Deflating experiences with lunch ladies are part of being a kid. Liam, sadly, is not immune. Upon hearing his stories I say an empathetic “it’s nothing
personal.” .Lunch ladies make people feel dumb, it’s just how it
is. They will treat you the same way regardless
of if you are 6 or 16 (or probably 30.)
One minute they have crazy- eyed, fake smiles plastered to
their face, and the next moment they snap. It can be over something ridiculous,
like reaching for an apple you genuinely thought belonged to your lunch. It
could be for asking to swap for chocolate milk. For honest, reasonable, mistakes they pretend to be disgusted,
raging mad. When this happens there is nothing you can do but feel sheepish,
like a dolt, and slink away. I’m sure the appeal of being a lunch lady has
little to do with handing out food or kids. It’s all ego.
From a casual car conversation with Liam and Elsie I gleaned
that lunch ladies reflect every repulsive adult trait. I also concluded that the precise opposite of
a lunch lady is a grandparent.
Our talk shifted to the subject of adults. Adults are
allowed to vocalize what they don’t like about kids- they sometimes smell like
socks, they make obnoxious noises, they pester . . . but it’s rare to hear kids
speak objectively about grown-ups. When
asked about the pros and cons of adults Liam and Elsie revealed,
What kids like
about adults-
“They are the ones
that have candy and cake.”
“Some of them are
very nice- like mom and dad. Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, Papa, Madame Sylla . . .”
“They get to drive
cars.”
“Sometimes they buy
you Legos”
“They help”
What kids don’t
like about adults
“Lunch ladies”
“They do boring things”
“They stop us from
watching movies.”
“They don’t run and
they always slow down and walk . Then they make us go slow too” (Liam) ”They
don’t have fast legs like mine.” (Elsie)
So to sum it up- it’s fine to be an adult, just don’t be a lunch
lady.
2 comments:
Tell Liam I completely agree. A few months ago the lunch lady at our school made me cry. She yelled at me for being 15 minutes late with my lunch count. I think all lunch ladies are a bit like that. A little too focused on their 1 specific job... sometimes they take it a little too seriously.
Funny lunch lady story. So, our lunch lady was in getting her picture taken and told my friend, I think I'm going to use my "casual smile." She walks up to the camera, scowls and the lady says, ok, smile and her face didn't change. Apparently, casual smile= scowl. haha
So funny! I love hearing their perspective. You rock Danielle. I love what you are able to capture and share.
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