26 October 2014

Sunday

Yet another example of Nannyland ineptitude

Lunch has been served and duly eaten. A sandwich, three slices of ham lunch meat and one piece of American cheese (which has never been milk in its entire existance, hence the misnomer of cheese). A small cup of three bean marinated salad, and a small cup of chunks of pineapple round out the meal. There was no soup. A packet of crackers was included in the condiments, but there was no soup. A lunch often is compromised of soup and sandwich, except here at Nannyland where everything is tempered by the mantra of “Save a penny whatever the result”.

I have been here too long. I remember the day about year ago when as many of the residents were gathered in the first floor dayroom for a meeting with the new kitchen director, a woman who came on board this floundering ship of warehousing and greif. The company had let its former kitchen staff go and hired on a new company to deliver the food services, Sydexo. The plan was decietful in its practice in that the former employees were all rehired as Sydexo employees. This has been done by many organizations I order to make even greater savings than could be achieved than before. Often the pay or benefits are diminished of the old, rehired employees. In the end the employees are the ones who endup hurting as a reasult of this kind of skulduggery. But to the larger organization the attractiveness is the promixe of a significant cost savings. This sort of business switching has gone on across the country, most recently in the state of Michigan's Prisons. Which have been in the news quite a bit recently for the employees of the food service company caught bringing contraband into the prisons, having sexual relations with peisoners on site, serving tainted meat and other raw food stores found to be infested with maggots.

Most often the efforts to save money end up harming the original recipients of the service being pruned.

During that meeting years ago we, the residents, were told that there would be soup served every day, homemade soups, not out of a can. My initial thought went to the prisoners of the German Third Reich, whose meals often were nothing more than thin, watery soups of dubious background, many times bearing naught of a vegetable or meat ingredient. Then I thought of all the commercial canned soups that are needlessly thickened with wheat flour, that I can't eat. So, although I greeted this homemade soup everyday announcement with guarded acceptance, I took a “Show me” attitude.

So far the 'soup a day' promise has been carried through about two or three days a week. The variety shows little imagination as the same varieties rotate through chicken noodle, cream of musroom or cream of broccoli, minestrone (which looks surprisingly as if made from leftover veggies served earlier in the week), and tomato soup. There never is any black bean soup, white bean soup also known as Senate Bean Soup, even seasonal specialties like squash soup , or even pumpkin soup. Due to these vagaries I tend to disbelieve the homemade soup designation. It was probably a bit of hyperbole lifted from the pracise of American deciet and public relations.

Its a nice clear, sunny autumn day. I can see it out my window. Just the kind of day for a big draught of hearty homemade soup. I got the crackers served on my tray, but the soup has come up missing. The CENA made two calls to the kitchen. One said the soup was chicken noodle. They must have decided that I couldn't eat it due to the noodles, Ihave told them before that I can drink the soup from the bowl leaving the noodles behind. The next call resulted in no soup.

Yet another nice day made a little more unbearable by someone making decisions for me that limit my expeiences. Just another day in Nannyland, sigh!

And they call this caretaking.