Midnight Munchies
A night in the weekend life of Dave’s Express and Campus Corner
By Dominic Desmond, news editor
Posted on February 19, 2007

HARRISONBURG — Late at night or early in the morning, the employees at Dave’s Express on Port Republic Road are always doing something: getting the next order ready for delivery, answering the phone or just waiting around smoking cigarettes and listening to bitchin’ tunes until the 2 a.m. tidal wave of college-aged customers flood the store.

Aside from the everyday hustle of cooking and expediting food, there’s always something exciting to see or talk about.

Andrew Gilles, a Dave’s Express manager since July, has been witness to such things a few times. He said once a couple went into the bathroom together, and it wasn’t until a Dave’s employee went in and found out what was going on that things got interesting. Gilles said the couple was having sex.

“We basically embarrassed them out of there,” Gilles said. “The couple got a round of applause when they came out.” 

Originally from Madison County, Gilles came to Harrisonburg to attend JMU but has been taking his studies slowly, because balancing work and school has been a task in itself.

“It’s hard managing 45 to 50 hours [of work] a week and school,” Gilles said. So, he said, he’s taking it “one class at a time.”

Since last Saturday, Gilles has been donning a pink, velvety cowboy hat and aviator sunglasses while manning the mast of Dave’s Express. His appearance serves a purpose.
“It distracts the drunks,” he said. “Instead of yelling at [an employee], they’ll look at the guy with the stupid hat.”

Dan Mitchell has been working since 11 a.m. on Saturday morning, but Gilles said Mitchell hadn’t quite worked a full “Dave’s double” because he got a break at 7 p.m.
“It’s a split double,” Gilles said.

Mitchell has been delivering food at Dave’s Express for about a month on weekends, he said.

“I eat here a lot, so it would be cool to work here,” he said. “It’s not bad at all; it’s pretty laid back.”

Mitchell is one of three drivers on the long busy weekend nights. He also knows the city and the multitude of housing developments well, but he’s gotten help from the GPS on his cell phone.

“I didn’t know [the apartment complexes] when I started,” he said. “Now that I work here, I know them inside and out.”

Driving aside, making pizzas or taking out the trash are the messiest jobs at Dave’s Express. Expediting food orders, Gilles said, is by far the hardest. This entails answering the phone calls the drivers can’t pick up, taking calls and working the cash register. Gilles spends his time in the kitchen.

“Once you’ve been crushed in the kitchen a few times, then you start to pick up as much as you can for survival,” he said.

But through a pair of glass doors to the right of Dave’s counter, the atmosphere changes. The greasy haze of cigarette smoke gives way to the smell of strong coffee and towers of beer.

But for Campus Corner Convenience Store, popularly called Neighbors’, it’s a slow night, and it’s easy to tell.

“When both cash registers are working, that’s busy,” Dhiren Muni said.

Muni, whose family has owned Neighbors’ for 10 years, said business picks up between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. He’s used to seeing some interesting if not bizarre happenings, especially on Halloween.

“You’ll see Jesus stumbling, a drunk pope or a pregnant nun,” he said.

Muni wasn’t flying the ship solo until his store closed at 4 a.m. He had two co-pilots, but only until 12 a.m.

Tom Safranek has been divvying up his time between working at Home Depot and Neighbors’ for more than a year. He’s also a JMU student, but he’s taking a break to save up money for a trek on the Appalachian Trail.

Back through the doors to Dave’s, sophomore Jeff Tocci and Dave Waters sat on the red cushioned stools at the bar. They shared an order of Greek fries with two other people.

Waters and Tocci are both from Boston, and Waters even worked at Dave’s Taverna downtown for a while. He came to the Valley with some friends and decided to stay because he likes the “vibe.”

Tocci just likes Dave’s gyros.

“It’s as close to döner [kebab] as you can get,” he said.

In terms of employee meals, Gilles lets his team experiment. He even has a few favorite deep-fried treats — Dave’s bread and spanakopita, which is akin to a spinach and cheese wrap.   

The guys at Dave’s don’t have to worry about someone pulling a fake ID to buy onion rings and Pepsi. It’s a different story on the other side of the glass doors.

And Muni knows what to look for when someone brings a case of beer to the counter and a questionable ID.

“They try to impress the cashier, they’ll be outside talking on a cell phone to a friend,” he said.

Muni won’t hold the owner of the suspect ID until the cops come. Instead he’ll take the ID and tell them to leave. But, he does give them an option.

“‘We can have this checked out by the cop,’” he said. “No one ever waits.”

When it’s all over at 4 a.m., Muni doesn’t waste any time when he gets home.

“[I] crash out,” he said.

Just like so many patrons on a Saturday night.