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Friday, November 18, 2011

Lessons from the Lunchlady: You better check yourself and the carrots too

Another great Terry Border pic...love the hidden peeler..LOL
Click the photo to see more and order his book for Christmas
Holy Moly...it's Friday. This week I managed to work two whole days in the cafeteria. I was off Monday to attend the funeral of my husband's grandmother and yesterday it became apparent that Little G was not well.

He is starting to recoup a little today. He has a touch of pneumonia, an ear infection and spent yesterday throwing up everything any anything I gave him to help.

Even though I spent more days away from the cafe then I spent in the cafeteria this week, here is what I learned.

It's important to check yourself. For what? I'm not clear, but based on a rather rude conversation with a parent this week I can tell you for sure that it's important. So I implore you, when you are done reading this...check yourself.

Stuffing balls and gravy. I have lamented before about the amount of work that goes into our holiday meals and few students actually eat them. This year we entertained most of the admin building and our tiny elementary served nearly 45 adults and 175 kids Thanksgiving dinner. When you have a teeny tiny kitchen and only one warmer, that is quite an accomplishment. Don't even get me started on the dishes!

Carrots are a conundrum.. Last week, while preparing the veggies I found this Lobster claw carrot. This week we had bagged baby carrots and quite a few of them were ROTTEN. After a handful of kiddos told me they found rotten carrots, I tossed that whole case in the trash. What did we learn? No matter the use-by-date, it's a crap shoot as to what you'll get.

Sporks. We used sporks this week and the kiddos were elated. Really. From kindergarten up to, and including, a few adults, I had more comments on the sporks then I did on the Thanksgiving feast. My favorite...a kindergarten boy to a kindergarten girl "I'm gonna touch them points to see if they're willy sharp." He touches it while she rolls her eyes. Then he says, "Yep, them are sharp." Her response. "I knowed that without touchin it."

Speaking of utensils. . Last week at breakfast, I had a wiry 1st grade take all the spoons out of the dispenser, lick em and put em back. Thankfully, some other students saw this um...creativity? This turned into a great lesson on treating others the way we'd like to be treated. I am hoping he goes into forensic science as a career path.

What did you learn this week?

9 random thoughts:

Jenners said...

Is there anything better than a spork? I think not!

Pat said...

First off - love the photo!

Secondly - licking all the spoons? WTF?

Third - I LOVE that conversation about the spork!

Kristie Maynard said...

I have a couple nephews that think the spork is the most important piece of flatware. They just love them and I have gotten them some over the years. It really is a wonderful invention!
Right now, I don't know what I learned this week, I guess I'm just too tired to think right now. Guess I should get to sleep!

Anonymous said...

I have checked myself repeatedly and still don't know what I'm looking for...

Moving with Mitchell said...

Sorry it's taken me so long to comment. I've been busy checking myself.

lisa from insignificant at best said...

I know it's not funny and yet it's funny that that 1st grader felt the need to lick all the spoons and put them back. What possess a kid to do something like that? LOL

dontpanic2011 said...

I love it. Kids are too funny sometimes, even when thye're being aggravating as all get out.

DeepBlue said...

About those sporks... Now here's a young lady who will go far in life. ;)

The link to Terry doesn't work but I found him anyways. Thanks. I particularly love this one! This is great stuff. Why don't I get such great ideas like that... I'd be rich now!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and the entire family (just in case I don't make it on Thursday!)

Hugs
Jon

p.s. Hope Little G is feeling better.

Unknown said...

i love your "lessons learned from the lunch lady" post. They are such the metaphor for life.

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kisatrtle
I'm a 41 year old (gasp) freelance writer, school cafeteria manager, wife and mother. I have three children and one anxious and overweight beagle. I use my blog to make others laugh, to share some cool crafts, to document my lunchlady adventures and to lament about the challenges faced by us all on the journey called life. Thanks for visiting. Please leave some crack...um...I meant some comments.
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