said, okay, I'll do it.

SY: So that was like a side money as you were going to school.

NS: Yeah. And the school paid, the school paid, every month they gave me sixteen dollars. Boy, sixteen dollars went far that time. Buy myself, weekend I'd go someplace to buy something. I was happy. [Laughs] My father wouldn't give me any money, so...

SY: That's great. And then it was like government check that they gave you?

NS: Oh, yeah, school. It's government.

SY: And then when the war happened, then you lost that job?

NS: Oh, yeah, because I had to go to camp, remember? I went to camp.

SY: Right. But before camp --

NS: But in camp I did almost the same thing. I did the same thing, I got extra job doing that.

SY: And so that was kind of like what you did, that was kind of your job.

NS: Yeah, so it wasn't hard.

SY: And how much did you get paid in camp?

NS: Fifteen dollar, same thing.

SY: Same thing.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.