The Lunch Nazi

I took the day off work last Friday, in part so I could attend Chris' end-of-year school singing performance. After sleeping in 'til 10:30 (which was WONDERFUL), I stopped and got carry-out Skyline Chili to take lunch to the boys at school--a break from the usual dining hall fare. While we were enjoying our lunch, one of the lunch ladies suddenly raised her arm and made a "peace" sign and repeatedly (and annoyingly) started blowing a whistle. The noise level was evidently too high for her.

It got a little quieter, and she seemed placated. However, a few minutes later the hand and whistle started up again. This time she made everyone stop talking and had one of the kids recite the cafeteria rules.

I have a several problems with this:

1. The noise level wasn't ever very loud. For a room with 100 or so elementary school kids, I would say it was pretty darn quiet. It's often louder in my office than it was in that cafeteria.

2. The kids were very well behaved. No food was flying, nobody was punching anyone--they were just talking to each other. Isn't that what you do at lunch?

3. The kids actually had the cafeteria rules memorized. This disturbs me...how often do they recite these rules. Daily? Weekly? Obviously this isn't the first time it's happened.

4. The kids get only about 20 minutes to eat. I don't appreciate 10 percent of this time being taken up by a recitation of the cafeteria rules.

Lunch is the time for the kids to be able to vent a little and talk to their friends. I agree that you can't just let them go wild and swing from the chandaliers, but to demand a large room full of kids to keep their volume to a whisper is asking too much. Let them be kids.

By the way, Chris' performance was excellent.