Respect for the Cafeteria Lady
I learned all too quickly a new found respect for our children's cafeteria ladies yesterday. Parents have to volunteer at our school or they're tapped with an additional $250 at the end of the year for not doing so. Every year so far, my volunteering has gone into being the monitor at lunch while I'm on my lunch from work. A parent only has to volunteer 20 hours every school year and I've been faithful in putting my time in as early as I can each time.
This year, C, the cafeteria lady has gone on a much deserved cruise. Because of this, the school asked me to step in and serve the kids in her absence. If I did, my time would only be around 15 hours and the school would comp me the rest of the hours. Great deal, right? Wrong. Have to get the dishes prepared, food set out and then line up the trays for the kiddies. Well the kids get done eating and you have to take their trays and run them through the washer and prepare for the next set...and this repeats itself a couple of times before you're truly done with the brats. They are brats by this time due to your wanting to be rid of them by then end of serving and feeding them. Bless their cotton-picking souls! LOL
So after doing this for a couple of hours yesterday I was exhausted and had to go right on back to work. Things might have been alright if the next issue I encountered hadn't been so tense...
The president issue of the post I had made earlier flared up in person when I came back from the school. I had to call for my supervisor to assist as I was getting yelled at by the father of the president of the neighborhood association. Explanations were not cutting it for this guy and his son. Why did I issue a notice to them? Why haven't I addressed this house or that house or this car or that car down the street. One by one I had to list what I've done and how these things were handled. Not that I really had to do any of these things, but the only way to shut them down was to give up answers that I had already tended to this or that issue. My supervisor kept shutting them down as well. These conversations between the four of us lasted nearly two hours. But by God they were cleaning their shit!
I do enjoy these little battles I have to have with the citizens, for I know that although they want to fight, argue, complain and bicker about what I have do or am going to do...I end up always winning the war they start. A few battles here and there I may lose. But in the end, it's the war that I ALWAYS win.
Everytime this kind of shit happens at work, it gets my juices flowing again and my determination compounds itself tenfold. But after yesterday's school and work issue I was exhausted.
This year, C, the cafeteria lady has gone on a much deserved cruise. Because of this, the school asked me to step in and serve the kids in her absence. If I did, my time would only be around 15 hours and the school would comp me the rest of the hours. Great deal, right? Wrong. Have to get the dishes prepared, food set out and then line up the trays for the kiddies. Well the kids get done eating and you have to take their trays and run them through the washer and prepare for the next set...and this repeats itself a couple of times before you're truly done with the brats. They are brats by this time due to your wanting to be rid of them by then end of serving and feeding them. Bless their cotton-picking souls! LOL
So after doing this for a couple of hours yesterday I was exhausted and had to go right on back to work. Things might have been alright if the next issue I encountered hadn't been so tense...
The president issue of the post I had made earlier flared up in person when I came back from the school. I had to call for my supervisor to assist as I was getting yelled at by the father of the president of the neighborhood association. Explanations were not cutting it for this guy and his son. Why did I issue a notice to them? Why haven't I addressed this house or that house or this car or that car down the street. One by one I had to list what I've done and how these things were handled. Not that I really had to do any of these things, but the only way to shut them down was to give up answers that I had already tended to this or that issue. My supervisor kept shutting them down as well. These conversations between the four of us lasted nearly two hours. But by God they were cleaning their shit!
I do enjoy these little battles I have to have with the citizens, for I know that although they want to fight, argue, complain and bicker about what I have do or am going to do...I end up always winning the war they start. A few battles here and there I may lose. But in the end, it's the war that I ALWAYS win.
Everytime this kind of shit happens at work, it gets my juices flowing again and my determination compounds itself tenfold. But after yesterday's school and work issue I was exhausted.