it's good to stop and avoid the goose babies

Yesterday at work, "I" had three ER patients.

We food folk don't get many requests from the ER, but sometimes patients need to stay a while only for observation, so the staff puts in orders for them.  We don't know what they're in the ER for - none of our business.  

One was a woman in her mid-30's. She looked exhausted.  In my clueless and short unprofessional assessment, I deduced she had succumbed to the heat.  She looked flushed and mildly sunburnt.  Her hair was a bit messy and had that recently-sweaty look.  She had an IV in one arm, and I noted the food the nurses ordered for her was a bit high in the sodium realm.  

Naturally, I could be totally wrong, and I was probably projecting some of my own experience on to her because it's freaking hot outside!  It was a good reminder, though, to stay hydrated and keep up on the beat-the-heat tips (my moisture wicking tops are working marvelously!).   

My last semester of college undergrad was a summer session, and during that time, I went to upstate New York for a job interview.  The humidity hit me like a blast from a sauna as soon as I stepped out of the airport.  I took the job, and we ended up moving there a couple of months later from dry Colorado.  

We soon learned that, not only does the humidity make the hot feel even more hot, but also

• shade does nothing.  It's not cooler in the shade, only darker.
• temperature ranges are teeny tiny.  The high could be 89 F during the day, and the nighttime low could be 85 F.  Call that a "low"!?

I remember reading a cautionary story of a young and healthy guy who went out running in high heat and humidity.  In short, he died.  His body kept trying to cool him down with sweating, but sweating does next to nothing in high heat and humidity.  Soon enough, his organs shut down.  Yeesh.

We sort of got used to the humidity in our nearly 10 years of living there, but I can't say that I miss it as we've long since moved back to the dry heat of Colorado.  Ugh, it still feels like being under a heat lamp, and it's not like we never whine.  But the nights and early mornings are the bomb!

Tuesday morning, I was enjoying a lovely bike ride into work.  My commute is about 8 miles and a wonderful way to start the day, I miss it on my days off.  It takes me through a smallish park with a quaint duck pond - such a serene setting.  

There are several goose families in the park, and sometimes they think they own the place.  I was making my way through the path when one of the larger families - I swear, they hatched like 12 babies - were all hanging out.  I had to slow way down so as to not cause a ruckus.

I ended up coming to a full stop and taking in the moment:  the goose babies, the sunrise, the crisp morning air... I noticed a family of ducks out for a morning paddle across the pond and decided to snag a pic 

See 'em?  The ducks?

Of course once that sun got a bit higher in the sky, hell (seemingly) broke loose once again, and I inwardly bitched about it on the ride home that afternoon.  

But at least our shade is functional.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

6. Share the most recent image you published on Instagram and give us the back story

besides, it's not like I can cook

The house feels huge and quiet and strangely clean now that it's just Magnum and me.  I suppose we'll get used to it eventually. 

It's always felt a bit this way when school starts up again, but this is a little more permanent with no one coming home at the end of the day.  But yes, school is back in session in our neck of the woods.  I don't feel that connection anymore, though, now that we don't have any kids in the school system.  Plus...

I'm no longer a lunch lady.  Can't say that I miss it that much.

Last semester, I took a job with the school lunch provider in our district with the end goal of working in the front office.  A few positions were open to me at the end of my "front line" stint, but I made the decision over the summer to hang up the chef coat.  With online tutoring becoming more mainstream and us *finally* getting high speed internet, I decided to focus my efforts there.  So far, so good.  In fact, this is a busy time with HS seniors hoping to rock their college entrance exams.

Besides, it's not like lunch ladies will ever go away.  Will they?  The bosses told me I can go back whenever I want.

It's not like I don't have fond memories.  I miss my fellow lunch ladies - Gayle, Rita, Young Mitch -  and their shenanigans.  I recently dreamed I was back in the kitchen with all of them.  I felt strangely nostalgic when I woke up.

Maybe I'll stop in for a surprise visit.  I'll go around Halloween, disguised as a health inspector.

...because that happens.

a cautionary tale sort of involving a minion

"Okay... so... I got some of that cleanser in my eye..."

It was young Mitch, tapping me on the shoulder.  Just prior to that announcement, I was enjoying another day in Lunch Lady Land - whipping up a fine batch of fajita chicken while probably daydreaming about the upcoming weekend.  Young Mitch brought me roaring back to the present.

Young Mitch was a pleasant college-aged guy and fellow Lunch Lady - a title he wore proudly despite being a cis-gendered male.  We all liked Mitch, and because of his age, the rest of us lunch ladies felt a bit protectively maternal about him.  By contrast, our middle school clientele, particularly the girls,  seemed especially appreciative when young Mitch was working the cash register.

At this particular moment, as I was fajitizing some chicken, young Mitch had been cleaning nearby when his plastic bottle of cleanser spit on him.  I turned and found him standing there with his usual mellow demeanor except for his tightly shut left eye.

I sprang into action.

"YES!... Well... uhm... YES!... to the eyewash... YES?"

I led him calmly to the eyewash station, mostly driven by that protective maternal instinct.  However, I confess that there was a small portion of me that was all, "KEWL!  We get to use the eyewash!"

Here, a couple of well-cast actors perform my and Mitch's dramatization:

As he continued to flush his eyes, we read the label on the cleanser he'd been using.  I pulled the MSDS for more info.  In short, it turns out we did everything right, except for one thing:

We forgot to have him wear eye protection in the first place 😞

A big boss came out to log an incident report.  Young Mitch left to "immediately seek medical attention" as instructed.  Our manager got in a bit of trouble for not having him wear eye protection.  Supervisor Gayle, who'd asked him to use the cleanser, got in a bit of trouble too.  They both felt bad, but thankfully, Mitch was checked out and deemed fine.

It was no surprise when, the next day, a memo about using appropriate eye protection and knowing where safety goggles are located went out to all kitchens.  We located our goggles, all shiny, still in their original packaging.

We had a few student helpers that helped out during lunchtimes in exchange for complimentary lunch.  That might make some think, "gee what great kids!", but in reality, they weren't always that great.  The day after the cleanser-in-the-eye incident, a couple of boys were arguing over something  - a girl, I think - when they were supposed to be working.  Ahh, adolescence.

Gayle heard a commotion and came around the corner from where she had been completing a technical task and obeyingly wearing the required eye protection.  Now, Gayle is quite a character.  She's got a tough don't-mess-with-me personality when needed.  She's also about five feet tall and just as wide.  This is what I saw when she came around the corner to give those boys the what for:

It's like those kids became paralyzed - no moving, no speaking.  They weren't sure what to think.  She lectured them on proper behavior during their work shifts.  They sprang into proper action while we adults were stifling our giggles.  One boy finally asked her about the goggles.

"I'm working with CHEMICALS, okay?!", she answered before authoritatively striding back to her task.

Afterward, we joked and marveled at the effective air of authority from the safety goggles.  The kids don't need to know that she was just cleaning the toilet.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

3. Write a blog post inspired by the word: cautious

final daze

Aaaaah, the last day of school.  Remember?  Going to school in shorts, shades, and flip flops because... who cares?  No tests, no assignments.  Really, just a day to clean out the lockers and then get it on to summer break.  Even the teachers... or maybe especially the teachers... are all relaxed and smiley and all, "Have a great summer! *smartasses*"

Admittedly, when I was a school kid, I didn't really stop to think about... The Lunch Ladies.

But this past semester, I did a part-time stint as exactly that - a lunch lady.  Specifically, I took a job with the company that contracts food service to various local school districts, hospitals, and retirement communities.  I worked in a middle school kitchen, and middle schoolers really cover a wide range of adolescence!  Anywhere from looking and acting like they're about 10 years old to resembling college frat boys and sorority girls.  I got quite a kick out of the contrasts.

And to go along with that hormonal smorgasbord, school lunch is not anything like what I remember.  The school where I worked had seven different lines to choose from, and four of those lines included three options within, making for a total of - go on, do the math - 15 selections for lunch!  Sixteen if you count the "nothing" option.

In the end however, school food service is a business.  There are regulations to follow and costs to control.  As the end of the school year approached, we were hyper aware of our inventory.  It was a fun challenge to manage the various items so that we would have enough to serve on that last day, but with near to nothing left to store or throw out.

Additionally, there is that thrill of knowing a long break is coming, to which lunch ladies are most certainly not immune.  So a mentality of "get rid of everything!" combined with "We're outta here!" seems like a lunch recipe for:

Pinterest

Luckily,  there were no such lunch ladies in our kitchen.  Some could be rough around the edges at times, but in the end, there was pride in the final product.

Our supervisor, Gayle, probably had the roughest edges of the bunch.  She's a self-proclaimed "Italian rebel from Chicago" who's trained in culinary arts and somewhat underutilized as a school lunch lady.  But hey, you can't beat the hours.

In the final week of school, as we were tasked to "get rid of the inventory", Gayle tunneled into the cooler and later emerged with various bags, cans, bottles, etc.  determined to create something that would sell and never be seen again.

With her Pvt-Vasquez-From-Aliens poise, she went to work

After several minutes, I heard, "Well?  Whaddya think?"

I turned to see these precious little desserts. THAT from the hodgepodge mess of ingredients sitting lonely about the cooler?

And I said, "Wait!  Lemme take a photo!"

And it's a good thing I did get a photo of this batch, because there is no other evidence that these things ever existed.

They literally nearly started a lunch room riot because there weren't enough for everyone who wanted one.

Better luck next year.

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Linking up with Mama Kat this week for the prompt:

3. Share your last day of school plans/recap.

do all the things!

Summer is coming! What are you most looking forward to?

Y'all know I took a part-time line position in lunch lady land instead of a supervisory position that was offered because I wanted to get a better feel for the biz before committing further?  My "trial period" just ended today, and it was interesting to observe and assess while in the role of "Fiesta Lady!" aka SO Much Mexican Food! As I ponder next steps, one thing I'm looking forward to is:

1.  Not cooking and serving a bazillion nachos / tacos/ burritos

While I enjoyed the shenanigans and camaraderie of my coworkers and had fun with the kids, there was not a day that went by where I neither thought nor said out loud, "this is NOT rocket science!" - usually several times. This brings me to my next point:


2.  Getting my geek on

Now that it's summer, when many give their brains a rest, I'm looking forward to jump starting mine. This morning I ordered a book so as to learn a new-to-me programming language, recommended by Chaco.  I may not end up doing rocket science, but maybe I can pretend to approach rocket science's  neighborhood.

Summer is also P.E.O. state convention time, and Colorado is gearing up for hers in a couple of weeks, where I look forward to


3.  Being a nobody at convention

For the past two summers, I've attended convention as our chapter delegate.  So I sat through ALL the meetings and voted on ALL the proposals and ate ALL the meals and slept badly ALL the nights because of ALL sister Susan's snoring...

...really, I love Susan, but man, she can saw a log!  And she loves going to convention, delegate or no.

Many parts of convention are fun, however, and this year, I am not chapter delegate!  I do plan to visit the convention, and mainly just do fun stuff 😊 then go home and sleep in my own bed. And through that restful sleep, I hope to


4.  Laugh in the faces of my allergies

I've been getting these allergy injections for several months now, and I've noticed some imporovement, but they haven't yet been fully put to the test.  But summer's nearly in full bloom.  Bring it on!

5.  Go someplace I've never been

I feel like I haven't had a decent getaway in so long.  I WILL get one in before summer's out!

In short, I am looking forward to a fulfilling and productive summer!  Although... that may be easier said than done, judging from past experience.

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Linking up with Mama Kat for the prompt:

5. Summer is coming! What are you most looking forward to?

saving the bacon

It seemed to happen in slow motion.  My life passed before my eyes in what, to the outsiders, was probably a second or two. One minute, I was dutifully rolling a large cart out of the walk-in freezer.  The next, I was battling for my life.

Okay, that's a bit overly dramatic, but still.

I've mentioned I've been working part-time for the food service provider for our school district.   I'm a lunch lady.  Several factors landed me there:

• I took a job at a high school that assured me a math teaching spot for next year.
• During my time there, I realized I have no desire to work at a public high school.
• In the meantime, I also realized I'm getting burnt out on tutoring.
• I finished my graduate degree in 2016, but it's difficult to pop right back into the profession I left
• I haven't worked in the field for about 20 years
• The bulk of positions where we live are government defense related, in which I'm not interested, nor do I have required clearances.
• We're seriously considering moving in a year or so after our nest is emptied, so I'm not sure I want a "Real Job" right now.

So, part-time lunch lady it is for now.  The schedule is ideal, commute is great, co-workers have similar backgrounds to mine, keeps me productive, provides some fun money...

As expected, life in a commercial kitchen is quite different than the kitchen at home.  The main thing is that everything's bigger.  Bigger ovens, bigger fridges, bigger volumes of food being stored, cooked, and consumed.

Enter the freezer cart.  Put cold stuff in there, and it stays pretty cold throughout the day.  It's basically a narrow fridge on wheels

A representative freezer cart.
Our story's is about a 6 feet tall, 2 feet wide steel monster

The cart was full of bounty for the next day:  chicken patties, tater tots, french fries, bacon... typical diet of the standard North American middle schooler.  I had stowed it into the walk-in freezer earlier.  And then...

Sysco guy showed up.  Sysco guy showed up, leading to my near-demise

I was asked to remove the cart from the freezer for Sysco guy to load his delivery.  It was late in the workday, so we were hurrying... *music of doom goes here*

There is a small ramp leading into and out of the freezer.  At the top of the ramp is a strip of metal reinforcement.  A strip of metal reinforcement that has been bent upward over time, and mainly  serves as an unplanned speed bump / tripping strip.  

Because of said tripping strip, I typically back the cart out of the freezer in a slow controlled motion.  But Sysco guy showing up late in the workday wasn't typical.  

I backed the cart out willy nilly (pardon the technical jargon) rather than slow and controlled.  Freezer cart then did a nice demonstration of the laws of physics.  One wheel caught on the tripping strip and stopped its forward motion while the rest of the cart tried to continue on its way.  

This sent the whole kit and caboodle tipping over, heading straight for me in an unfriendly downward motion.  Several pounds of cart, chicken patties, tater tots, fries, and bacon.  The event took about one second, but for me, time stood still while I was all...

...except less attractive and wearing eyeglasses.

I managed to catch the cart with my hands, but also with my face, while it managed to continue to push me backwards and became free of the tripping strip.  Somehow, we both made it out of the freezer in upright positions.  My eyeglasses, however, were forced into retirement.  No damage to the lenses, just totaled the frames and left a slight war wound/goose egg on the right side of my face.  Slight goose egg was gone by morning, and I'd gotten my frames replaced.  

Like I've told my tutor students, mistakes are a good thing.  They're one of the best ways we learn.  I'm ready for that cart now.

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Linking up with Mama Kat this week for the prompt

5. Tell the story of a mistake made in the kitchen.

what's in a name?

Me:  What's the special today?

Head cook:  Chicken Cordon Bleu

Me:  Wow, we're getting pretty fancy!

Head cook:  Not when you see it...

Despite her modesty, it didn't look all bad and was actually quite tasty.  But no, we're not cooking at The Broadmoor.  And we know it.  We're middle school lunch ladies.

Most of the people I work with are moms who gave up careers to raise their kids, then fell into lunch ladyness because of the perfect schedule.  There are a few ex-teachers, ex-managers, ex-business and financial types, and yes, even some cooks.  Lots of volunteer moms.  Plus, it's a good way to get some operations experience on the dusty resume'.

We've all heard Adam Sandler's "Lunch Lady Land", and a couple of weeks ago, the special was actually sloppy joes.  We found we couldn't just say, "sloppy joes".  It always came out in song

SLOPPY JOE, SLOPPY SLOPPY JOE...

What's the special today?

SLOPPY JOE, SLOPPY SLOPPY JOE...

We're all out of ketchup?  Why?

SLOPPY JOE, SLOPPY SLOPPY JOE...

What's that spill near the cash register?

SLOPPY JOE, SLOPPY SLOPPY JOE...

and so on.

I recently read an article about job title makeovers.  In it "Lunch Lady" was instead "Education Center Nourishment Consultant".

Here are some others:

• Five a Day Collection Operative – Fruit Picker
• Media Distribution Officer – Paper Boy
• Petroleum Transfer Engineer – Gas Station Attendant
• Transparency Enhancement Facilitator – Window Cleaner
• Front Line Customer Support Facilitator – Call Center Worker

What's your specialty?

stuff I've learned at school

I've been at my school cooking job for two weeks now, and I think I'm pretty much up to speed.  Our manager was out sick with the flu on Thursday afternoon and all day Friday, and the kitchen ran like a well-oiled machine, so I guess that's a good sign.  Of our crew of eight, there are actually four of us who are relative newbies thanks to a recent shake-up.  Other than me, however, the new people are part-timers.

Here are some of the things I've learned from being in the school kitchen:

• The recent turnover was partially the result of an employee who "had issues".  An example was when, during a school fire drill, he frustratingly announced, "This is a f***ing waste of time!"

Lesson:  (1) Monthly fire drills are a fact of life in a public school, and (2) Saying "f***ing" in a public school is heavily frowned  upon.

SOURCE

• Giant whisks actually exist! 

Lesson:  When making soup for eight elementary schools, it's best to speak softly and carry a huge whisk.

• Kids must include a protein, a grain, and a fruit or vegetable to have their meal count as government funded lunch

Lesson:  Tater tots count as a vegetable (really?)

Poll:  would you eat it?

• Our current kitchen manager is retiring after this school year, and her job is up for grabs.  Two of my coworkers are vying for the position.  In my opinion, they are both equally qualified for the job, but have different skill sets and management styles.

Lesson:  (1) I'm not going to vie for the job, and (2) I'm glad I don't have to be the one to decide who gets the job.

But I do have one question at this point:

Why are chef coats WHITE?

Maybe I'll learn the answer someday.

"A" is for apron

So it turns out, I enjoy cooking.  Who knew?  Probably not the family 😕

I started the new job last week, and so far, I really like it.  I'm not quite ready to say "I love you" just yet...

I left my job as a study hall overseer that, frankly, was for me, like watching paint dry.  The school district food service provider had openings, so I signed on.  We discussed my background and blah, blah, blah, and I'm on track for a supervisor position.

The original plan was for me to hop around to various sites and eventually land somewhere, but the boss lady called a couple of days before the kids went back to school and asked if I'd take a position at one of the base kitchens.  Of all the sites they manage, there were four I was mainly interested in.  This school was at the top of my list, so I said, "Yeah, okay."

I wasn't really looking forward to the vagabond life anyways.

So I'm there and it's creative, and fast-paced, and highly productive, and with a fun bunch of coworkers.  The crew is mostly made up of others like me - moms who'd had some career that they'd left to raise the kids.  Now we feed about a thousand of 'em.

Plus, being a base kitchen, we cook a buncha stuff for the elementary schools too and ship it out.  My professional background is in manufacturing, and there are a lot of similarities.

And I'll say that school lunch is a lot different than from when I was a school kid.  All the choices! And the food is appetizing!  It's like a freaking food court!

Now they get the grill, the "fiesta bar" (Mexican), the "upper crust" (Pizzas), the build-your-own subs, and the daily special.  There's hot breakfast too.  Sheesh.

When I was a schoolkid, all the way through high school, we had two choices:  tray or no tray.

For Illustration Friday, the prompt this week is "The letter A".  I wonder if we're going to work through the whole alphabet.  Should I study up for "X"?