Schools
Hard Work Ain’t Cute: The TU Dining Employees Who’ve Been Showing Up for 30 Years
Through Sodexo/1894 Dining Services, TU Dining has touched lives through daily interactions, meals shared, and moments of care.
Tulsa, Ok. - When local Channel 6 News anchor Kim Jackson wrote, “Hard work ain’t cute,” she wasn’t chasing a slogan. She was naming a truth most people live but rarely see reflected back at them.
“Hard work ain’t cute. It’s tiring. It’s showing up when you don’t feel like it and doing what needs to be done anyway. Some days you won’t see progress at all, but that doesn’t mean it’s not working. Stay down. Stay consistent. Keep betting on yourself. It will add up.”
That was the message Kim Jackson shared, alongside a photo of Danny Geeter and Patricia "Trisha" Lucas-Jones from TU Dining and Catering, part of Sodexo/1894 Dining Services at the University of Tulsa.
The comments followed quickly.
“Bless these dedicated people,” wrote Cindy Strasheim. “They are dedicated to TU, their important job of feeding others, and most important to being encouragers of young adults.”
“I love both of them,” shared Rhonda White Bowman. “It is always wonderful to see them, and when they still know your name after all these years, it’s amazing. Always puts a smile on my face. It’s the little things.”
“I happened to meet them at the NABJ Tulsa Awards Gala last week,” added Jennifer LaCour. “Very nice people and epic service.”
“They do their jobs with heart and class,” wrote Nancy Meyer. “They remember people who passed through their lives. I only worked at TU for four years and have been gone for several years, but I’m still warmly greeted when attending events. Being able to do this is a gift.”
In her post, Jackson wrote that Danny and Trisha supported her while she was a student at TU from 1994 to 1996. They became her friends. They made her laugh on days she wanted to cry. They told her where to find leftover lunch plates from events when she was hungry.
Through Sodexo/1894 Dining Services, TU Dining has been part of campus life for decades. That work has touched lives in ways that often go unseen—through daily interactions, meals shared, and moments of care. Students pass through. Faculty retire. Guests come and go. Some relationships last an afternoon. Others last a lifetime.
While the food and service matter, it’s the connections built over time that define the presence of TU Dining on campus—and the people who remember names, faces, and stories long after others have moved on.
Thirty years later, Danny and Trisha are still there.
When Jackson saw them again, she reminded them of the impact they had. They remembered her too.
Hard work ain’t cute.
It adds up.
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