Little gifts.
Then it stopped.
But we still had parties. Birthday cakes. Baby showers. Moving upward and onward celebrations.
Then eventually, layoff sendoffs.
Awkward.
"Sorry about your job. Here's some cake. In a room full of decorations you'll recognize from every other event we've ever had in here. We bought you a card at the Dollar General. And we all contributed a couple bucks to stuff in there. You know, since we all still get paychecks."
That dwindled too. There aren't enough Friday afternoons in the year for everyone to get their own layoff sendoff.
Now the admin tries. A
And today there is a breakfast. A potluck breakfast.
There is lots of potluck stuff in social work. And man alive, people can cook.
Sometimes we eat to cope.
Sometimes we cook to eat.
Sometimes we cope alot.
Years ago there was a lady who worked with us who was an AMAZING cook. Anything that came out of her kitchen would be gone in three minutes. She owned a catering business, ran it out of her house. AMAZING. Cakes pies casseroles side dishes cookies main dishes candies. You couldn't go wrong.
Then one day a grant came out from the City. Something about home repairs for Philadelphia home owners who's homes were in serious disrepair. It was along side the time when they were demolishing abandoned and dilapidated homes. I guess it was cheaper to fix some of them than it was to buy them to knock them down.
I love that you can raise a house, and also raze a house. English is fun.
This woman applied for the grant. And turned in her grant application to the office, as it had a better chance of getting in the right hands that way. And the application wasn't in an envelope.
And the application clearly stated that her house was next to an abandoned house. And there were holes in her house that opened up into the abandoned house. And rats and mice and roaches and centipedes poured into her house from the broken house. And her son could climb in the holes and into the abandoned house. Where there were rats and mice and roaches and centipedes. And squatters.
And that pretty much put an end to me eating at potlucks.
I gave our secretary $10 and took the morning off.
I hope everyone at the office is enjoying their breakfast.
12 degrees {comments}:
then again, restaurant work has shown me that even the Health Department can't fix everything.
and knowing people who work in grocery stores and markets has shown me that you're basically screwed no matter what.
Lent is coming and many will START the fast, instead of BREAK the fast.
Most are slow to fast regardless.
I too, love the English language, but get flummoxed at dangling participles. (blush here).
This caught my eye:
"I love that you can raise a house, and also raze a house. English is fun."
Yesterday, I was taking an ASL (American Sign Language) class in my home by private tutor. She is so good, her hands move and winds are created, so I can lower the furnace.
I went deaf recently, but read lips well. But I can not read lips, and look at hands signing a word at the same time. Choose one!
So I read her lips to see what is said, then watch a repeat of the sign, then confirm it all so she knows, I know.
I tell you, this deaf business is exhausting.
Anyway, she was stringing words into sentences (I already have the alphabet down ok; and ironically, if you signal a hand sign to someone and say "okay", you put your thumb and index finger together and wave to the person, "okay". All of us have done this.
But in ASL, that is the letter "F" and when you do the same expression meaning "OKAY" to the English speaking among us, you have just signed to someone that they are an asshole.
[See the movie "Mr. Holland's Opus" where his grown, deaf son is signing furiously at a perplexed music teacher, and signs a word that Holland does not know. He asks the Mrs. , "What did he just say?" She replies "Asshole!"
It really does look like "Okay".]
So we are stringing words into sentences, and in ASL the Object comes before subject and verb, and skip prepositions please, and my tutor's face grew ...well, slightly pissed.
I got the word wrong and neither of us would give ground.
So I resorted to the alphabet and finger spelling to see where we were going astray and not communicating at all.
We found it.
She previously taught me how to sign the word "missed" as "I missed the street turn"
I had that word down pat.
But as I read her lips later, the word coming out as read by me, was "mist".
I defy anyone to look at a lip and see "missed" and "mist" as different words. Exhausted again.
And if you hold your open palm and tap the right side of your lip, you are having a "beer". This requires a tapping palm.
Move the same palm over to the middle of your lip, and hold it with no tapping, you have just informed the person, they are a "bitch".
"Bitch" and "beer" are too close for me to discern....yet.
And now, we return to our regularly scheduled comments.
Have a marvelous weekend....
and a beer!
"Okay"?
I've worked in restaurants. I just enjoy that the food tastes good and I didn't have to cook it. I don't think about the other stuff. If I did, I'd never eat outside my own home again.
-->Sweet baby Jesus, that is disgusting.
We don't do potlucks much here but at my old job there were certain invididuals who I'd just happen to have a full plate when passing the item they brought in.
I guess you just have to hope that cooked items killed a lot of the germs...
This is also why my family is ALWAYS nice to the wait staff when we eat out. To the point, our waiter/waitress usually tell us how nice we are. Score, no spit in our soup.
I love this post.
I feel sad for that lady.
oh my gosh ick i have never thought in these terms about potlucks, which kind of turn into mad dash buffets for me. all you can eat is my favorite way to eat. you did this to me with your milk post too...udder pus. i'll never forget.
i think we all have that woman who makes awesome stuff at potlucks. i hope mine doesn't have a house issue like yours!! i may have to opt for the $10 deal too.
i have a friend who will only eat shrimp when dining out- it's the only meat that you can absolutely identify. she's got a point.
happy eating!!
Surface appearances can be so deceiving. I was doing laundry the other day. One of the driers opened while operating and a bunch of clothes burst out. They were dingy and really looked like they were still dirty. I saw a bit of grass on a sock. I looked around for the owner, but saw no one looking at the mess on the floor. I walked around and saw a lady who look very unkempt. I asked "Is this your drier?" She winced at the stained laundry load and shook her head. Then a girl, about 25 y/o, wearing designer jeans, a bag more expensive than my rent, and cool sunglasses, bent over and began to pick up HER clothes.
I think I stared. Then I apologized to the unkempt lady.
I've never been a fan of potlucks and now I'm even less so.
In some countries, those would be an added form of protein. Maybe they are what made that food so amazing. Maybe centipedes really taste like heaven.
I hope I never find out if that's true.
As a social worker, I've been in too many garbage houses belonging to people who "cater". I no longer go to work potlucks.
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