I firmly believe that every person should be required to work in the service industry at some point in their lives. In doing so, one learns responsibility, the value of the mighty dollar and, most importantly, how to get the smell of french fry oil out of clothing. Doing so also teaches so much about dealing with people. Along the same lines, I think every parent should spend a day in their child's school cafeteria.
Teague's school is a bit unusual in that, due to lack of funding, there are no staff members present during lunch. (At least I hope this isn't the norm.) Teachers have their lunches "off", and with the exception of one security officer, the kids are by themselves in the cafeteria. Because of this, parent volunteers are necessary to help the younger kids open their snacks, to clean up spills and to roll the garbage can around to collect everyone's trash. As you can imagine, it's a bit difficult to convince people to spend 3 hours in a tuna-scented hot box to clean up after 600+ students. I saw the look of utter desperation in the Cafeteria Volunteer Coordinator's eyes and have become a regular on the cafeteria scene. It's pretty bad...If I could wear a hazmat suit, I would.
The kids are typically in high spirits--they're not in class and they're with their friends. However, I am a bit surprised by the overall rudeness. I'm no Miss Manners myself and I certainly wasn't expecting white gloves and British accents, but I was initially taken aback by the orders some barked, "Open this!" and "I don't want this!" Not many pleases or thank yous are heard. Surprisingly, many leave all of their garbage on the table and just expect it to magically disappear. At one point, I enviously watched a girl eat a Hershey-labeled snack. Upon finishing, she threw the container onto the floor. When I asked her to pick it up, she told me it wasn't hers. I immediately utilized the liar, liar pants on fire defense.
I do really enjoy watching Teague interact with his classmates and I love that he is still excited to see me at his school. I'm glad we've always emphasized the importance of good manners and I hope that when he's not with me, whether in the cafeteria or not, he's kind and polite to others. If not, I will have him pushing around those gigantic garbage cans and collecting trash himself.
2 comments:
So, the nurse in me immediately thought "what if someone chokes?" I applaud you for stepping up to this task. I never worked in food service, I went the retail route in high school and college. I agree that everyone should have to serve others at some point in their lives like that.
I am just glad I dodged the French fry grease bullet back then!
Jen, I wondered the same thing, what if there's an emergency? It's so bizarre. I cannot believe how much the kids throw away, too, full sandwiches, thermoses full of soup, all kinds of stuff that was probably made with love! :)
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