I remember back when I was in elementary school, being rushed through the lunch line to make my selection and keep moving. The ladies behind the counter wearing their hairnets and rubber gloves were not the most pleasant to deal with. To a youngin’ like me, I just figured they were cranky from being in the hot kitchen all day.
Fast forward more than 30 years, and I found myself visiting my son at his elementary school for lunch. He proudly grabbed his lunch tag from his classroom cubby and followed the leader to the lunchroom. He lined up for a choice of a turkey meatball sub or mandarin chicken and rice. He was so excited it was meatball sub day! These things are a big deal when you’re 6. When he noticed they were out of the sub, he shot me a disappointed look. I told him to ask the lady to see if there were more in the back. He immediately had a look of fear on his face. He told me he’s not allowed to ask for things and must take what is there. I said that’s ridiculous; they just ran out and probably have more in the back, right?
I glanced over to the other side of the cafeteria, as there are two lines for kids. I noticed they had subs on that side and pointed in that direction. He again told me he could not get out of this line and would get in trouble if he went over there. What?!? Why are there so many rules at lunch? The kid is hungry, and isn’t the purpose of having a menu so you can have options? How many kids go hungry and don’t eat because they are afraid to ask for the lunch they want?
I thought maybe he was exaggerating, so I asked the lunch lady if she had anymore meatball subs. She quickly put me in my place exactly as my son described. For a second, I felt like I was in that Seinfeld episode with the gruff Soup Nazi yelling at me, “No sub for you!” No wonder he comes home after school starving some days even though I know he would have eaten what was offered on the menu that day.
Still in shock, we move a few steps forward to pick a side item. My son touched the little bowl of peaches but then changed his mind and reached for the peas. Wrong move! The lunch lady immediately snapped at him to take the first thing he touched and to keep his hands off the others. I was standing right there, and that still had no impact on her approach with these kids. I get the whole germ thing and kids’ hands are not the cleanest, but he didn’t touch the actual food. His thumb barely even grazed the bowl, but I guess that was close enough. So, there we were, with a side of unwanted peaches on his lonely tray.
If I didn’t see this in person myself, I may not have believed it. Why does it have to be this way? We are talking about kids as young as 5 just trying to get a lunch they like and will actually eat. It’s hard enough sometimes to get kids to eat! So please, give them what they ask for if it’s available.
Now when my son sees something on the school menu he will eat and wants for lunch that day, I am hesitant to send him back into the lunch line. I’ve started packing his lunch, so he doesn’t have to interact with the mean lunch ladies.
I realize it’s not the most glamorous job in the world, but the kids shouldn’t have to suffer or be punished for wanting to eat. Lighten up, lunch ladies.
Has anyone else had this experience with your school’s lunch workers?
My son had the same experience but just two times after that I have been preparing his lunch for 3 years now, actually he is so afraid of the cafeteria employees that he won’t even ask for my money back like $35.
He wouldn’t b e able to ask for your thirty five dollars from his account anyway. You would have to fill out a form to give to the lunch lady so she can forward it to the head office. Lunch ladies are not allowed to withdraw funds from a lunch account.
This is so unfortunate. It shouldn’t be this way. If you don’t like your job in the cafeteria then find a new one. I’m sorry you had to expertience this as well.
Email the principal, no one should be treated that way, especially kids. I use to be a school teacher in public schools and the only people who can maybe make a difference are the parents. If they complain things will change. If it doesn’t change after you email the principal email the county. The school my son is at is much better then the school I taught at.
Our Elementary school must be the exception. We have thoroughly pleasant lunch-ladies. They know most of our 400+ students by name, go out of their way to be helpful, and even know the regular parents by name. Ms Ross leads our cafeteria staff and is always friendly and very kind; the kids just love her. Our 7yo, who packs every single day to avoid the tasteless meals, goes through the lunch line on Fridays to get ice-cream and say hello. I’m appalled your son had to experience such treatment. I would contact your schools cafeteria contractor. That is NOT acceptable.
I really hope you take this to the top. The board of education needs to know this. YOU Have to save the other children from this trauma inducing behavior. Please don’tlet her continue. Get it on video if you have to. What school is this? This is scary. And worrisome.
I haven’t noticed the employees, the line is usually deserted when I’ve walked through. But the food quality is subpar at best. We pack our own lunches so I know if he eats or not. They are not allowed to throw away their leftovers so I can see if lunch went untouched and understand why he might be extra cranky that afternoon.
Our lunch ladies are equally grouchy with just as many rules. Everyone is afraid of them. My son packed his lunch for 4 years working up the nerve to interact with them. Our district is a free lunch district too, but a lot of the kids don’t get it out of fear! Even if they pack their lunch, they are afraid to ask for help to open a container or get a milk. It’s too bad they feel they have to be so strict, especially with the little ones.
It really is true, I was told that when someone went to lunch on a thursday, that persons class was the last one, and since they ran out of the pasta, they offered pizza, and all the kids love the pizza they make, however, the boy said, “Oh my god yes! We got pizza!” he was just excited for the pizza, and right after he said that, the lunch lady said, shut up you are not a two year old, and roughly cut the pizza into slices casually, but she seemed extremely mad, and the other lunch lady casually does her job, I know that they get low wage and there is pressure on them from all sides, but they do not have to take their anger out on children…
Same thing happened here. But with pizza. I went to get pizza and i wanted to get the most pepperoni and i grabbed the one at the back of the table and she said “ABSOLUTELY NOT!” she kept yelling but i was so confused since there was a sign in front of the pizza saying you touch it you take it.
The week before, i asked her for a coke and she immediately gave so much attitude. I am just an innocent boy as a freshman and i feel like this lady ruins the reputation of an actual lunch lady. They are supposed to be nice, they treat this lunch as a prison. Its so annoying. If i am wrong on anything, please let me know.
Oh no. As a lunch lady myself, I have unfortunately worked with a few ladies who were/are pretty mean towards the kids and I’m always left appalled at their behavior. Sometimes we are also put under strict rules and are forced to tell the kids no on things or WE get in trouble. Most of us aren’t actually hired by the school but by a bigger company and sometimes the big wigs come in and audit us on everything we are doing. It can be stressful. Sometimes our rules seem really trivial and we know it. We just have to do our jobs anyway. Typically if there are extras in the back, it’s held for the next grade that comes through because we are supposed to make sure we don’t have too much food leftover and have a specific count we typically stick to. Sometimes we end up making more but we have to be careful with that. I really hate when we run out of something and kids get upset. I try my best to be as nice as possible to the kids because feeding them is what it’s all about. We do have kids who are rude and it can test our patience a bit but we still very much care about them lol. We do absolutely have to watch it with kids touching the food because we HAVE to throw a whole thing out if just one thing gets touched and that costs money and costs the other kids food :/
I second this totally. You explained this really well. I work in a scgool cafe too… while there are some grouchy lunch ladies out there. Kids have to follow the rules as well. This excerpt really sounds like a priviliged upper class mom who thinks her kids are above the rules. If all the kids in the cafe could do whatever they wanted, it would be chaos, nobody would get fed and there were would more germs everywhere. You try to feed 200 kids in 15 minutes and make sure each one gets exactly what they want every single time. Your privilige is showing.