I republished this post on June 17th 2019 to celebrate 10 years of blogging. It was originally published on February 15th 2010. When this was first published, I was living on campus at York University’s Glendon College Campus. Since I didn’t have kitchen access, I had to rely on the campus cafeteria. So, before I knew it the cafeteria staff knew exactly who I was. And they had a gift for keeping a conversation going, no matter how talkative I felt.

Before that, only family and my closest friends had such a profound ability to challenge my world view.  For the longest time, I really felt like I could talk to the cafeteria ladies. I really felt like I could tell them anything. Because their cooking process felt a bit like a Christmas or Thanksgiving meal. My only regret: I wish I asked them about their day and their lives more often.  The drama club I was part of at Glendon continues to be a major influence on my approach to my work. Because it exposed me to a lot of theatre that challenged my world view. This is a monologue I wrote but never showed to anyone. The speaker is one of the lunch ladies I’d see the most often. At Glendon, we used to call her “momma” because of her maternal vibe.

Monologue for a play

To me, it was too much. It was one of those weeks where things get tough and nothing goes right it got just so … so busy and the hours so long. Every moment felt like it lasted forever, and I rarely even got to even sit down.

All my friends tell me I should quit but truthfully I can’t ‘cause then I would be supporting nobody.

Working in this cafeteria it hard work you know, really hard work and sometimes it just too much for anybody. And that what our boss doesn’t realize ‘cause he doesn’t even listen to the students that complain.

He gives them that cold “I just don’t care look” and then leaves them with false promises that don’t help anybody.

We don’t complain either because we know he will simply treat us the same.

I think the one thing that keeps me going here is the customers. The nice ones I mean. The customers come. Or we see them walking just outside the cafeteria and we see them for that one moment as they live their lives. And it’s as if things halt for that one moment. We watch them living and just being plain people.

With how kind they are to us we don’t need company. And we don’t need any TV.

One day I’ll stop working here and do something great with my life. Maybe I’ll go back to school and I’ll no longer have to deal with him anymore. Till then it’s cooking and cleaning in a kitchen. That’s something I’m good at but some days can’t even stand ’cause the hours are so long and just so overwhelmingly …. warm. Warmer than I wanna deal with for a long period of time without sitting down.

The students stop by on occasion and me and my co-workers we joke about this and that and I at least glad I got nice people to talk to and a pay-cheque of sorts to bring home that will bring steady bits of money into my family home … ’cause that what more important no matter what that what it will be till the day I get myself something better, something I enjoy and were things not so god damn unfair. Don’t get me a wrong I’m a fortunate person … just not fortunate in the way people think fortunate is. I sing every morning perhaps more cheery than most of the students in the morning hour and I met so many wonderful people. I got money coming in and a happy life surrounded by good people…it just sometimes people are unfair and there are ways that this can all get better.

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