School Lunch

During middle school I would bring my lunch every day except on Fridays when it was pizza day because really, who can resist pizza day? There was rarely anything that could sway me from my yummy lunch packed with love from my mom. Well, maybe tater tots could sway me.

There was one other reason I avoided the lunch line, a particular lunch lady that made my hair stand up. She was a typical lunch lady I guess, she was a large woman, older, gave you the feeling she didn't like kids, you know the type. The one thing that made her even more scary then the other lady's slinging peas was that this lunch lady had a skin disease.

I still do not know what disease she had, but she had bumps that covered her arms and hands. Bumps, people. Should a lunch lady in any capacity have arm bumps? Especially in middle school where everything is an exaggerated disaster? I think not.

This lunch lady would wheel the little freezer out after lunch had been served and sold ice cream. Kids love ice cream but not so much the bumpy armed lunch lady. Talk about dilemma!
Some kids, I remember, would pull their hand back when she went to give them change, so she took to pressing the coin in your hand with tremendous force, I assume for spite.
I guess she couldn't do anything about her condition and as we know now as adults, teasing hurts at any age.

Thinking back on middle school, I feel so sorry for that lunch lady. She was tortured and made fun of by children who avoided her line or suddenly had a ice cream change of heart after they saw her wheeling the cart out.
I wish I could have been a bigger person and take the change from her hand and make the point that she is a human being and deserved to be treated better then we treated her.
I also wish that she could have just worn some gloves.


Check out School Menu and its parental counterpart Family Everyday, two sites that work together with School Food Services Directors to provide and promote healthy eating and physical fitness for kids and their parents. [Hotlink School Menu -- www.schoolmenu.com and Family Everyday -- www.familyeveryday.com]