Next week I will posting what I learned in my second year as elementary school lunch lady and that will be the end of our cafeteria adventures until the start of the 2011-2012 school year. Summer vacation officially arrives next Thurday. Two and a half days yet to survive.

Here's what I learned this week...

Asking vs. Expecting. In my mind there is a significant difference between asking someone to do something for you and expecting someone to do something for you. Ask me to run your coffee mug through the dishwasher and I will gladly do that. Leave it for days in the faculty room near the dirty silverware until the ants start marching in and I will, likely, throw it away.

Calorie counting annoys me. For some reason everyone I work with is on a diet. I realize that it is swimsuit season, but I've also been to the pool. Have you looked around? Everyone is someones supermodel. Right now, someone is wishing they were your weight. Join me in celebrating the Titantic diet. Have dessert (at least once a week). After all, you never know when you might just find yourself floating on an iceburg wishing you'd had the cheesecake.

I love the talent show. Third graders are fearless. They sing, they hula-hoop, they dance, they play the recorder, and they attempt to do magic. What happens to us as we grow that makes us care so much about what other people think? I wanna be as fearless as a 3rd grader.

Milkmen cry sometimes. I told you last week that I was pretty sure the milkman asked me to run away with him. Turns out it may have had something to do with his impending retirement. Our milkman is retiring after 53 years of service! That's impressive. He got a little teary-eyed when he said goodbye to us. I wish him green pastures and an always full stomach. Oh wait...he's not actually a cow. LOL. Best wishes, my friend.

Cheese sandwich week SUCKS. We go out of our way to avoid giving kids who have no lunch money at the end of the year a cheese sandwich. We try our damdest to make sure all the parents/guardians know that no lunch money in June = a cheese sandwich and a milk. Yet we had tears and tantrums this week.

On a high note, I actually had a visiting parent offer to pay for the lunch of a student who wasn't his and who was gonna miss out on Friday Pizza. Proving once and for all, that everyone hates cheese sandwich week.

What did you learn this week?