This was the first full week of me, as cafeteria manager.

The first full week of being in charge of two women who really don't like each other.

The first full week of having to order the f**kin' bread and milk.

The first full week of lots of paperwork.

I am happy to report that I survived.

For what it is worth here is what I learned:

• Don't forget to count the trays. On Tuesday we didn't count out any trays or have anything ready to serve food on. Trays are very important.
• PB&J is a pain. We only get one count for how many students are having PB&J. However, we serve both grape and strawberry uncrustables. So basically if 56 kids order PB&J I have to decide how many grape and how many strawberry to thaw. You can bet your fanny that if I thaw more grape they ask for strawberry and if I thaw more strawberry they will ask for grape.
• I don't like it when people talk for me. Have you ever worked with anyone that no matter who the question is addressed to ie: "Kisa, can you tell me where the crackers are?" that they will answer before you can speak. The sub is a talk over you all the time kind of person. It is making me mad...mad I say.
• Servings per bag are not accurate. For example we thought one bag of curly fries made 22 servings. Apparently it does...but only if you have a person capable of of grabbing an actual handful of fries and putting them on the tray. If they grab a teeny tiny bit instead you will have SIX totally full trays of fries left at the end of lunch.
• Math continues to suck. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't like math. Somehow I added 117 and 16 and got 155. I was even using an adding machine. LOL We made a few extra chicken patty sandwiches because of that.
• Dick the milkman. Until today I've never heard him speak and I learned that he is one funny guy. Plus I enjoy yelling "Hey, Dick!" Another great point is that if you see Dick, you can be sure it is Friday.
• Working with my kid. I took Big G to work with me on Thursday for the day. We had to start at 6:30AM to set up a staff breakfast because apparently I didn't have enough to do this week. She did really well as a lunch lady but was exhausted by the time we went home. She said, "I didn't realize that lunch ladies never sit." Also, whatever I was thinking she was saying....it was sort of humorous. What age do you learn to bite your tongue?
• People will fight over everything: The funniest argument of the week was whether or not to serve 4 cheese sticks or 6 cheese sticks. Everyone was sure they were right. I, personally, couldn't give a rat's ass how many we serve as long as we have enough. So I decided on five because believe it or not this decision will not change the world. Now how can I convince the rest of the cafeteria staff that it doesn't really matter.

What did you learn this week?