Grape day...

Each and every day, I get the opportunity to do something only a select few teachers get to do...lunch duty! Yes, instead of having a study hall, I get to monitor the lunch room for 2 of the 3 lunch periods one high school, the other junior high. Each day I remind myself about how I went to school for 5 years to clean up garbage and wipe down tables. The worst days are grape days (which are usually 2 consecutive days because they need to use up extras from day 1). For whatever reason, a large percentage of the student population is obsessed with throwing grapes, eventually with them landing on the floor. By the time 800+ students are done with the grape throwing/stepping process, it's quite a mess. I feel bad for the custodians who then have to go through and scrape the smashed grapes off the floor.

Every time we have grapes I shutter. However, I have recently realized that no matter what is on the menu, they will always find something to throw, smash, etc. making it ________ day. Smuckers PB&J wrappers, burger wrappers, cookie wrappers are always on the top of my list of pick up items. In almost an entire trimester of lunch duty, the cooks have yet to threaten to take away the ketchup (this happened a lot back at Kingsland!). A staple on the menu each day are apples. I pick up and toss enough apples and napkins to feed a 3rd world country. By now i have figured out where to stand to make sure garbage gets in the garbage and silverware does not get put in the garbage. High school kids are mellow, content with eating, visiting and texting. Jr high on the other hand, the last 10 minutes are pretty frightening.

Lucky for me, there are perks to this assignment. Each day, I get a free lunch. That's right, the food i complained about in high school is what I eat each and every day now, not only because it's free but because i'm too lazy to bring my own anyway. Besides that, I use my duty as a classroom management technique. When kids are bratty, I show up on days like "grape day" with a pair of gloves and they get to stay and help clean up. I get such satisfaction out of that and it works every time.

Well it's Friday. 14 days left of school until summer, 3 more full days with seniors, but who's counting....