Sweet Stuff From the Cafeteria

For all of my academic life I have been a fan of lunch ladies. My admiration is rooted in my love of food and their dedication to ensuring that I have food (well, me and the hundreds of other people at school.) Every day I greet the ladies in our cafeteria with, “Hello lovely ladies of the lunchroom.”

I am pretty sure they took about six weeks to get used to this, but after a while my salutation began to grow on them. After five years of this morning routine, they have joined me in singing or at least calling out a kind hello.

They love me enough to always have hot coffee ready (well me and the rest of the faculty at school.) They love us enough to offer chef salads with a side each week (I get especially excited about the cabbage soup!)

The thing I love the most is their determination to offer terrific lunches from very limited means. They create a unique menu each month based on the government allocations of commodities and the other options that are within their restricted budget. They are essentially feeding the masses with the proverbial five loaves and two fish. They stretch their resources as far as possible and offer sustenance for all who come through their lines. The are apostles of appetite.

It is with little gratitude or consideration these ladies do their job. I often encourage people to reach out and thank those in thankless jobs. This post is no different.

I encourage you to reach out today with an intention of gratitude and appreciation to someone who works within your support staff. Be it a lunch lady, custodian, clerk, or secretary make it a point to let them know you are grateful for them and all they do.

Intentional gratitude creates happier energy and enhances each person’s attitude and purpose.

Thank you so much to all the lunch ladies, custodians, and secretaries who have assisted me the last 10 years! (Especially the staff at Fatima High School) The lunch ladies were my first group of blog followers, along with my artistic contributor Sonya Walker. 🙂 You are all appreciated!

By: Melanie A. Peters