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May 30, 2024 - This Past Weekend - Theo Von

01:51:08

E507 School Lunch Lady

Melissa Ansel is a lunch lady out of Cleveland, OH with more than 30 years of experience in the field, mostly working with grades K-8. Theo is joined by a School Lunch Lady to talk about the cafeteria life, how she got into the business of feeding kids, what a typical day is like in her world, what meals the students seem to love universally, what it’s like seeing the kids grow up over the years, the biggest thing she’d change about school lunch policy, and much more. ------------------------------------------------ Tour Dates! https://theovon.com/tour New Merch: https://www.theovonstore.com ------------------------------------------------- Sponsored By: Celsius: Go to the Celsius Amazon store to check out all of their flavors. #CELSIUSBrandPartner #CELSIUSLiveFit https://amzn.to/3HbAtPJ PrizePicks: Download the Prize Picks app and use CODE: THEO. Prize Picks will match your deposit up to $100. Morgan & Morgan: If you’re ever injured, visit https://forthepeople.com/thispastweekend or dial Pound LAW (#529). Their fee is free unless they win. Valor Recovery: To learn more about Valor Recovery please visit them at www.valorrecoverycoaching.com or email them at admin@valorrecoverycoaching.com Blue Cube: Follow @BlueCubeBaths on Instagram for a chance to win your own cold plunge this Spring and Summer! They will announce the giveaway soon… ------------------------------------------------- Music: “Shine” by Bishop Gunn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3A_coTcUek ------------------------------------------------ Submit your funny videos, TikToks, questions and topics you'd like to hear on the podcast to: tpwproducer@gmail.com Hit the Hotline: 985-664-9503 Video Hotline for Theo Upload here: https://www.theovon.com/fan-upload Send mail to: This Past Weekend 1906 Glen Echo Rd PO Box #159359 Nashville, TN 37215 ------------------------------------------------ Find Theo: Website: https://theovon.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/theovon Facebook: https://facebook.com/theovon Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thispastweekend Twitter: https://twitter.com/theovon YouTube: https://youtube.com/theovon Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheoVonClips Shorts Channel: https://bit.ly/3ClUj8z ------------------------------------------------ Producer: Zach https://www.instagram.com/zachdpowers Producer: Ben https://www.instagram.com/benbeckermusic/ Producer: Nick https://www.instagram.com/realnickdavis/ Producer: Colin https://instagram.com/colin_reiner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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	New tour dates to announce.
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	New merch.
	We've got some new gang, gang hoodies.
	We've just done crew necks before.
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	Get all that and more at Theovonstore.com.
	That's the only merch site that is run by us.
	I know there's some other fictional ones out there.
	Just watch out for fakes.
	And thank you guys for your support.
	Today's guest is that midday meal maiden.
	She's that belly-filling bad girl between breakfast and dinner.
	A lunch lady.
	That's right.
	Out of Cleveland, Ohio.
	She's been in the game more than 31 years.
	We're going to learn about all of it.
	The lunch, the children, the lifestyle.
	We want to thank all the lunch ladies that reached out and who we spoke with.
	And we are so grateful to have one in studio today.
	Lunch Lady, Melissa Ansel.
	Shine that light on me.
	I'll sit and tell you my story.
	Ooh.
	Shine on me.
	I love you.
	Lunch Lady Melissa, how are you?
	I'm doing great.
	Yeah.
	You feel good?
	Oh, yeah.
	I flew for the first time today.
	Did you really?
	Yes.
	I've never flown in my life.
	And I said I'd never get on a plane.
	So thank you.
	And you changed it all up.
	I changed it all up in the last couple days.
	Yeah.
	I've been feeling I'm going to pee a lot, but that's all.
	Really?
	Yeah, because I'm nervous.
	Oh, nerves.
	Yeah, just nerves.
	I didn't know if you meant like because of the altitude or something.
	Oh, no, no, just because I was nervous because I was doing something so wow.
	Really?
	So it's been a while.
	Oh, a while.
	I've never flew.
	What's the highest you've ever been up then on a building or something on a slide?
	Oh, yeah, maybe a slide or, you know, roller coaster or something.
	God.
	I know, right?
	And was it nerve-wracking?
	You know, it wasn't as bad, I guess, as what I thought.
	But, yeah, you know, I had to take a pill, just calm myself down.
	Oh, yeah.
	Oh, yeah.
	I popped a couple of pills just to get through a tough episode of Cops before.
	Well, you know, I mean, this is true.
	You know?
	Yeah.
	So, but thank you for coming in.
	Oh, thank you so much.
	This is awesome.
	Thank you for having me.
	Yeah, you're very welcome.
	And yeah, we just, you know, everybody has had lunch ladies in their lives.
	Oh, yeah.
	You know, I mean, a lot of children, really, it goes from like breastfed to bottle fed to being fed by a woman like kind of vaguely covered in plastic, you know.
	And so it's kind of like, you know, it's the, it's almost mom's third breast in a way.
	It's like you're that next liaison to sustenance for a child.
	You know, how did you get into the game?
	How did you get into it?
	Well, you know, I mean, I kind of fell into it.
	You know, I graduated, got pregnant, needed a job, and there I was.
	And then it worked out really good.
	Yeah.
	Okay, so let's just go back.
	So you graduated from what?
	I graduated from high school.
	Okay.
	You graduated from high school.
	And where are you?
	What part of the nation are you in?
	Oh, I'm in from Cleveland, Ohio.
	Okay.
	So you're from Ohio, and you graduate from high school, and then you get knocked up by a man.
	Sure.
	You know?
	And then I didn't really want the man that much.
	So then I moved out.
	Oh, you moved out.
	So you separated.
	But how did that?
	So how do you go from there?
	How does somebody go from getting knocked up by a guy?
	I kind of wanted to, you know, feeding children.
	Yeah.
	I guess actually eating.
	Well, you know, I fell into the job, but when I started to do it, I was like, I really like it.
	And I had, and my son, then he started going to school there.
	Oh, no.
	Oh, okay.
	So he got to stay when I was off.
	He was off.
	So it was so much easier to, you know, follow with him, you know?
	Oh, that's kind of perfect, huh?
	Oh, it was perfect.
	Oh, yeah.
	That was awesome.
	So we would have the summers off if I wanted to or, you know, whenever holidays, I didn't have to look for a babysitter.
	Oh, that's pretty magical.
	Yeah.
	And how did you actually, who got you the job there?
	Oh, I just went down to lunch.
	I went down to the Board of Education, looked around, got some jobs, and then I just slowly like moved up because I've been there so long, you know.
	Oh, they move you.
	So there's different, is there different positions?
	Yeah, there's kind of like different positions.
	Like you'd start out like the, the really kind of lunch lady, then you like, you move up to the general prep, then the cook, then the manager, things like that, you know.
	Okay.
	Okay, so you're in Cleveland, you have a child, now you start lunch ladying at the school where your child is.
	So take me through like a typical shift of a lunch lady.
	Like they get there.
	Do you walk to school?
	Do you do you guys carpool?
	How does it work?
	Well, I mean, I didn't have a car for a minute.
	So when I don't have a car, I would walk or sometimes somebody pick me up.
	But I mean, I have a car now and we're actually in the, we're transitioning there.
	They tore my school down.
	So I'm over at a swing site.
	So it's a little bit further, not too much further.
	And I drive there and back.
	But once I get the other one, really, I could kind of walk down there if I had to.
	Oh, no.
	So it's been perfect since I also have anxiety.
	I don't drive as much.
	Driving's hard, huh?
	I don't like the other people driving.
	If they could just stay away from me when I'm on the road, I'd be cool.
	Yeah.
	Oh, yeah.
	Well, yeah.
	I mean, here's my thing.
	I've met a lot of people, right?
	Something's wrong with them.
	So all driving is, is those people are in cars now, right?
	Right.
	So, it's not like they've changed suddenly because they're in a vehicle, something's still wrong with them.
	I said, just because I'm nervous and don't drive a lot like that, you know, still, them guys, you know, yeah.
	And I live in the lower Cleveland, so let me just say, some of the drivers aren't even supposed to be in those cars.
	Oh, yeah?
	Yeah, because they stole them.
	Yeah, I guess so.
	Well, about 15 years ago, I did wake up one morning and my car got stolen out of my driveway.
	And I was like, dude, where's my car?
	And it really wasn't there anymore.
	But they never found it.
	So they must have, yeah, they probably took parts off it and had a good time with it.
	But I was violated.
	Wow.
	What kind of car was it?
	It was an old cutlass.
	Oh, yeah.
	Yeah, they wanted it bad and did, you know, how those doors slammed good and stuff.
	And look, let's say there's definitely brothers love a cutlass.
	Somebody was loving it.
	Yeah.
	People's love a cutlass.
	My dad had a Delta 88 and he had a and he also had a cutlass.
	Bring that up.
	Bring up a cutlass.
	Let's see the one that got stolen here from Lunch Lady Melissa.
	Do you know what year model it was, Melissa?
	Oh, goodness.
	I don't really remember that much.
	But just ballpark it, like 1940, 1990.
	No, like 1990.
	It kind of looked like that white one over there.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, kind of like.
	The doors just shot good and everything, but I didn't protect it.
	Should have put the club or something on the wheel, you know?
	I got the club on, and right now I'm a beater in the driveway right now.
	Do you?
	Heck yeah.
	Yeah, my mom puts it on all the time.
	Oh, yeah.
	I put it on.
	I don't care.
	Because now that they took it, where are we?
	Oh my gosh.
	Now, if they could get past all those, they could have it.
	You've earned it, huh?
	Yeah, you earned to take it.
	Go ahead.
	Okay, so take me through a typical shift at work.
	You show up at what time do you get over there?
	Well, I get there at 7.30.
	Okay.
	And, you know, we turn on all the warmers, oven, all that stuff, you know, start putting everything out, make hot breakfast.
	Get a breakfast.
	Yeah, we do a hot breakfast and we also do a breakfast cart.
	So they could choose.
	So like, you know, if I have a pancake with a sausage in it, they could choose a hot, you know, their juice and milk, or they can go over to the cart and I have like muffins, blueberry muffins, lemon bread, cereal.
	Maybe an apple?
	Oh, all the time, fruits and stuff.
	Yeah.
	This new guy's stepping it up with the fruit now.
	Oh, yeah.
	Oh, yeah.
	We got a new man in charge of food service.
	And yeah, some of the kids didn't even know what a kiwi and stuff was, but they do now.
	Oh, wow.
	Yeah, it was interesting.
	The other day, I would cut them all up and I'm like, oh, I ain't got to worry about it, you know?
	And then I come over and look, and the kid's like, Miss Melissa, I ate the whole kiwi.
	And I'm like, what?
	Why'd you eat that fuzz?
	And I was like, oh, I didn't know you guys didn't know that.
	So, yeah.
	It's crazy.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	The first time you get that kiwi, you don't know how much to have or how much not to have, you know?
	Well, I know I wouldn't eat that outside, though.
	I don't know that.
	I think it depends on what you're into.
	Oh, yeah, that's true.
	I mean, it's a fuzzy feeling.
	Well, some people like a little bit of, you know, yeah.
	They like a different environment.
	Right, I get it.
	Yeah.
	Okay, so you get in there.
	You got the warmers on.
	Do you have a team?
	Do you guys have a team meeting or something?
	Well, no, I'm like, I'm the manager or whatever.
	Me and Shayla Kruzman, it's my lady that cooks.
	So we come in together and we do most of the work.
	And that's breakfast work.
	Breakfast, everything.
	So breakfast comes.
	Some of the kids come.
	How much percent of the children come to get breakfast?
	Oh, like 460.
	I'd say we have 600 we feed a day.
	So we could do about 460 breakfast.
	Wow.
	So a lot of them eat.
	Yeah.
	A lot of them eat.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	We would get to school for breakfast if we got there in enough time.
	Sometimes our bus, if it were like.
	Well, you know what?
	But now, though, we're no, we have to stay open for if their buses are late.
	Yeah, all that stuff.
	So, yeah, we don't close up.
	We pretty much, kids come in sometimes at like one in the afternoon.
	Miss Melissa, can I get breakfast?
	I mean, they're eating in two minutes.
	Sure, here's your breakfast and your lunch.
	Yeah, they don't even care.
	I know, they don't care.
	They don't mind.
	No, as long as they eat.
	Yeah.
	That's how they are.
	Okay, so you guys got the breakfast done.
	You shut it down.
	How do you start to transition to lunch?
	Is there an opportunity if people want to smoke between lunch and break?
	Like, what is that?
	Like, you guys get a little break or anything or do a video game on your phone or something?
	Well, I mean, we're really busy.
	So it all depends on what we're making that day.
	Because if it's something like hard, like for breakfast, we have to do all that.
	If it's just like a pancake, we just heat it up or something, that's real easy.
	You know what I mean?
	So you got more time.
	But if it's something that I'm making sausage, egg, cheese, I have to put it all on one wrap it.
	I was no.
	We're swinging right in, you know, as the kids are coming through.
	We're still, hey, you know, still working.
	Breakfast, launch, whatever.
	That's what I said.
	And like when I do the turnover, it's people are like, wow, I'm like, move the color.
	We're turning over.
	Breakfast is over.
	So really, is there a hard line where it's just like breakfast is done?
	Well, I say that, but I'm lying because whenever they come in, I'll still fill in breakfast, even if they came in later.
	So I always do that.
	You kind of draw a line in this.
	Well, there should be a line, yeah, to at least a limit because I'm about to serve lunch pretty soon.
	I'll tell them, you know, come on now.
	Yeah.
	But like I said, we're here to feed them.
	And is there like a little bit of a game playing before lunch?
	How do you know what lunch y'all are going to serve?
	Does it come down like from like a menu?
	Like on a win?
	Does it and it comes like this is what we're serving today?
	I have a menu and then I order from the menu for the week.
	Okay.
	So give a menu.
	Well, they say on the menu, okay, say it's a chicken bowl.
	So I know I'm going to order that.
	So for five days I order and I'll order everything for that and everything for the salads we're going to make for that same day.
	Oh, so all the items that go into those things he's saying.
	Because we have a couple different things you choose from.
	Oh.
	So, and just make sure You have enough lunches because, man, when you run out, boy, those kids are ready to get you.
	And don't run out on pizza day.
	Oh, man.
	I was messing around once and I, you know, I was talking to the kids too much and I started burning some of them.
	I'm like, I'm sorry, I'm kidding.
	So they didn't like that very well.
	But yeah, if you run out on pizza day, I remember.
	Oh, man.
	Well, we went through a couple different types of pizza.
	I remember.
	I remember there was this round.
	Can you break out the different school pizzas that were served?
	There was a round pizza that had a great crust on it, I remember.
	And it was really great.
	And people would like see each other and be like, hey, that crust is great, huh?
	And people would be like, yeah.
	And then we got to this other square pizza.
	And I was like, this ain't even barely pizza, dude.
	And that one, people didn't really like it as much.
	And the cheese, I think, tasted different to me.
	But yeah, let's look at a couple of these.
	That's one right there.
	I've definitely had that one, the one you have the cursor on down right there.
	Well, we have like the one you got the cursor on that.
	That's like our breakfast pizza.
	Oh, that's serious.
	We serve that now for breakfast.
	The breakfast pizza.
	I love some breakfast pizza.
	Oh, yeah.
	Breakfast pizza was good.
	We used to have a box pizza years and years ago, and I'm talking like 30 years ago the kids used to really like.
	But now we're serving a stuffed crust pizza.
	So the kids are pretty interested.
	Yeah.
	Like I said, pizza day, I hear a lot of compliments.
	I look good on pizza day.
	Really?
	Yeah.
	There'll be a lot of flirting and stuff on pizza day.
	Pizza Day.
	Everybody wants pizza.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	Everybody want a pizza that's good.
	Yeah, baby.
	So pizza's the big thing, right?
	That's the thing everybody loves the most?
	That's what they love.
	Well, yeah, there's a couple different things, but following the menu.
	Yeah, so following the menu, you guys, you have your week of menu.
	It's already set up in advance.
	So before the previous weekend, you got the whole week lined up the next week.
	Right, because I order right a week ahead.
	Okay.
	So I kind of have it lined up.
	But things can happen, so it's subject to change.
	Really?
	Oh, yeah.
	Especially in 2020, you know, when all that shortage, I mean, whatever they gave me was what they were because, you know, it was constant.
	Nope, we don't have that no more.
	Nope, we're shorts of this.
	Nope, we don't have.
	I'm like, oh my gosh, what do we feed these kids?
	I'm about to go to the grocery store.
	I need a food stamp card.
	Yeah, you got to do something.
	You know, I was like, man, these kids need to eat.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	It seems crazy sometimes.
	You're getting the lunches out to them.
	You got a plan.
	Does the government tell you what the children have to eat or you could make it whatever?
	No, the government kind of tells you what the kids need to have, like how many servings of lagoons.
	You know what I mean?
	There have to be certain things.
	Legumes or whatever?
	Yeah.
	Like, you know, you have to have beans on there a certain amount of times, you know?
	Yeah.
	So, yeah, they kind of tell you, but we flip it around on different things.
	You know what I mean?
	If I'm short of that, they're getting that.
	It is what it is.
	As long as they eat, I'm happy.
	Yeah, that's my attitude, too.
	I can't believe children have a choice where you're at in some of their meals.
	Oh, well, this is started this year.
	Like I said, this guy, we make a chicken salad, chef salad, and they love the PBNJ still.
	You may give them a, you know, just a cold lunch and then whatever we're making for hot.
	So they pick between whichever one they want.
	And are there days where there's a real specialty item?
	What's one of the special, like, is there a time of year where something like maybe some like bison meat or something or something unique?
	You know, something rare will come across that you guys give to the kids?
	Like, is there a time of year when y'all get the kids get something really rare kind of?
	No.
	The thing is, like, there's, the kids are so, like, picky and there's so many that can't have this, that.
	They don't really go into anything odd with that.
	You know what I mean?
	Right.
	So, no.
	She kind of stick to the guns.
	Kind of, yes.
	Just right to it.
	Yeah.
	There's, like, not a lot of pork on the menu because kids don't.
	There's so much, how do you say that?
	Religions and different things that they don't, they don't eat this, they don't eat that.
	So you have to watch.
	Okay.
	And, you know, we're a bilingual school, too.
	We have like so many different backgrounds.
	Oh, damn.
	So, yeah.
	Some kids don't even speak English.
	Really?
	Yeah.
	All my ladies that work with me are Spanish.
	Oh, yeah.
	Yeah.
	It's cool, though.
	I start, you know, acting like I'm hablowing, you know.
	Yeah, yeah.
	I'm like, oh, I got this.
	So I learned a couple little words and then I know what they want.
	I'm like, oh, I got it.
	Don't worry.
	She wants a latte.
	It excites me.
	Oh, yeah.
	It does feel good whenever somebody's speaking Spanish and you and you.
	And you get it.
	Yeah, you get it.
	Oh, yeah.
	That's a great feeling, dude.
	It's really cool.
	Yeah.
	So I'm trying to teach them some English.
	Yeah.
	You know, because I'm like, you just brought me that.
	And I didn't ask for that.
	I asked for ketchup.
	What'd you bring me a spoon for?
	So we all just crack away.
	Yeah.
	A lot of people are just don't know the difference between, yeah, condiments, silverware.
	People are a lot of people get scared.
	They had an emu the other day that died.
	It had a bird, it ate a woman's car keys somewhere.
	Yeah.
	So people will eat anything, I feel.
	Can you bring that up?
	Let me know if you can find that.
	Is there a lot of lesbianism in the cafeteria culture?
	I feel like we had a lot of.
	I'm sorry.
	That was a good one.
	Was that crazy?
	We had a lot of female in, not inbreeding or whatever, but like inbreding, I guess, basically.
	Let's just say there's a little bit of everything.
	Okay.
	Okay.
	We're going to say there's a little bit of everything.
	We had a lot of women love or whatever they called it back in the day in the cafeteria.
	You would see that a lot of people, some of them, their husbands had been mean to them and then they would fall in love after that.
	So it's like male-induced lesbian.
	Right, right.
	I get it.
	Yeah.
	He did me wrong.
	I'm never being with a man again.
	Yeah, yeah, I'm not.
	But I'll be with this gal.
	Right, that looks like this gal and make her wear his old clothes.
	Right, right, right.
	That's weird, yeah.
	You're like, y'all got a couple of weird things, you know.
	A beloved ostrich at the Topeka Zoo and Conservation Center in Kansas has died after swallowing a staff member's keys.
	God.
	What?
	That's crazy.
	Oh, and you know, they were probably looking for the keys for a while, too.
	I feel so weird.
	I'd be like, you poor ostrich.
	Oh, he ate my keys.
	He's dead.
	The ostrich is just over there like, you know?
	They're like, where's my.
	I know, right?
	Where's those keys at?
	I don't know.
	Oh, there was just an ostrich standing by.
	I mean, nobody else was both me.
	And the ostrich is just, the ostrich is just leaning on a, on like a, on a, on a, on a cage door.
	He's like, different times.
	Right.
	You got that right.
	The zoo announced in a social media post Friday that the five-year-old ostrich named Karen Ah had reached beyond her exhibits fence and grabbed and swallowed the employees' keys.
	Staff consulted with experts around the U.S. to undergo surgical and non-surgical efforts to minimize the impact of the key of the keys.
	Unfortunately, these efforts weren't passed.
	Successful.
	Yeah, I guess you couldn't.
	And I guess if you, like, to hind like an ostrich, it was just you can't get enough power in there to really get them to blast out.
	God.
	That's pretty sad.
	I'm sorry.
	Hey, serve it up.
	You got that right.
	Because I sure serve.
	Hey, look, if the kids will eat it, serve it up, man.
	If you'd have told me when I was a child that a cut of ostrich had come through, I think there's some kids would have gone in and tried it.
	But I guess overall, children don't like trying a lot of new stuff.
	No, they're so picky.
	I mean, back in the day, I think they ate more.
	Now it's like, you know, where's my hand?
	I'm like, I didn't have that today.
	Yeah, kids are picky.
	And most of the, I remember we would always sometimes get them McNugget, which was pretty good.
	They like the nuggets.
	Yeah.
	They still like them, honey.
	Oh, they love the chicken.
	Oh, yeah.
	Chicken nuggets.
	And what else would we get that was really good?
	The pizza I enjoyed.
	I really did.
	Like the pizza till they switched it to that square pizza with no real crust on it.
	And it just made me just so angry at everybody.
	What else?
	That straw in the milk bag they used to have.
	Do they still have that?
	It was like a bag of milk?
	No, they don't do the bags no more.
	No.
	Actually, we don't even do straws no more.
	Really?
	Yeah, he took away the straws and stuff for, I guess we're going to save it.
	How do you get the milk out of it into your body?
	Well, I mean, you know what?
	I thought there would be more problems, but they take that carton and just open it up and drink it.
	And so I haven't had too much of a problem.
	But when it first started, I kind of did think, wow, there's going to be a lot of people.
	To my amazement, no.
	For 30 years, one years, they've been popping that straw in there, you know?
	They clogged my sink, you know, we washing the tables, put it down the sink, and all those straws go in there.
	And it's a bunch of stuff.
	We pop it out, and all these straws got popping out.
	Like, oh, I don't know.
	It's as yellow straws.
	Yeah.
	Okay.
	So this, so you guys got the food out to the children.
	The children start to come in through the line, right?
	Now, do you guys, we had BDLD would come in first.
	I don't know if they still have it.
	Behavior disabled, learning disabled, would come in first or last for lunch.
	Do you guys still do that or everybody's mixed in?
	Everybody's mixed.
	Okay.
	So you get the children start coming in.
	And where are you at?
	Are you stationed at a certain point?
	Like, what kind of offense are y'all running?
	Well, I mean, we could, I should be down there like Mark and stuff, but I'm the fastest one with serving and stuff.
	So most of the time I'm the server.
	You're on the line.
	Yeah.
	I like to be on the line because I know how fast I could go.
	Even if I drop stuff, you know, I just keep on going.
	Oh, yeah.
	You know, just keep on going, just like your lunch lady Annie.
	Yeah, you know about her?
	Yeah, I watched you.
	And then I was laughing because I had carpal tunnel surgery last year.
	And I was doing the same thing.
	And we laughed.
	We watched that because I kept throwing stuff.
	And I'm like, keep going.
	My hand, my finger be getting all stuck and looking all crazy.
	And the kids are like, what are you doing?
	I'm like, this.
	She would do this in her sleep.
	In her sleep, she would be doing this.
	I bet.
	She, you know what actually happened to her?
	She, well, she was, we had a couple of good lunch ladies.
	We had this one lady we had named Sarge, actually.
	And she was, I think, a, she loved ladies, I'll say that.
	And she had all these pictures of her dogs on her all the time.
	And she'd always be like, oh, well, I got so many dogs.
	And she would just have all these little buttons and pictures of all these dogs.
	And then she'd have a bucket.
	She'd keep all some of the extra stuff for her dogs.
	And, you know, she's like, I'm going to feed my puppies today.
	Okay.
	All right.
	You can have it.
	She'd have so many.
	And sometimes she'd have like missing posters.
	As long as you feed me, you can have it.
	You can feed whatever you want, lady.
	As long as you feed the fourth grade, you can feed whatever you want.
	But she would sometimes have like a wanted poster, like a missing, she would sometimes have like a missing poster on her for a dog that had gotten lost or whatever.
	And she's like, have y'all seen Biddy or whatever?
	She would ask us.
	And then who else did we have?
	We had, oh, we had Patty, this lady one time, and she would open up the biggest cans of peas, man.
	I mean, cans, you couldn't even knew that they had a can that.
	Oh, I didn't see when I first started to open those big cans, too.
	I was like, whoa, look at all those peas.
	Yeah.
	Wow.
	I was amazed.
	And one of the janitors would always come through and be like, nice cans, Pat.
	Right, right.
	And he was just a pervert, but still.
	Oh, we all like to joke around every once in a while.
	It is what it is.
	It is what it is.
	And she was pretty good.
	We had another.
	Oh, yeah.
	We had this other lady, Miss Mon Creeff.
	She'd always be like, make sure to get your spedaged.
	That's what she called it.
	You spedaghetti.
	Get your spedaged.
	So she would yell at us.
	That's funny.
	She'd be like, get your spedaged.
	And instead of saying cake, she would say like, this is crazy, but she would kind of say like cack.
	So she'd be like, and get you a cut of coconut cack over there.
	See, I think we all have to be a little nuts, you know, to be over there so long around everybody.
	You know, most think I am a little off, but it's okay because I've accepted that long time ago.
	Get your spatige, get your coconut cake.
	Yeah, she was bananas, dude.
	But she was sweet.
	And then we had Annie, and Annie, Miss Annie lived across the street from us, and she was always like the carrot cop.
	She'd come over and like be like, eat your carrots, you know?
	And then she got murdered, actually.
	Oh, gosh.
	Yeah, by her son.
	But was a great neighbor before that and great kitchen.
	Yeah.
	Great lady.
	And she had been resuscitated a few times.
	They kept her on staff.
	She was, there wasn't a lot left of her.
	Right.
	You know, by the, by the last, you know, couple months.
	Yeah, some people come crawling out after a while.
	Yeah, some people just keep on serving.
	As long as this part of them works, it's like the reality of the.
	You know what?
	My ladies has laughed because, like I said, last year we forgot the surgery.
	I was like constantly and I'm like, and oh, don't worry.
	I mean, by the time the hands clean up, because I'm threw chicken balls across the room, everybody was laughing.
	And I'm like, hey, you know what?
	My hands are messed up.
	It's okay.
	Because as you go faster, you don't realize.
	Sometimes you're just like, boom, boom, boom, things are just starting to move.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	It's almost like you're one of those blackjack dealers.
	Yeah, I do.
	I feel like it.
	I'm like, what do you want?
	What do you want, kid?
	Yeah, what?
	He wants a button.
	No, no button for him.
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	Okay, so you got the kids coming through the line.
	How does that, what's the energy there as they start to come through?
	Are you usually, does that, is that exciting moment for the lunch ladies?
	Or is that kind of like, oh, you know, now we got to work?
	It depends who you are.
	I'm going to say it like that.
	Like, you know, a lot of, how do I say it?
	I think the younger new generation stuff, they're a little bit more slow and late, you know, it is kind of like, but I get them pumped.
	We're like, we're like, let's go.
	You're like, hot diggity dog.
	And, and, and we got little ones that come through the line.
	And I go, what do you say?
	And she's like, if you touch it, you take it.
	I'm like, you got it, girl.
	So, so, no, we got to boost them and get them laughing.
	I like to wear like, I play around with them, like put different wigs on.
	Oh, yeah.
	You know, I like to switch it up.
	And I don't wear a lot of makeup most times.
	So I put makeup on and all of them be like, whoa, you know, just make it different.
	Yeah.
	I mean, we like to try to do something different just so the kids are like, wow.
	You know, it's a lot of fun to play with them, especially the little ones because they're fun.
	They are?
	Like, what age are still kids really enjoyable at?
	I'm going to say the little ones up to, I don't know, about 10 before they start getting a little mouthy and then they want to do their own thing.
	Then there is some of them are like too cool for me.
	They've been in school for like ever and now they're too cool for me.
	They hugged me every day when they were little.
	Yeah.
	And now they're like, I'm most, you know what?
	Like, okay.
	But I live in the neighborhood, so I see them all.
	Oh, so you see a lot of them?
	I see a lot of them, yeah.
	And do a lot of the children, when they come through, so they're pretty excited.
	And then you only have one person on y'all's line or how many people's on y'all's line?
	Well, I do it either by myself or somebody will help me sometimes if it's something really a big meal.
	And because most of the kids, some of the items they pick off the line themselves.
	They don't have to be able to get them together.
	Yeah, they pick up.
	Yeah, the fruit, the vegetable stuff we do on the other side, and they can pick all that up their self.
	I do like the main hot food for them, you know, and so those are items.
	You ask them what they do.
	Right.
	What else?
	We have pasta and meatballs.
	We have a chicken bowl where they have the mashed potatoes, the chicken, corn.
	Okay, like a chicken pot pie kind of?
	Yeah, we started, we have like a Polish girl now.
	It's like a turkey sausage kind of thing.
	And you put the sweet potato fries and some slaw and some barbecue sauce on that sucker.
	It's good.
	I like it that day.
	So I'm saying, I've been eating the food all these years, but I think they're getting better.
	Yeah.
	They're getting a lot better because when I first started, we just heated up microwave dinners.
	I'll tell you.
	Really?
	Oh, yeah.
	We heated them up in the thing.
	You couldn't cook food that was open.
	So it looked like you cook like five fries.
	Gum fries are all stuck in the bottom.
	I mean, the quality, like I said, and then you make a hamburger with the bun already on it and heat it up in a plastic.
	What is it?
	You know?
	Yeah.
	So now we're doing like, we'll do the burger and we cook it and really cook it.
	And the fries go in the oven and they get crispy, you know.
	Oh, that's nice.
	So yeah, like I said, I've seen a big change.
	Really?
	And how long has that change period been over, you think?
	Well, it's been about, I'm going to say about eight years of them slowly changing it, but this year has been the top because like the kids get cantaloupe, watermelon, whatever that I cut it up.
	I'm like going to Hawaii or something.
	Oh man, the big kids, I have to slow them down.
	I'm like, man, that's too many portions because, I mean, they'll take the whole thing, you know?
	But yeah, they probably didn't get all that good food.
	And now we get tangerines instead of oranges, which is really cool because you can, those little cuties, you can peel those in a second.
	Tell me how to cut up those oranges.
	Those cuties, it's almost like having a little date on the bottom.
	Oh, man, they are.
	But I have to stop them.
	The kids like them so much.
	They're in their pockets.
	They got to remember.
	How many cuties you got?
	Yeah, they don't care.
	Okay, so you got the line.
	Y'all got it going pretty good.
	What types of ages are coming through your line or have come through your line over the years?
	Because how many years have you been in the game, basically?
	31 years.
	I'm finished at 31, yeah.
	Wow.
	You're like Glover Teixeira.
	He's a famous UFC fighter.
	You were beloved and been in it for a while.
	That's him right there.
	But he is a very sweet man who has stood the test of time in his industry.
	Okay, so what kind of kids are coming through the lawn there?
	And what's some of the interaction like with them?
	Well, like the preschool and it's like, come here, baby.
	They come first?
	Yes.
	Okay, so the littlest kids come first.
	The littlest kids come first.
	Oh, wow.
	Yeah, we get the little ones and then we move on up.
	And at the last period is six, seventh, eighth.
	Those are the big ones.
	Yeah.
	So we start out with these babies, you know, and, you know, they're all cute, little babies.
	Then we go to these big, huge kids, which I don't know what they're feeding them anymore because, you know, they're getting big.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	I got some big boys.
	Miss Melissa, hook me up.
	And I'm like, okay, you know, but yeah.
	We start out.
	But the little ones, they come anywhere from four years old and I think to about 14. Okay.
	Unless they, you know, failed a bunch of times and then they might be a little close.
	Oh, yeah.
	I mean, you know, we had a guy who said to see that money.
	How many times he's been here?
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	He finally comes through one day.
	You just hand him a thing you fill out to work?
	When you want to work somewhere?
	Yeah, you just hand him a work application.
	Oh, yeah, right, right.
	You might as well.
	You're going to be, you know, 18 in a minute.
	That happens a lot.
	So what are some of the kiddos that have come through?
	Some of the little buckarudies that have come through there?
	Like any unique, like anybody bringing anything with, like any stories they bring with them?
	Or what's going on with the kiddos?
	Well, I mean, there are so many kids.
	I see them everywhere now.
	Like the lady that's at the pharmacy, she's a pharmacist.
	She was one of my kids.
	I go to restaurants.
	We go on a canoe ride and I started laughing.
	I wasn't nowhere near Cleveland and they're like, Miss Melissa.
	And everywhere I go, I run into some, I mean, that's a lot of years and they're grown.
	Wow.
	So they'll look at me and I'm like, giving them my money and they're like, are you Miss Melissa?
	I'm like, yeah.
	They're like, I was like, you were one of my kids.
	But it's cool.
	Yeah.
	Yep.
	Yeah, there's a connection.
	Well, especially because you're feeding the children, you know, there's always a connection.
	Well, I'm nice to the kids too.
	Yeah.
	And I'm funny and, you know.
	They like being around you.
	They like snakes.
	Oh, yeah.
	Oh, yeah.
	And do some of the kids ever bring anything with them?
	Do they ever like, are they like, what do?
	Well, we had some come through the line and then one had a snake in his book bag.
	Really?
	And the little girl brought her cat in the book bag.
	Yeah, you never know what they're going to bring.
	They brought a cat?
	But we have security that checks their bag.
	So I bet they've seen some more.
	Yeah.
	Like, is that cat meowing?
	I mean, that book bag meowing over there.
	Is that the new style?
	Did she press a button?
	And then when she came through the line, they asked me for cat food.
	I was like, what?
	No, I don't serve that.
	But what did they ask you to do?
	Just put something in their bag for the cat?
	Like, how'd you know?
	No, I, no, I just, they heard them and stuff.
	And them, them guys, you know, like I said, they have to come through the detector.
	Oh, they have a metal detector.
	Oh, yeah, we got metal detectors.
	Oh, so you're in the trenches over here.
	Oh, I'm in the lower, lower west side.
	Wow.
	Oh, yeah.
	Y'all are in there.
	Wow.
	Oh, yeah.
	Okay, so you have some children will bring a cat or even a snake through.
	And do you think it's just because they don't want to be alone from their pet?
	Yeah, probably just wanting to see their pets and stuff like that.
	Their parents probably didn't even know they snuck them out half the time.
	You know what I mean?
	So, I mean, if they could, sometimes the kids would let a dog in if they could, so we could run around.
	Yeah.
	You know who your laugh?
	Do people ever tell you that your laugh reminds me of do they have the lady from the Adam Sandler thing, if you can find it?
	A little bit.
	Yours is way more charming.
	You're sloppy.
	I made an extra sloppy boy.
	Her laugh is.
	Oh, that's too funny.
	I never thought of that.
	You sound like her.
	Just her laugh, though.
	You're way prettier.
	Oh, that's funny.
	She's pretty, too.
	But is it tough to see some of the kids grow and get and leave sometimes?
	Are there some kids you're like, man, that kid's going to like, we really wish they could stay?
	Yeah, I like wonder what happened to some of them that you really liked, that you don't see that much no more.
	And some you see in, well, they were not really doing as well because I'm there in the neighborhood.
	But I see so much, bad, good, you know, and then I love it when they come back and they're like, oh, I just got in college or I'm doing this or I'm about to go to nursing school or I did it.
	Then I'm very excited that, you know, because where we're at.
	Yeah.
	So like my son, Eve, he couldn't wait to get out of Cleveland.
	He got married and just moved away.
	He was gone?
	He was gone as soon as he left.
	And then I had to get a dog and named Mo because he was named Joe and I lost him.
	Oh, you got to get a dog that rhymes with your son.
	Right.
	So I replaced him with my dog, Mo.
	That's fair.
	Yeah.
	And where did you, is there a lot of like dating, like, do a lot of janitors come by the lunch area trying to holler and trying to like?
	Because that's what I felt like when I was a kid.
	Sometimes you would see some of the janitors over there trying to, you know, just like spend a little bit extra time or something like that.
	Mine's real cool.
	You only got one janitor?
	Yeah, sort of.
	I mean, because, well, they say they're custodians.
	They don't like to be called a janitor.
	Oh, yeah.
	Sorry.
	Yeah, I respect both of them.
	Yeah.
	The last one was a lady and me and her was real good friends.
	And she owned a lake house and I used to go with her all the time down there to New York.
	So that was awesome.
	And my other one, he just left.
	Yeah, I hang out with all the people that are retired too, that just left.
	So I've worked with them for so long.
	It's like we know each other.
	We grew up as a family, you know?
	Was it sad to see your son graduate, like get out of this, like was when he left your school?
	Yeah, I was very, yeah, because I got to keep a very close eye on him.
	Then he thought he was going to get away with something, but I told him, I'll transfer.
	I'll follow you, boy.
	And he's like, no, mom, no.
	So he did better.
	But then when I would go to parent conference and I would start talking, the teachers would look like, no wonder that's where he gets it.
	Listen there.
	I'm all hyper talking to him.
	I'm like, how's my kid doing?
	And they're like, oh, well, he's great, I guess.
	Mom, like you, I guess he's not doing it.
	Like, we're going to put you in detention.
	That's what I'm saying.
	Hey, when I first started working at school, I thought, man, did I get called to the office?
	I thought I was going to detention and I was really working there.
	And they would call you down there?
	Yeah.
	Just to tone it down?
	Yeah.
	She jokes all the time and says that I'm going to have to go outside if I laugh too hard because during testing, you know, you're supposed to be quiet.
	Sometimes she's just like, I heard you.
	I'm like, sorry.
	But they all like it, so it's cool.
	Sometimes you hear an outburst.
	I'll be just like, ah, and it's all the way upstairs calling.
	I don't realize.
	It goes around the school.
	But they know it's me.
	That's it, huh?
	It's like a bird almost that you hear, you know.
	Right.
	Do you see like at certain holidays, what's that like at school?
	Like around Valentine's or some kids seem kind of lonely or anything?
	Does that ever happen?
	A little bit, but they give those little hearts out and they give candy and the bigger kids will give flour.
	You know, it's just, yeah, they make a big, and we have dances and stuff.
	And the dances are in the cafeteria, so yeah.
	Most of the cafeteria is like where we have all our dances and everything.
	And I'm right there.
	So I like to dance with the kids.
	Really?
	Oh, yeah.
	I go and enjoy them.
	Yeah.
	Oh, wow.
	You should work for Nickelodeon.
	Oh, man.
	We've had a lot of fun.
	Yeah.
	They let you guys dance with the children at the dances?
	Sure.
	Oh, that's cool.
	Yeah.
	I remember one time we had a guy named Mr. John, and his wife, I think, was a teacher.
	I don't know if she was the teacher.
	She just like was like the smartest person in our area and she would hang out at the school, but she, I got to dance with her one time at a dance.
	Aww.
	That's pretty cool.
	Well, we had that.
	My principals were great with a lot of things that she does.
	And we have a mother-son dance and things like that.
	So I had some buddies a long time ago and they didn't have a mom.
	So I went to the dance, danced with them.
	Oh, that's sweet and everything.
	Yeah, they were my buddies because we do like a buddy breakfast thing.
	Oh, yeah.
	So I picked him as my buddy.
	Yeah.
	Oh, just students?
	Yeah.
	So you kind of get close to some, if you see somebody and they'll say, you want to be my buddy?
	Yeah.
	And then you're kind of like their friend they could talk to if they're having a hard day or they hug you every day.
	So it's pretty cool.
	Oh, it's important.
	Yep.
	And then a couple times a year we eat with them, talk about, give them a present.
	That's cool.
	Pretty cool.
	Yeah.
	But yeah, what are some other like moments like?
	Like, have you had some unique interactions?
	Oh, yeah.
	I like Halloween.
	I like to dress up and different stuff.
	And then I run through the crowd.
	And the little kids this year, I was this blow up and it blew up big too.
	It was cool.
	So I run out and everything.
	But then they kept trying to squeeze me.
	And I'm like, I'm going to pop, you know?
	So I'm trying to get them away, but I can't because it keeps blowing up.
	So we do funny stuff like that.
	And I, I, a couple times, uh, we would, I would tutor with the kids, you know, help the little ones with math or something.
	Like whatever she asked, like we tried to do, you know, I think we're like a mixture, you know, when they're away from their home, we could be their mom, their grandma, they're whatever.
	They're crying.
	You want to go over, make sure they're all right, see what they want.
	You have kids that'll chase you and hug you every day.
	Sometimes you got to run.
	Yeah.
	Ooh, I run.
	Sometimes I have to shut the door.
	I'm like, here she comes.
	And everybody laughs because she's so beautiful and sweet, but she drives crazy.
	Some baby alone.
	Yeah.
	Some of them get a little bit of, they get just kind of hug you too much.
	Yeah.
	They'll lick you even.
	Oh, oh, yeah.
	You're right about that.
	I've seen a child just didn't start licking.
	You're just like, what is going on with this child?
	But, dude, my friend told me that if you look at anything, anything, you Know what it would feel like on your tongue because, as a kid, you licked everything and checked everything out.
	Probably, I'm sorry.
	Yeah, and at first I thought that was crazy.
	But then, if I look at anything, you were probably thinking, if I lick that, he said, Because when you're a kid, you just put everything in your mouth, you don't even think about it, and you develop like this memory for it.
	Well, there's nothing I wouldn't try, that's why I said kids don't try anything nowadays.
	There's nothing out, you know.
	Oh, yeah.
	Is that a chocolate girl for Chris?
	Let's eat that.
	Let's try it.
	Is there anything you guys will make BTS?
	Like, be honest with me.
	Is there some BTS food that you guys will make at the lunch area that's just for you guys?
	Like, you ever brew something up just for the gang, but it's not for the students?
	Well, I won't tell anybody.
	No, no, we eat the lunches there, you know.
	But no, like, I can't wait.
	Like, they're all Spanish, so I want them to bring me some rice and peans and stuff.
	So I want their food.
	Yeah.
	So they bring me food all the time.
	And I'm like, all right, this is how you get to your boss.
	You know, this is good.
	I just had some yesterday.
	Oh, yeah.
	Yeah, they got a lot of good food, man.
	But yeah, I love it.
	So the ladies come in and they make me food.
	I'm like, that's the way.
	Oh, that's beautiful.
	And now, when is the day kind of shut down?
	So after lunch, what happens?
	How do you guys shut it down?
	Like the last person leaves and then what?
	After the last kids gets fed, we make sure everybody's fed.
	And then it's time them ladies clean, clean up, count everything because I got to count everything, like all the milk, everything, you know, gets counted for the day.
	Yeah, I do paperwork and everything has a count.
	So, and then it's got to go on the computer and go down to them of how many kids we fed.
	Just switching it back around, moving the coolers back for breakfast for the next day.
	You know, everything goes back to, you know, it's like you flip a switch.
	You know what I mean?
	We go for breakfast, lunch, lunch, breakfast.
	Transformer.
	I always said that.
	I said, see how we just did that?
	I said, it was like transformers.
	I'm like, we just transformed the kitchen.
	Now, bam.
	And people come out and they'll be like, dang, Liz, you just had breakfast.
	That was like lunch.
	Because I'll be like, phew, throw it together.
	And I'm like, we can't play.
	Somebody's got to do it.
	Somebody's got to do it.
	And I'm one of those people that are always, you know, ready to go.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	I run around like a chicken with my head cut off because I'm a little nutty, you know, but it's okay.
	Yeah.
	The more I move, you know, I just like to know, and it is.
	And I'm getting old, so I have to.
	You got to keep busy.
	Heck yeah.
	And what's it like?
	Like, do you have time for dating stuff?
	You guys have to get up pretty early, huh?
	What's the love life like of someone in the lunch industry?
	Oh, I've been married 30 years.
	Oh, you have?
	Oh, you got married to the, not the pregnant, not the.
	No, no, no, not the baby dad.
	Yeah.
	I got married to somebody else.
	Oh, nice.
	Where'd you meet your husband at?
	In the yard.
	Really?
	Not like a prison thing, huh?
	Well.
	No judgment.
	Half my family got incarcerated.
	Well, yeah, I mean, yeah, he just got out.
	Hey, babe, you look good.
	Welcome back.
	Welcome back.
	He didn't do it.
	Make me a breakdown.
	You should guys get.
	Oh, I guess he probably is not allowed over the school then.
	No, no, this was so long ago.
	He's good now.
	Okay.
	Yeah.
	We won't talk about that.
	Yeah, we'll keep that out.
	So that's nice then.
	So you got a love.
	You have a love in your life.
	You have one child.
	That's your only child.
	Oh, yeah, I was one and done.
	Yeah.
	Oh, yeah.
	What made you not want more?
	Well, I guess.
	That was a whole experience.
	I mean, what the heck?
	Women just keep popping them out.
	Are they crazy?
	It's unreal.
	All that stuff we had to do.
	And I told that doctor or whoever, I told him, this was all too much for me.
	Then he came out with cholera.
	And I'm like, what the heck?
	I watched kids for years and they never acted like that.
	Then I have my own and I'm like, everybody kept saying, you're going to have another one?
	I'm like, nope.
	Yeah.
	Nope.
	So when he was 10, I got my tube side.
	I said, nope.
	I'm making sure.
	Wow.
	Oh, yeah.
	That was it.
	Shut down all the time.
	That was it.
	Shut that all down.
	The lunchline was over.
	I got 600 kids a day.
	I don't even need it.
	You know, every now and then, but you got to open it up for breakfast every morning.
	Well, I mean, yeah, but see, I don't have to have it.
	Yeah.
	You know, doesn't make it easy now.
	Wow.
	Do kids, let me get into the financials of it.
	Do children pay for school lunch a little bit?
	A long time ago when I started, I'm going to get a little bit of a bunch of people.
	We had X and Y tickets.
	I remember they did.
	We had X and Y tickets.
	They were good.
	X is full paid and free lunch.
	You got it.
	Or partial paid.
	Yep.
	They have the full, partial, and free.
	Oh, they had full partial.
	Dude, I remember.
	So I would get to school.
	God, dude, it was the most, this was like one of the skits.
	This was like one of the tougher things, I think.
	When you were a kid, like, yeah, you would get there and see if you can bring up the, yeah, the school on tickets.
	Keep looking for them.
	Mine looked a little bit different.
	Oh, my goodness.
	Look at those lunch cards.
	No, keep looking to see if you find some other ones.
	Oh, yeah.
	No, right there.
	The red and blue, the whole mix of all of them, look at the game tickets.
	Those are the ones we had.
	Right there?
	Yeah.
	And so you'd get up to the lady, right?
	There'd be the lunch lady because they didn't allow men to do it.
	Because I don't believe men should do it.
	We got a couple men in the system now.
	Really?
	We'll talk about that some other time.
	Times have changed.
	But we would get in there and you had to go up to her and you had to tell her if you were if you paid, you had to just buy the ticket from her.
	And if you were free, you had to tell her you were free.
	And I was just, it always felt so embarrassing because there'd always be like another kid right behind you or in front of you.
	She'd always say it like, I'm free.
	And if the bus got there early, you could get breakfast.
	That was the thing.
	If the bus, so based on how Miss Hazel was doing and bless her heart or whatever, she's alive or not.
	Hopefully she's alive, but she might not be.
	But she was awesome.
	But she sometimes she would lollygag.
	Sometimes she would stop or drive slow and smoke.
	And so we would get there a few minutes late and we would miss breakfast.
	And then you were just beside yourself.
	You didn't even, you know, because you had to get all the way to like 11.40.
	Right, right.
	That's what they, right?
	And you would just keep going to the water fountain and just drinking as much water as you could.
	And yeah, and I remember even one of my teachers would be like, go get you some of that breakfast water out there.
	Breakfast water.
	Yeah, that's what they used to say.
	Ms. Smith would always say that.
	But anyway, yeah.
	And then at lunch, I don't know if we got our tickets in advance for the week or if you had to go and do the same thing at lunch.
	But you would always try to sneakily say, yeah, free lunch or whatever.
	You know, I'll take a Y one or just something like that.
	Or I would try to pretend like I was giving a money.
	It was like I was a magician just because I didn't want other kids to see.
	Because you know, kids get so embarrassed.
	No, they do, yeah.
	But then once you got the ticket, yeah, and you were free to the line, usually you would get a tray or like a little carton, like a little plastic kind of little carton.
	And then you would go like to the milk or beverage area first, get that.
	Then you would go into the room where the actual kitchen was and you would have the line there.
	You would get your line items, come out, and then that was it.
	You was free to go sit down and eat.
	It was awesome.
	It was, yeah, that was like the best thing ever, dude.
	What is the funnest thing to serve to the kids?
	Is there something you really enjoy?
	I like to serve the pizza because it's one piece.
	Because I get to throw the pizza.
	But when I got like mashed potatoes, corn, chicken, a raw, you know, I'm sorry.
	Now I'm like, you know, it's too much.
	And everybody, yeah, everybody's picky.
	So they don't want gravy.
	So I'm wanting, you know, it's like.
	Yeah.
	And now they're like allowed to pick what they want.
	Yeah.
	We used to give them all of it.
	Oh, they used to, yeah, that's crazy.
	You get to pick what you want.
	We would have to get whatever.
	Sometimes they give you a bunch of junk.
	You're like, some of this, it wouldn't even, I don't even think some of it was food or whatever.
	And you would just have to take it back to your table, you know?
	Oh, yeah.
	I've seen so much waste back in the day.
	We'd have like a bean burrito.
	All these kids would just, you know what I mean?
	Just throw it away.
	Just throw it away.
	You just cooked all those just to be in the garbage like that.
	The apple, I feel like, would always get thrown away.
	Sometimes, yeah.
	Yeah, you would be like, I don't know if I'm eating this.
	Yeah.
	You know, that would always be a tough one.
	I've ordered lots of apples now.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, because of the other ones are more popular that we have now that they're trying different, you know, watermelon.
	That's gone.
	I'm watermelon, man.
	I have to, we'll be cutting 10 water.
	We'll be cutting those watermelon.
	And what type of cutter are you using back there?
	Do you guys have a sanctioned knife that you can use or something?
	Yeah, a couple knives.
	Yeah, like that.
	We got a couple knives we use for those, which we just started this year.
	Sometimes it was hard.
	Oh, yeah.
	Especially with my hands hurting all the time.
	I was like, man, these watermelons, it's crazy.
	But then we got this one that you put like the order the apple thing in.
	You could go, oh, really?
	And it comes out.
	I like that one.
	Yeah.
	I could do that all day.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, that's nothing.
	Yeah, I guess if you get that fancy one's really nice.
	I'm trying to think of what we had.
	Oh, they would do baked potatoes.
	Do y'all still do those sometimes?
	No, we haven't did a baked potato for a long time, but I remember a long time ago we did have a baked potato.
	They seemed to like it.
	Yeah, it was nice because they had like sour cream with it.
	Oh, yeah.
	And get you a little bit of bacon bit or whatever.
	Because they didn't let you use bacon bits in our community if you was a child, first of all.
	Oh, yeah, you know, that was an adult thing.
	Bacon.
	So then they get to school when you pull up and they got a damn, you got access to bacon bits.
	Yeah.
	Let's ride.
	Hey, they're excited.
	Now we give croutons.
	Oh, is that a big thing for the kids now?
	Yeah, we never gave croutons with a salad.
	We're poor over there.
	We give croutons.
	We're cool.
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	Yeah, man that was so much fun man going to lunch it was just like a it was like it was kind of the best part of the day because it was that was your break right and then do they go into recess after lunch yep yeah before and after we give it them switch like we got uh 20 minutes to 20 minutes like some of them are outside then they'll come on in and those ones will go outside so we're just keep going like that yeah tell me about take me down some of the tough moments like has there ever been like a food recall or something that happened where there was just a food people got sick from
	that day was there ever just a flu that went around oh that is so funny you said that so years ago and it was quite a while i don't know maybe 18 years ago we did have this problem and there was flu going around and everything and a couple kids came in lunchroom and they threw up well that started uh the other kids looking at them doing it next thing i know they call they got buses and they got everybody pulling my food doing it and i'm like tripping i'm like what and they're like it's our voice you
	find us really like you were witch like the sacrifice saying don't eat the vision and i'm like oh yes and then the what was that one guy he was trying to come from the and i was running with my hoodie on because i was like i've never lose yes no yeah i swear i was trying that's what it is and they wrote this article and then i don't know a couple weeks later when they realized it was they wrote this little thing like it wasn't the food they were sick it was over but they made me like look and
	then downtown would be like and melissa tell them about that you know when the kids got off and i'm like what's got a creeping stuff like you were hester print oh i'm so glad that those kids are probably long gone out of it by now yeah because that stuck with me for a little while yeah a little ptsd from i'd be walking down the street yeah and all of a sudden they'll be like we had the bad pizza and i'm like oh my god i did the pizza oh my god that's our tripping we had the bad macaroni did yes do you remember the bad macaroni 2001 yeah where
	were you where were you when people ate bad macaroni you're like i survived you should have made t-shirts i survived the macaroni of 2001 i know that would have been a good one that would have been people forget that there's a marketing possibility even within um famine and disease you know right and edible diseases yeah people forget that all the time yeah because we would have people would get um we'd
	have bad milk come through or bad cattle would come through town sometimes they're you know and you get spoiled milk yes and you had no idea why it could have been that the truck was parked overnight next to like a something that had it was heating it up you just never know too much time in the sun on the way there something there's something and everybody would just be having bad milk you know the kids will let me know if the trust me they'll let me know if they have something yeah yeah i mean there were a couple times we got milk and like there was like that much like the cartons they didn't fill
	it up they kept saying why is all these kids want another milk until i figured out it wasn't really getting there i'm like oh i'm telling them no damn i'm like now you got to get out of smoke but that's the look that's how it is out in some of the you know that's how it is you can't you just never know what's going to happen that's life too you don't ever you don't you always don't know the milk that you're going to get um any food fights kids always say we're going to do a food fight it never happens that's what i feel like there's always the rumor of a
	food fight today we're going to and then never ends up going down at my school not as much but i did sub at a school that's closed now a long time ago and the kids said food fight i went with mass potatoes in my hair i had stuff hanging off me so they decided they really was going to do it and they did it and they did it yeah praise god and i'm like all right man i wasn't too upset with it it was kind of cool you know well that was that's that was like the big thing i don't know if kids care about that anymore no
	i don't i don't yeah i mean they might throw like peelings or i mean they might throw those little things but they're not like getting up having the big you know makeup yeah they're not like it's like a big organized thing because there's always like this thing like kids are gonna organize and get to it and then it comes down to it and it never happened i think it was more of wasn't there a movie that there was a food fight in can you look that up there is i can't remember what was that movie that had a food fight in it it was a 90s movie uh the great race matilda oh hook hook had a great food fight
	in it like at the uh bangerang scene that was very big oh animal house that was it i think animal house had a huge one so that's i think it's so funny a lot of times you take something right back to like um a popular movie or tv show and that's where it started um do you remember your lunch ladies from vienna um not very many i don't think they were very nice then really and one thing that i always said
	after i got in there was that i'm not gonna be like that because you know we get a rep you know really yeah because some people are you know they act like that mean little ones like you're yeah you can only have one ketchup and i always thought i'm gonna be like the cool one you know so then i am so then i think it works out because i don't remember too many you know really good ones yeah yeah i remember a couple time they had i mean also for
	a lot of young men it's you know like you think the lunch lady's pretty cute because it's the first woman you kind of get to talk to right and that's like kind of not like a teacher or your mom it's like the first person that you're like well who is this person you know and they smile at you or whatever you ever have a student try to like get your number or do like try to no they they might flare a little bit like trying to get some extra chicken balls or something but like yeah all right you know get a coin yeah yeah they're trying to pull up on them
	yams yeah they think so i'm old enough to be your great gray i'm like you better roll yeah you got to shut them down early no you got to um what about fights any fights they have at school are you guys allowed to get involved in that what's that like at school if that happens well there's fights but we you're supposed to get security i mean i don't wait sometimes i will try but now with big kids no way those guys Those guys are huge.
	Yeah.
	They'll swing me across the floor somewhere.
	I'm like, nope.
	So I'll just go over and try to find one that's security, go on.
	And then they'll try.
	But other people in their teachers and stuff, I won't get involved.
	Not the big kids.
	No.
	Do the teachers, is there a good relationship with teachers and lunch women or lunch women and now men because men are attacking the industry?
	But is there a lot of good or are they arch nemesis of each other?
	Is there like, what's the energy like between lunch people and teachers?
	I never thought about that.
	At different schools, it'd be different.
	But for me, I've got along with most of most of them and stuff like that.
	And I have a good relationship with them, you know, because everybody wants a milk every once in a while.
	It's not mine, you know.
	I guess it depends on who.
	That's a powerful statement.
	Everybody wants a milk.
	You know, because they do.
	I always think when they walk in, and if they're like acting mean to me, I'll be thinking, you'll want a milk for me one day.
	Yeah.
	If I give it to you, you'll need me.
	You'll pull up on this.
	Yeah, you'll pull up on this udder.
	Yeah, that's right.
	You want me to order those bag lunches for you, don't you?
	That's true.
	Yeah.
	Oh, for field trips.
	That's what I said.
	So some, yeah, if you'll have a couple, but not very many, but if they act a little too, you know, it's fine because, you know, they got to come to me for you.
	You got to come through, yeah.
	That's true.
	I might be the little one down there.
	You're like the government.
	That's right.
	Yeah, the food is.
	You still got to pay your taxes.
	Food is government.
	It really is.
	A lot of cultures it is.
	Yeah.
	Well, yeah, it's like if you're in a village, when somebody comes back with the food, that person is the government that day.
	They have the food.
	They determine how everything goes.
	I always tell my ladies, I'm like, man, sometimes I walk through the hall and I think they're looking at me like a chicken leg or something, you know?
	So, yeah.
	Who are you talking about?
	Some of the janitors or whatever?
	No, the kids, the staff, you know, it depends what they smell.
	Like, they have loaded nacho day, you know, it's like everybody's looking like Melissa's got nachos.
	And I just could see everybody behind Melissa.
	I'm like, uh, ha ha ha.
	Yeah.
	They know.
	So they know.
	Yeah.
	They know to be nice too.
	People know where their bread is, but that's what it is, you know.
	Just like me, I know I need the custodian.
	So you got to be nice to me.
	I need toilet paper and stuff.
	So you know, you learn who you have to be.
	When little Ricky cukes.
	That's right.
	You know you're going to need to.
	Well, you know it.
	Yeah.
	What's a field trip day like?
	So how does that break down?
	Well, the field trips and stuff, they order like bag lunches.
	And what goes into the bag lunch?
	When I make it, it's like a sandwich, a PB ⁇ J sandwich on crustable.
	Ooh.
	Yeah, they love those.
	And I get strawberry and grape, and I kind of like them too.
	So if I'm.
	Y'all will make those yourselves?
	No, they come.
	You order from Uncrustable?
	We order those, yeah.
	Wow, that's nice.
	Yeah, those things are pretty good.
	But then I'll make a bag with those and some goldfish crackers, a string cheese, applesauce, and some carrots.
	Bam, there's our lunch.
	Damn.
	And they're out.
	We got, I remember, meat sandwich with mustard.
	Yep.
	And sometimes you got extra mustard somehow.
	I know.
	And that's, I know.
	You're like, first of all, I'm a child.
	I don't eat mustard from the first time.
	I'm a child.
	I got a lot of mustard.
	Mustard is for Polish adults.
	Let's be honest.
	So there's no reason I should have to eat it.
	And then you gave me more mustard.
	So that would be scary.
	And you'd always see that one kid that would end up being an alcoholic and he'd be over there just eating the mustard.
	Oh, you know what?
	We got him with the hot sauce.
	Y'all got hot sauce?
	Oh, yeah.
	Now we give hot sauce.
	And the kids love hot sauce.
	But I catch the little ones over there with the packs.
	I'm eating it.
	Yeah, I'm like, what is it?
	Or they're keeping it in the pack.
	I'm going to take this home to my dad for some hot sauce.
	I'm like, okay.
	For Christmas or whatever.
	That's crazy.
	Hey, you know, they ain't got no sauce on it.
	But so you pack those, you send them out on the field trip.
	When?
	Do you pack those the night before?
	You pack them then the morning?
	I get everything ready except for the sandwich.
	And then in the morning, I just throw the milk in the cooler.
	How many of you have ever going?
	And then put the sandwich in there and it thaws through the day so they can eat it by lunchtime.
	Because you don't want to leave those out too long because one thing is nasty.
	It's like the next day, you know, it gets like hard or jelly starts to go seeping through.
	So that very first day when it first just thaws, it's the best.
	So you guys will put the, you mean for the lunchable, you mean?
	For the crust?
	Yeah, I use those for the bag lunches.
	For the bag lunches, right.
	The PB and J's.
	And do they get a meat option in there or no meat option?
	They used to, but I haven't had one in a while.
	Okay.
	Yeah.
	What's some of the best things about the job?
	Time goes really fast because I'm always busy.
	I don't feel like it's a job job, even though I'm getting paid because I'm having fun.
	I try to make my work fun.
	Yeah.
	And I make the ladies dance.
	I'll tell them, oh, okay, we're getting too serious.
	Stop.
	We'll put some music on, start to get the groove for a minute.
	We all start laughing, doing dishes, just joking.
	I told them, I want this to feel comfortable.
	I want us not to feel like, you know, just because we're working doesn't mean you can't have fun, you know?
	So in my kitchen, it's about having fun.
	Do your job and let's have fun, you know, while we're doing it.
	And then I like to act crazy around, you know, the principal or anybody because they all know me and they're like, there's, there's Melissa, you know?
	So I do some crazy stuff.
	Like, I don't know how to swim.
	And I went on a, and she took me on a trip with her.
	And her son was like, I said, I always wanted to jump in the deep water, you know?
	Oh, yeah.
	Here he goes.
	He gives me his mama's life jacket.
	I put that sucker on last summer.
	And I was diving off the diving board with the little kids.
	I was so excited.
	First time ever.
	Yeah.
	I was like, yeah.
	And all the kids was like, wait, the older people were kind of like, I don't really know what she's doing.
	I was like, right?
	Wow.
	And you just got right out in there in the water.
	Yep, just got right in, dove right off the diving board in it.
	But once I know that, you know, I was.
	Yeah, you're safe.
	Yeah.
	Had you ever tried swimming before?
	I've tried.
	I'm not that great at it.
	Yeah, it sounds like you're not good at it, but had you ever tried before?
	Because, yeah, I was bad at swimming for a while.
	I could backfloat, but I don't.
	What is backfloating?
	Oh, you'd be like, that's all I'm going to do to save my life.
	I think that's called waiting for rescue.
	Well, I could wait for rescue for a while, but I can't do this too long.
	And I don't know how you guys are staying in there just standing there.
	I don't get it.
	That's magic.
	I know.
	I just don't get it.
	I'll call the cops, dude.
	All right.
	Some things are just, yeah, beyond me.
	A long time ago, they used to think that gay people would sink in the water and straight people would float.
	Back in the witchcraft days.
	That crazy bring that up.
	Look at that.
	Sinking gaze or whatever.
	Sinking.
	Sinking.
	It could have been.
	Or yeah, sinking gaze and witchcraft if you put that in there too.
	There was a lot of that.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	People, well, they had a thing.
	If you sank or float, it would determine something.
	You know, and they would then sometimes.
	Well, shit, I sink, so what's that mean?
	What are you trying to say?
	I'm not saying anything, man.
	Maybe I took a wrong turn in life.
	Who knows?
	I know, right?
	So what's the social life like when you're outside of work?
	What do you like to do for fun, personally?
	What keeps you busy?
	You know, obviously you really find a lot of joy in your work, and that's awesome, you know?
	Yeah.
	And it's important to notice that.
	Well, they noticed I was employee of the year at school, too.
	Oh, yeah.
	2009.
	Oh, yeah.
	Now, when the mayor's brother gave me an award, I was like, brother.
	What's his brother doing?
	I don't know.
	He was there.
	Anyway, but they gave me a party and a gift card and all this.
	I was like, oh, Richie.
	Give me $100 to a steakhouse.
	I was like, yeah, I'm going to get the biggest steak, you know?
	And I felt cool, but I was a little excited, you know?
	How did you know you won?
	Was there finalists or what happened?
	Yeah, it was employee of the month, like all of us, like the 12th.
	And then they said, we're going to pick one.
	So I was waiting.
	I was like this, waiting to eat.
	You know, I was looking at the food like, man, that looks good.
	Oh, you were all at the birthday?
	Hurry up.
	Yeah.
	So I was thinking, hurry up.
	And did you dress up for it?
	Yeah, I dressed up a little bit, but I looked a little crazy.
	I always change, you know, and I did the smile.
	And it's like, you can see my whole tonsils in my mouth because I smile too big because I laugh a lot.
	And they put that picture big downtown.
	So now you walk in and you see me.
	And everybody's like, Samuel's fuck.
	And I'm like, yes, that's me.
	So that's the picture they picked.
	I guess you can see every two that count my eyes.
	I'm like, yeah, there's me.
	Yeah, that's awesome.
	Yeah.
	But it was cool.
	It was really cool, though.
	And just for being funny and trying to, you know, because everybody's so serious sometimes.
	Oh, yeah.
	And then the big boss come out and everybody's so scared.
	And we're all there to do the same thing.
	You know, I just make them laugh and tell them, let's just, you know, let's just be fun.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	I have a lot of fond memories of going into the lunchroom and sometimes you would get the silver and you would get a fork that was all banged up.
	Oh, yeah.
	What happened?
	I don't know, but I've seen some.
	They look like all of them are mushed to the paper towel thing or something.
	Or you'll see just the like the fingers of the fork will be like, you know, one of them will be way out like that.
	And you're just like, what happened?
	What happened?
	Like, sorry, you can't have another fork.
	You're going to have to eat with your finger today, bro.
	We're on a crisis.
	Budget cuts.
	You're like, what happened?
	That's what I'm saying.
	Do you, what would, what would you change about school lunches?
	You know, one of the biggest things I think I would change, because, like I said, they're getting better, but everybody eats the same portions.
	I would give the bigger kids more portions.
	Okay.
	I think like instead of that one chicken leg that everybody's getting besides, you know, the other stuff that they could get on the side, I'd give them two.
	I just think that the bigger kids are big.
	I mean, we got some big boys.
	I mean, big girls, you know, and they're got to be hungry.
	That's just not enough, I don't think, you know, but I mean, we do have a solid bar.
	They can fill up with that, but you know, they want the real deal.
	Yeah.
	That's what I'm saying.
	They want more of those.
	So when I hook them up, they'll be like, Miss Mozilla, I give them a couple more nuggets.
	They're like, oh, you're my girl.
	You know, they're like, I know, I got y'all.
	That feels good.
	It does feel good.
	It feels good when I see kids that I go places like to a wedding or something.
	And I see all these kids are at the wedding because I had family, friends.
	I've had all the nieces, nephews.
	I've had everybody go through school.
	So they'll be like, I remember when you gave me the other, oh, she was cool.
	Yeah, that's right.
	It feels good to just McNugget up a child.
	Right.
	Oh, it does.
	You want some more fries, boy?
	Here you go.
	Fucking put a McNugget in with you.
	They'll be talking about me.
	They'll be like, ma'am, look at me up.
	Look at this plate.
	I've got some nephew children.
	I'll damn McNugget that.
	Oh, yeah.
	God, it feels good.
	It makes you rest easier.
	Well, it does.
	It really does.
	I know that's what I said.
	Some of the kids, you know, they're hungry.
	Yeah.
	Or they'll tell me that they haven't ate, you know?
	And do y'all play any music in there?
	Spanish music.
	Yeah.
	In our kitchen, we play some because, like I said, all my ladies are Spanish.
	A lot of Latino co-workers.
	Oh, yeah.
	Oh, yes.
	Yeah.
	It's amazing what they could do with a broom.
	Oh, yeah.
	Oh, my God, did they scrub that place with a broom?
	Really?
	Oh, yeah.
	They're wonderful cleaners.
	Very true.
	I have a lot of friends.
	And my grandmother was a house cleaner and my mom was too.
	Okay.
	And then a lot of my friends' parents growing up were in house cleaning and stuff.
	And some of my Latino friends, their parents still clean houses.
	I tried it for a minute.
	Did you?
	Yeah.
	Oh, so you tried it for business?
	Oh, yeah.
	In the summertime, if I didn't work down at school, I did other jobs.
	Oh, really?
	Oh, yeah.
	Like, so what are some of the summer jobs?
	Nobody ever thinks about that.
	What do freaking lunch ladies do during the summer?
	Oh, I, well, the year before, because I got surgery last summer, so I was down with my stupid carpal tunnel.
	My trigger fingers stuck like this.
	And why do you have to get surgery?
	Be honest.
	Just too much scooping?
	Oh, yeah.
	They said repetitious movements.
	So now my back, you know, things, because you do them so long, sometimes it'll be burned.
	Like, ah, yeah.
	How much scoops can one wrist do overall?
	Man, I don't know.
	I just keep them rolling.
	Really?
	Like I said, some people are like, Man, look at her, but I'll be sweating.
	But I'm getting older now, though, so that's what I mean.
	I'm like, Don't ask me to do nothing with my hands when I get home.
	Hey, look, no wonder your guy went to prison.
	You got to do what you got to do.
	That's what I'm saying.
	I know.
	I'm sorry.
	I just got to.
	I've served all I'm serving, honey.
	That's it.
	No more seconds.
	No more firsts.
	Right?
	But no, I just try to go fast because I've watched people and they'll be like, you got 600 kids.
	I'm like, dude, you got to move.
	Right?
	Keep rolling.
	People say it's not fast.
	What is a kid that comes in that's kind of heartbroken?
	You ever notice a kid that's having a tough time?
	Have you ever had a like a gosh, yeah.
	And what is some of that?
	Are you ever able to like over time, do you be able to pinpoint some of the commonalities of what some of those moments are like?
	A lot of it is like another kid don't like them.
	Yeah.
	They're getting picked on or they want to be friends with this child and they don't want to be friends with them.
	Oh, and so isn't that so big to kids?
	It's very, yeah.
	And I'm like, look, but then to them, it's so big.
	Yeah.
	So I always tell them, you know, if they don't want, it's okay.
	You know, don't worry about it.
	They'll be liking you tomorrow.
	You know what I mean?
	This and that.
	Just try to make them feel better and they get over it.
	And then you see them talking to, they'll be best friends.
	Yeah, they just need help getting through that.
	They just need to get through.
	And it is.
	And they're, yeah.
	So whenever we do see one down, I immediately want to go over to that one and see why.
	Especially since we got a lot of kids that are smiley like me and bubbly when I see them.
	So if they're not bubbly, just like they do the same thing to me, if I come to work and I'm not feeling it that day, like there's just something wrong, they can feel it.
	Oh, they'll lift you up.
	Oh, they come in and they're like, Miss Melissa, you're all right.
	Because they know that I'm not laughing.
	Don't hear that big loud laugh everywhere.
	Then there's something wrong with Melissa that day.
	That's true.
	Yeah, I didn't heard her laugh too much.
	Yeah, that's interesting.
	You know, we're the keys to each other's locks.
	That's what my buddy always says.
	He always says, Oh, yeah, they do.
	They can pick up on it.
	What are some of the other summer jobs you've had?
	God, I can't believe I never knew that.
	That those beautiful women were wandering off into our town and doing other important.
	I was a secretary, which sitting down isn't my thing, huh?
	No, I was like, man, let me clean this place.
	I don't want to be a secretary.
	I'll clean your place.
	Okay, girl, you got to get up.
	Yeah, I can't just sit.
	It's crazy.
	That's too much for me.
	I've worked at Dave's grocery store, cashier.
	And I like that.
	I was a cashier for a bit.
	I liked it.
	All these people coming through and something like, what's up?
	Yeah.
	It is pretty fun.
	Cashier was fun.
	Stocking was fun.
	I didn't love getting the carts a lot of times.
	I didn't like to get the carts and putting the stuff back.
	And sometimes it was wet and you'd be like, well, it hadn't even been raining.
	Why is this cart all wet?
	Yeah, you wonder what you're touching.
	Yeah, just people are gross.
	I'm doing take backs, and I think they're peeling.
	They're opening.
	I'm like, oh.
	It would be very hectic.
	A lot of you.
	You never know what they're doing.
	Oh, yeah.
	It just felt insane.
	Like it was like a lot of eustachian fluid or something.
	I don't even know.
	But yeah, a lot of times it's very cool.
	Then I cleaned some houses and that one was kind of fun.
	Unless her house is really dirty.
	Yeah, some people are fun.
	And these were some richie people.
	And I'm like, yeah.
	But one time this old lady made me a sandwich, let me go in her pool.
	That was really cool.
	Uh-oh.
	Yeah.
	What?
	Was it your birthday or something?
	No.
	She just must have liked me because we started talking, you know?
	And sometimes I'll just make a friend and I get invited to a party.
	Yeah.
	Heck yeah.
	Real easy.
	Oh, yeah.
	Wow.
	Yeah.
	I get around somebody else and their friend is like, hey, you want to come to?
	I'm like, yeah, right.
	You know, I could be sitting at home doing nothing, having nothing, then bam, I'm at a party eating shrimp and also.
	So I'm like, this is insane.
	Yeah, so you never know what's going to happen.
	Your day can change.
	Yeah, your day can change.
	That's a great point.
	Yeah, rich, fancy, yeah, fancy people love shrimp, I feel like.
	Yeah, they do.
	And they like me.
	So I like it.
	Yeah.
	So where's your son at now?
	Is he?
	My son, he's a cable man in Maselin.
	And he told me to tell you because he's a big fan.
	All them guys watch.
	Oh, praise man.
	Tell me my son, what's up?
	What's his name?
	Joe.
	Joe, that's what's up.
	Joe Ansel?
	Joe Rocka.
	Joe Rocka, yeah.
	Wow, it sounds like he should be in prison.
	It's that name.
	Joe Rocka, right?
	Yeah, and I don't mean that don't go to prison, Joe.
	No.
	We want you out here, but hey, if you go away, bro.
	I'll send you commissary.
	Free Joey.
	I got your mother, Free Joey.
	Ah, that's a good one.
	Like Free Woolly.
	Free Joey, dude.
	Yeah, and then he's married.
	I got a great teacher, daughter-in-law.
	Oh, she's a teacher?
	Oh, yeah.
	No way.
	Great teacher after I've been around.
	Nope.
	She's in Massland.
	I'm in Cleveland.
	Wow.
	Yeah, she's from the better part and I'm from the ghetto.
	So we like share our stories.
	Yeah, we watch her little kids like and then you go to mine, you know, and you got it.
	It's two different, very different universes.
	Different universes.
	And I've been to both of them.
	So it's really funny to see.
	Oh, you have?
	Oh, yeah.
	I've went to places because I got grandkids.
	Oh, so you've worked at other schools in your own?
	No, I've subbed, but I've went to other schools with her.
	Oh, I've never seen her.
	I've never on her side yet to see what it was like.
	So lunch ladies will sub at another school?
	Back in the day they did, but there was a point when I just stopped.
	Yeah.
	Because I have a home plate and I didn't have to do it no more.
	You know, that was for the other people.
	So they still send subs and stuff, you know, around, but I quit subbing.
	And do you get at a certain point, do you get a pension?
	Do you want to say you get a pension?
	Oh, yeah.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	I get surs.
	It's like a retirement plan.
	So S-E-R-S.
	How long does that take to build up?
	I don't know anything about it.
	Well, like I've got 31, but my age, so like when I'm 57, I'll have 35 years and I can retire with the full benefits and cheaper insurance, all that.
	But my age is still there.
	You know what I mean?
	I'm not going to be 65, so I couldn't get it.
	Medicaid and all that.
	So there's a little, because I started too early.
	But hopefully I could, if as long as I'm healthy and running, I want to keep running.
	You can keep working.
	Oh, yeah.
	I don't want to sit at home.
	What am I going to do at home?
	Eat bomb bombs and get fat.
	Yeah.
	You just sit.
	Yeah.
	There's nothing to do.
	no, my brain won't quit talking.
	It's like, I got to go.
	Yeah.
	It's much better to talk to people than myself all the time.
	You know what I'm saying?
	Yeah.
	Did you ever try to go into your own business at any point or do you like working with a group?
	No, I like the group.
	I've never really tried.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Just didn't know if that was something that different people think about or not or sometimes do.
	Well, if I could have thought of something, you know, but I didn't know what else I would be good at.
	I mean, I'm sure I could have probably did something else, but I mean, I'm smart and I liked other jobs, but, you know, this is where I've been.
	Yeah, sometimes it's.
	I think it makes me more happy, too, to be around so many people.
	That's what I was thinking because doing your own thing can definitely be the other side of the tracks.
	You know, you just really, you can isolate a lot.
	Right, right, right.
	Any parents ever confront the lunch staff about anything?
	Does that ever happen?
	Oh, yeah.
	A couple times through the years.
	I don't think a lot of principal stuff wouldn't like let them, you know, but I've had fathers or something ask me something, you know.
	Like angry about a soup or angry about a porridge or something.
	My kid said that he didn't like that and something, you know, and it's like, y'all serving bad lambs.
	Right.
	You know, and I'm like, but not too many with me.
	I mean, I even talk to a lot of the parents because I've seen the kids so long.
	Yeah.
	So I try to be friendly with all of them, explain if they ask me something.
	But I don't try to get into too much riffraft because, you know, I live in the neighborhood.
	Right.
	So you want to keep things peaceful.
	You know, you're seeing me up at the grocery store with some parents like, yeah, there, there she is.
	Gosh, you're kind of like the Don Corleonea.
	Right.
	You know, you don't even know.
	I notice in nature, a lot of animals will kind of like fatten up for winter or whatever.
	Does that happen with children too, do you think?
	Yeah.
	I think so.
	I do.
	I think that they eat and they get more in for it.
	In the summertime, they're like wanting to run around so much out there, I see that they eat less.
	And I see their lunch, the garbage is heavier.
	Oh, really?
	In the summer?
	Than it is in the winter.
	I made a comment once and I'm like, wow, I noticed that.
	Huh.
	Yeah.
	Because they're wanting to run outside, I think.
	So you think in the summer they're throwing more stuff away?
	Whereas they're throwing out the bottom of the city.
	Yeah, because they want to, yeah, I do.
	Because they're sitting there and there's nothing else to do.
	They're not going outside, you know.
	But when they're like raring to go and it's beautiful out, like you, you'd be like, oh, forget it.
	I don't want to finish this, you know?
	Yeah.
	I mean, not me.
	I'm going to eat it real fast and then go, but, you know.
	That's a good point.
	Some kids are like, oh, it's too much fun out there.
	Right.
	That's why you're going to be able to do it.
	When you can feel your body want to go play like hide and go seek or something.
	You have to eat.
	Oh, it's the worst for a kid.
	Right.
	It's like, God, I don't want to be eating when I can be having fun.
	Yeah, you know it.
	What are the kids?
	Do they interact when they're at the table together and stuff?
	Like, what do kids do?
	Are they just kind of eat their lunch?
	No, they talk, argue.
	Yeah, they interact with each other and stuff through the whole lunch period and stuff like that.
	I can't really, I'm like dumb for a minute.
	I've been dumb for so long here.
	Take a minute.
	All right.
	Yeah.
	Do you ever see milk come out of a kid's nose?
	People always say that.
	Yeah.
	Oh, I saw that a couple times.
	Oh, yeah.
	And the other day, it was just funny to the other day, they're coming through the lunch line and they were playing outside too hard and the little boy just throwing up right in my lunch.
	Oh, yeah.
	And I'm like, okay, I'm going to look up.
	And everybody's like, I can't look at it.
	I'm like, well, come on, guys.
	Let's hurry up.
	Let's do this.
	Get them out of here.
	And I'm telling the little ones, quit looking.
	They're like, oh, yeah.
	But yeah, when stuff starts coming out of their nose because they're laughing or, yeah, they probably think of other things that they're going to do, you know.
	And you got to tell them, don't take that food because it's going to get warm and then you'll get sick.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Kids, I think they're, and they're just so like energetic at the time.
	They'll vomit for no reason a lot of times.
	Oh, yeah.
	Like somebody just pats them on the back or on the bottom.
	I know.
	That's what I was saying.
	Is it that?
	Yeah.
	See how the same one's still drawing on?
	He better quit playing.
	I would like him to eat first before it goes outside.
	And then let's put a diaper.
	Yeah, that's a game right, right?
	Are kids allowed to bring phones in school these days?
	Yes.
	No way.
	Yeah.
	They're supposed to not use this and that.
	So some of them have phones out during the day?
	I see kids with phones.
	No way.
	I cannot even imagine that.
	Yeah, I never had a phone back then.
	Yeah.
	Right.
	It was such a better vibe, I feel.
	Yeah, me too.
	I think that's too much on the phones.
	Yeah.
	What would you change about like the lunches that we serve to kids?
	Anything?
	Or do you feel pretty good about them?
	Right now, I'm feeling a little bit better about them.
	Like I said, this year, because he's bringing out more different things that I think the kids would like.
	We do a General Souls and rice.
	They'll do a General Soul's chicken?
	Yeah.
	It's good.
	I love it.
	I'd be messing it up on General Soul's Day.
	Yeah?
	Yeah.
	There's certain days that I get excited, you know, because I'm like, oh, I'm going to eat that.
	And will y'all save a little bit of the better side of things for yourselves?
	I mean, I might have a little bit more sauce on mine.
	Hey, you know, I made it.
	I think that's fair.
	So, yeah, I think that we, I do really believe that this year, I think, is like one of the best with it's coming with lunches and stuff for the variety of different things that we have.
	So he's moving up.
	Like I said, I'm interested to see more of what he does.
	The new guy that's because he's the order.
	He's the boss.
	He's the boss of like changing all that.
	And I've worked for about four different ones so far.
	Each one brings something different to the table.
	But right now, I'm liking what he's bringing.
	You know what I mean?
	What was one of the craziest things you guys ever served over the years?
	The hot dog that used to be in the beans and it would turn colors.
	And I had parents and aunts and people old to this day, so they asked me about those green hot dogs with beans.
	Really?
	Yeah, but I liked it.
	But it did, it would like turn some color because it was stuck in the beans.
	Yeah.
	Well, that's nature.
	I know.
	That's what I said.
	I would like, it's probably preservatives or something in it.
	I don't know.
	Oh, some of that's just natural preservatives.
	Yeah, I mean, we had this egg roll that was rolled out.
	Yeah, there's been a couple items that I would have been like, no.
	And I eat everything.
	I'm like Mikey, and there's nothing I wouldn't eat.
	They had an egg roll too for a while?
	Yeah.
	Yeah, the kids didn't really care for that egg roll.
	So bizarre.
	Yeah, I remember the bread they used to have.
	So, the bread was always made in one big pan, right?
	It was like a whole pan full of rolls.
	And ours always had this dust on them, and people would be like, that's flour.
	And I'd be like, it doesn't seem like flour.
	It just seems like dust.
	Oh, that's suffering.
	Yeah.
	So, so we were wrapping our rolls, and some of them will come like that, you know, with a whole bunch of, and I said to somebody like, what is that?
	They're like, just flour.
	That's a lot of flour on there.
	And the kids will see it.
	And I'm like, they're not going to believe it's flour.
	I said, it looks gross.
	I don't want to stir that one to it.
	It's just flour.
	Yep, exactly.
	That's exactly that, Sarah.
	Our just kind of like, I'm trying to think of the ones.
	Oh, we had a couple of these different ones.
	That one.
	Can you look up Dusty School Lunch Rolls?
	Yeah, maybe.
	Is everybody looking up Dusty School Lunch?
	Dusty School Lunch Rolls.
	Lunch rolls.
	Yeah, maybe soft red rolls.
	But you know, I've had the kids tell me, let's look, what's on this?
	And I'm like, it's flour.
	It's flour.
	I mean, it is flour.
	It doesn't seem like flour.
	It seems like science dust or something.
	Yeah, maybe yeasty dust.
	I don't know what.
	Yeah, it could be some powder, something.
	Sometimes I thought it would be like a powdered butter or something that they're putting on, but I could never figure it out.
	And they were never, they never got the rolls really that good.
	I didn't feel like.
	Yeah, we get different rolls like and bread.
	We order from different departments at different times.
	We had swables once.
	We had this.
	So the bread's not too bad, but you'll always find some that comes in, like you just said, with a whole pile of dust.
	I'd be like, what's that?
	A hamburger bun is covered.
	Yeah, that's what it is.
	I would be like, look, all this white.
	It was the hamburger buns.
	I think when they make them, they must just throw that flower at them after they unpack them.
	But it does look funny because people don't want to eat that because, you know.
	Yeah.
	And kids do make those comments.
	They notice anything on the food.
	Anything.
	If it looks just a little strange or something, they're going to make a comment on it, you know?
	But I hate to be like one of those.
	Yeah, it's just flour.
	I'm like, because everybody says flour.
	Like it's not.
	I know, but I'm like, I don't know.
	Is it?
	Do you guys ever serve Sloppy Joe's ever?
	We did.
	We haven't this year or whatever, but there was years we did.
	Some of the kids liked it.
	We had a teacher there years ago, and he did a little skit with me on that Sloppy Joe's.
	Oh, yeah, about Adam Tandler?
	Yeah.
	And I wore the white.
	When I first started, they gave me that white dress and all that.
	And you had to look.
	Oh, you had to dress a certain way?
	Yeah, but thank goodness that didn't last long for me.
	Pull up that outfit.
	We switched.
	Yeah, go on with that one white dress.
	And I'm young now, minding.
	I'm like, what the heck do you have to look like with these loafer shoes on this?
	Oh, you had to wear the hair.
	Yes.
	I remember that.
	And I saw it.
	They were like K-Swisses or something, sneakers.
	Exactly.
	Right there.
	That's what they gave me.
	One of those white, white.
	Wow.
	And so we did a little skit or whatever.
	It's around there somewhere on YouTube, somewhere.
	Who knows where it's at?
	But I put a mole on and all that.
	And we're going to go to the middle.
	Oh, we need a lunchtime to do Sloppy Joe's.
	Yeah.
	So it was fun.
	But they never serve them anymore, huh?
	No, they haven't served Sloppy Joe's for a long time.
	And the kids seem to like it.
	Yeah, and it was the only place you could get it at was school.
	That's what I'm saying.
	And it was such a bizarre thing.
	You were like, I don't even know what it is.
	Like, you know, what really is it?
	It's like, it's not a hamburger.
	Are you sure?
	Is that a sauce?
	We name them different things, but we just change a little.
	Well, you could always kind of tell.
	Is there stuff that if there's leftovers from the first day, then you'll use it in different recipes throughout the week?
	Yeah, huh?
	Because you don't want to waste stuff.
	No, all hot foods got to be thrown.
	Oh, really?
	Yeah, this is why you like, if you're the manager, you have to know not to overcook too much.
	Spaghetti.
	Right?
	But they like pasta and meatballs.
	Yeah.
	Oh, those meatballs, boy.
	They're hard to deal with?
	Yeah, for my hands.
	They seem to want to just throw.
	Then I start singing to the kids and I drop my poor meatball and be rolling.
	Oh, from that song?
	Yeah.
	What was that?
	That was a book, wasn't it?
	It was a book.
	When somebody sneezed, it rolled off the table and onto the floor.
	Then my Morton meatball was out the door.
	I remember that.
	We like to tease them and joke on the bottom.
	Top of spaghetti.
	Spaghetti.
	There it is.
	Spaghetti.
	Spaghetti.
	This coconut cake.
	And they love the mac and cheese.
	Mine.
	They love the mac and cheese.
	Yeah.
	They love the mac and cheese.
	God, who doesn't, though?
	Right.
	I was just going to say, who don't like cheese?
	You know, anything you got to put cheese on is good.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, that's really the thing that everybody loves.
	How big is y'all's school these days?
	You're at this side school.
	Yeah, I'm at the side school, but we're doing 600.
	But when we go back to this new one that they're building down the road for me, it's going to be huge.
	And then they're going to take and knock down the school down the road and put two schools to one.
	So I should have over a thousand by then.
	Wow.
	But hopefully I get more help, you know.
	Yeah.
	The short staff ain't what you want to hear all the time.
	That's true.
	And you've already had carpal tunnel.
	You've already.
	You know, that's what I said.
	I'll just keep going.
	Yeah.
	I'll figure it out.
	You're like the Aaron Rodgers of the lunch lady.
	Yeah, I know, Ryan.
	I like it.
	You really are.
	But we need you back out there.
	What happened during the time off with the surgery?
	Well, I did the summer.
	I didn't take off because I don't like to really miss work.
	So I didn't take off.
	I just went and had the surgery right after we got out of school.
	But then it wasn't really healing as good.
	I think I messed it up a little bit as I went back earlier.
	Did you?
	Yeah, but it's all right.
	It's hard not to use your hands.
	I mean, it's hard.
	I mean, if I try, if you put a hand, it's too hard.
	So this one I just got a shot.
	Broosters do it.
	chickens kind of do it, right?
	Yeah, if I could be like a chicken, I don't want to say they're dumb, I don't know a lot of them, but some of them are.
	I mean, a lot of them are dumb.
	What are they used to doing?
	I don't want them to hear me say it, but I know, right?
	We see chickens all the time, and I watch them cross the street and then come back.
	Yeah, yeah, people got chickens everywhere.
	Really?
	By you?
	Yeah.
	Huh.
	Wonder why.
	I don't know.
	For the eggs, I think.
	Probably sell the eggs.
	Maybe they're going to get a golden egg.
	Yeah, my sister had some chickens in her home, I think.
	Or she did anyway.
	Some of them might have gotten out.
	What else?
	Anything in the news?
	Let me think of something I was going to ask you about.
	I'm still looking for floating gay witches.
	Yeah, when you look at gay.
	Yeah.
	You know what?
	Yes.
	Anything on that sinking gay witchcraft?
	I found not the gay part, but the witch part you're spot on about.
	You said not the gay part.
	Bring it up.
	The ordeal usually involved the tying of a suspect's wrist to their ankles and then throwing the individual into a body of water with ropes attached.
	Wow.
	Contrary to popular belief, if the suspect sank, they were presumed innocent and hauled up.
	It was not common for them to perish unless they did so accidentally.
	Should they float, however, this was taken as confirmation of their alliance with the devil.
	So you had to sink.
	So if you didn't know how to sink, the premise of this ordeal was that it provoked direct intervention from God in determining the guilt or innocence of the accused, and the result was therefore seen as a revelation of God's judgment.
	And you better put something in your, make sure you're sinking.
	You better eat a heavy lunch.
	You know, something.
	Well, I'm not a swim, so I'm sinking.
	You better eat a heavy lunch.
	Right?
	Anything else we need to know about the trade, about the lunch trade, about the industry?
	Anything?
	You said there was men infiltrating the business.
	Is that?
	There's a couple of men, yeah, that's working in the kitchens now.
	And is that new?
	Is that?
	I think they've been there for a minute.
	And are these bisexual men or is it all types of men, you think?
	All types.
	Yep.
	Yeah, all types.
	Everybody loves lunch, baby.
	Oh, they do.
	Yeah, I love it.
	I love it.
	I don't care if I loved men or women.
	I would still make lunch for myself and others.
	Well, yeah, me too.
	I don't care who it is.
	Yeah.
	Same here.
	You got to eat.
	Everybody's got to eat.
	That's why I tell them you got to eat.
	That's how I feel.
	I don't care.
	Yeah, I'm just trying to think of anything else we want to learn about the industry.
	We've learned who the kids come in.
	We've learned that sometimes you have to step over and give them a hug if they're having a tough time.
	We learned sometimes they bring cats and snakes through just because that's what's going on.
	The food plan.
	What about, I know, didn't they have, Michelle Obama had a program a few years back.
	Yeah, we got quite a few things dropped off and stuff, and she gave a lot of stuff out to parents.
	It was called Get Right.
	What was that program called?
	It was.
	The Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act changed nutrition standards for the National School Lines Program by requiring that schools serve more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and or low-fat milk more frequently and less starchy vegetables or foods high in sodium and trans fat.
	Did that take effect?
	Did you actually see that happen in the school system?
	Because a lot of things that politicians and, you know.
	Yes, they really did that and they came out and gave boxes of the whole entire like meals to parents and stuff and told them how to do it with the spices, everything.
	Oh, wow.
	And also they give them a bag of fruit each week to take home.
	They have a lot of free fruit and vegetable program.
	And then once a month we have free like produce and everything outside.
	So parents, everybody comes and gets it.
	Oh, wow.
	So there's a lot of stuff from y'all at school that's available for the community that you guys don't use at school.
	Yeah, nothing to do with you.
	Right, exactly.
	Wow.
	Yeah, it's amazing.
	Yeah.
	Like I said, there's always trucks dropping off that they put stuff in the kids' book bags for them to take home for a meal for the weekend.
	So, yeah.
	Your mom ever come over to the school and get a meal from you?
	Well, I had a stepmom.
	Oh, you did?
	She passed.
	Oh, she passed away?
	Yeah, but I didn't like her food anyway.
	You didn't?
	No.
	Or her much, but it's cool.
	We'll talk about that.
	Hey, look, it's tough.
	Stepmoms are hard to retire.
	I have my real mom, but she's never came to the school together.
	She hasn't?
	No.
	Oh.
	She should come get a meal.
	She's still alive?
	Yeah.
	Oh, yeah?
	And where does she live in Illinois?
	No, wrong corner from me.
	Oh, she does?
	Yeah.
	You guys just aren't super close?
	We see each other.
	She just doesn't come to the school.
	Yeah.
	I'm trying to think.
	Don't they have Parents' Day or something at the school where parents come?
	Parents, yeah, they come in, they see stuff, but my principal and stuff feeds them.
	Like they don't eat our school's food, so I have other food brought in for them and they'll eat.
	Can a kid have an older brother or a family member come and have lunch with them at school one day or no?
	Oh, yeah.
	Oh, yeah.
	Sure.
	That happens a lot.
	Oh, yeah.
	Oh, that's cool.
	Yeah, that's fun.
	We got a lot of, yeah, and you got a lot of siblings.
	You'll have like five related, you know, in the school system.
	In the school, yeah.
	Yeah.
	So that's nothing for that.
	Do you guys ever do like pep rallies and stuff like that ever?
	What's that energy?
	Yeah, they, well, they'll just start, yeah, because they could have high energy, you know, because we get rowdy.
	And then when I hear them, I get rowdy.
	So then I go running through the thing, you know, and make them clap.
	And then the teacher like, there's no little signing, you know, so most of them kind of know that I'm going to do it.
	Oh, yeah.
	You know, or like when they have dancers, they're like, here she comes, watch.
	Because you get antsy, you know, I'm like, I'm hearing it.
	How am I supposed to just sit in here and work when I got to go over there?
	You know?
	Yeah.
	So.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	I'm trying to think.
	Do you still feel like you're in school a little bit?
	Is there a, is this?
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	yeah, I'm like 50. I still feel like I've never got out of school.
	Yeah, yeah, that's pretty cool.
	It is kind of, yeah, it's like, and then it's funny because I talk to people and I'm like, yeah, I got to go to school, but really, I'm going to work.
	But they probably are thinking, man, she's the longest in school.
	I never seen somebody in school so long.
	Because I never say work.
	I just say I'm going to school.
	You're like, God, you think that she graduated, you know?
	They're probably thinking, dang, she's still in school.
	Do you think some kids probably mostly eat at school and don't eat at home in your area?
	Yes.
	Really?
	A lot of them.
	Yeah, we have children you wouldn't know from that are homeless and from everywhere, and they go to school.
	No way.
	Oh, yeah.
	Yeah.
	Is there homeless in your area?
	Yes.
	Oh, wow.
	A lot.
	Wow.
	That's crazy, huh?
	Yeah, definitely.
	Yeah, it's got different over the neighborhood, too, you know.
	Yeah.
	Lower, lower, yeah.
	Yeah, I think you're seeing a lot of homeless.
	With homelessness on the rise, the Supreme Court waives ban on sleeping outdoors.
	Oh, yeah.
	What is that going to do?
	I love how they rephrase it to being sleeping outdoors.
	Pull this up a little bit more.
	The Supreme Court wrestled with major questions about the growing issue of homelessness on Monday as it considered whether cities can punish people for sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking.
	It's the most significant case before the high court in decades on the issue and comes as record numbers of people are without a permanent place to live in the United States.
	What?
	So the case started on, the case started in the rural Oregon town of Grants Pass, which began fining people $295.
	They can't even pay for it.
	They're homeless.
	They don't even have nowhere to go.
	For sleeping outside as the cost of housing escalated and tents sprung up in the city's public parks.
	That's unbelievable.
	Because, yeah, you're like, where are people supposed to go?
	Well, they got a lot of, they make a lot of spots over there, like Tent City and stuff.
	Yeah.
	So there's places that you see a lot of homeless.
	But I wonder if they would also have to, is that considered sleeping outside?
	I don't know.
	I couldn't see how – how are you going to give them a fine?
	If you have a tint, I feel like you're – Trying to make a home?
	Yeah.
	I mean, somebody's making a house, right?
	Well, yeah.
	And some rent is so expensive.
	What do you expect someone to do?
	Oh, yeah.
	You know, especially if people get caught up on, you know, people get caught up into drugs pretty easily.
	Well, there's a lot of that going now.
	Yeah.
	Well, especially when we advertise drugs on television in this country like it's like it's a new toy.
	Right, right.
	You know, every single one.
	So you can't be shocked when people end up on drugs.
	Right.
	And then now they're stuck outside.
	And yeah, we don't have a place for them.
	Gosh, that's unbelievable.
	Yeah, imagine getting a ticket.
	Yeah, I'd be laughing at them.
	What do you want me to do with this?
	I'll use it for wipe, you know, because I don't even have a home.
	I don't even have a job.
	where are you going to get 295 from me?
	I'm like, Give me a whole roll of tickets.
	Can you give me some more tickets, right?
	Hey, give me the soft ones.
	I mean, what are they going to do with put me in jail for a minute?
	Then I have a home and I can go to the bathroom and get a meal.
	I mean, if that's going to be.
	Gosh.
	Right?
	You're rude.
	Unbelievable.
	Or they'll probably make them start, they'll make schools start feeding the people, maybe.
	Did you ever try a homeless feeding program at your school?
	Yes.
	Really?
	Yes.
	And as a matter of fact, in 2020, when all of them was at home, I was out there with N95 mask and we made, my custodian made me this drive-through door because it was close enough.
	Your custodian made it for you?
	Yeah, it was really cool when I came in.
	Yeah.
	And so I could just, it was like, but anybody come at the door and we would give them food.
	So I gave a lot of food away around those couple months.
	Yeah.
	Students and homeless people?
	Students, homeless people.
	Wow.
	Yeah.
	Anybody.
	Anybody and everybody.
	Dang.
	Yeah.
	You saw some crazy stuff.
	Did you?
	Oh, I mean, you know.
	But hey, at least it was free food.
	There wasn't, you should, you wasn't hungry because there was lots of places to get free food from.
	Yeah, people got to eat.
	Yeah.
	You know?
	I feel like if I put my glasses on, we look a little bit the same.
	You're a lot cuter, though.
	A little bit.
	I'm half Polish, are you?
	Yeah.
	Holab.
	Yeah.
	Holab.
	Hold up.
	Hold up.
	Holub.
	Weeding, boys.
	I know, right?
	What are some things you've overheard kids say that have been funny?
	Anything funny that comes out of your head over the years that are anything interesting or like, because you're right there on the eavesdropping.
	I know.
	It's just like, it's so hard to think of things at the time.
	I mean, I eavesdrop all the time.
	Don't get me wrong.
	Amen.
	Because I hear stuff I'm not supposed to hear.
	I just try not to even, you know.
	Yeah.
	I'm thinking they did what?
	And they're only what?
	So.
	Oh, kids making out or whatever.
	Different things that they talk through.
	And I'm like, oh man, I don't even want to hear all that now.
	So I try to act like I'm not listening.
	But like some will talk sometimes like long time ago, maybe about their parents or you get a little bit more scoop than you should know.
	Things going on.
	And things going on that, yeah, you probably shouldn't know.
	Yeah.
	People smoking this.
	Yeah.
	Well, they're close, smell like when they come in.
	Oh, you kind of knew their mom did it.
	Anything on this sunken gaze, man?
	Bring it.
	You got an image on it at least?
	Absolutely nothing.
	Just show me the first image that comes up if you do it sunken gaze or witchcraft.
	There we go.
	There we go.
	Oh, my God.
	Hey, look.
	And just go to Google, too, and let me see what they have for it if you put it in there.
	Okay, sinking gay men and put backslash witchcraft.
	I'm serious, man.
	This was a big thing while I was growing up.
	And go to images, see what we get.
	Right there.
	Bring that picture up.
	Oh, so we get a picture of the Navy.
	Yeah, see, this is, well, I don't think that that's what.
	Right?
	I don't think that's what we're talking about.
	Melissa, Anslaw, I want to thank you so much for your service literally for being a smile that people can see when they cross through the middle of their day.
	You know, you're kind of like the meridian in the Ocean, you know, where like the time zone kind of changes when you cross it.
	And I think that that's special.
	I know that that's important for a lot of kids.
	Just to have somebody in the middle of the day to offer them a big smile, you know, that goes a long way.
	I think just in the universe.
	And yeah, thank you for coming and spending time with us and helping us reminisce a little bit about what it was like to go to lunch and have a lovely lady stand there and help us out, help us get through it.
	Thank you.
	Yeah.
	And thank you so much for coming.
	Thank you for having me.
	Now I'm just floating on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these leaves.
	I must be cornerstone.

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