Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To report to school what my DD told me about this lunchtime supervisor?

547 replies

Namechangingforthis2019 · 14/09/2019 14:03

Dd(8) told me that yesterday she saw a lunchtime supervisor take a fish finger off the tray at the serving hatch with her fingers and eat it. Dd said no other adults saw, she has seen this staff member do this before.
Would you email school and pass on what dd said?

A few bits of context -

  • I believe dd, she is not likely to have made this up
  • lunchtime supervisor has been working there about 30 years. She’s very harsh with the kids (based on what dd has told me) and anecdotally other parents have said even the staff are a bit scared of her!
  • school has an outbreak of norovirus last week so have been very hot on infection control, washing hands etc.

I know she probably didn’t touch anyone else’s food, but it’s not right is it? If nothing else it’s unprofessional and sets a bad example to the kids. But I don’t want to bother the school if it’s not really a big deal.

Would you report it or leave it?

Yabu = I should not report it
yanbu = I should email the school about it

OP posts:
PhilCornwall1 · 15/09/2019 09:05

More likely, as pp suggested, they'll print off her email and frame it in the kitchen, and all have a good laugh. Another poster pointed out that she'd be known as Fishfinger Mum forever more.

Swiftly followed by another thread in AIBU from the head of the school asking they are being unreasonable for laughing along with everyone else in the school.

Aprillygirl · 15/09/2019 09:14

Red herring

Pollocks.

SeptemberSoon · 15/09/2019 09:36

@Namechangingforthis2019 I am appalled at some of the replies you've received here. And I'm amazed you've had the good grace to try and take it on the chin the way you have.

People... please be kind! Have your opinions, of course, but be kind with them. There is no need to mock and ridicule either the op or her daughter. We all have sufferings in life, you don't know what the OP's may be and there is no need. Showing an 8 year old what adults are saying here is of course a bad idea, whether that 8 year old is sensitive or not.

I can imagine a scenario where an 8 year old would include something a little bit different that she noticed in her account of how the school day went. It's not every day you see a server eating the food everyone knows is intended for the children lining up! Most children are surely taught not to eat with their fingers or while serving food... thinking passing biscuits around... you don't much crumbs all over the plate as you hand it around, do you? Or maybe some do! But my point is, it's normal for a child to notice this is different. I wonder how many of us would be happy to be services a plate of chips by a waiter who decided to eat one or two chips off our plate on the way to the plate reaches us? I think most people would spuffle about that. So it's reasonable for the op to discuss this with other people.

To the op, dinner ladies can be wonderful and they can also (more rarely) be quite cruel. This one doesn't sound very nice, especially if everyone is afraid of her. I wouldn't report her personally as it could seem petty and an attempt to move her on because she's not very nice. If I were in charge of the kitchens I'd want people to refrain from eating fish fingers or anything else like that, unless when we are clearing up there are loads about to be binned. Then I'd say fill your boots! Just not when you're doing the job of being a server. What if the kids decided to copy and grab one on the way along the line? You can't have that going on and it's true, it's not the best example. She might have been hungry but if you're a dinner lady you usually only work for 1-2 hours and so it's really easy to eat before or after that time.

Whatever other peoples' opinions are, you don't deserve the hard words you received. People do say AIBU can attract this sort of thing but it's hard to see it happen and I'm sorry it happened to you.

TriciaH87 · 15/09/2019 10:14

My kids school consider it as theft because they cook to how many portions have been ordered and that would mean a child who has paid for dinner not having their full dinner. It's unhygienic if she did not wash her hands before and after also as she could have been handling raw produce causing cross contamination so who's to say she didn't do so the previous week causing the virus to spread.

carsonforPM · 15/09/2019 10:16

It's not about what the child saw or told OP it's about the OP wanting to report it to school

OP initial post

Yabu = I should not report it
yanbu = I should email the school about it

If you are a snowflake then don't post on AIBU

OctoberLovers · 15/09/2019 10:21

You need to give your head a wobble

OooErMissus · 15/09/2019 10:32

OP - I strongly recommend checking in with Mumsnet before doing, well, pretty much anything.

Just to be on the safe side.

😂

Juells · 15/09/2019 10:35

I strongly recommend checking in with Mumsnet before doing, well, pretty much anything.

If emailing the school about a stolen fish finger is an example of the OP's decision-making, your advice is right.

carsonforPM · 15/09/2019 10:36

@Juells well said 🤣

DieBabySharkDie · 15/09/2019 10:43

Get a grip Hmm

TheNestedIf · 15/09/2019 11:50

Red herring

Pollocks

That was brill.

PlaceYourItemInTheBaggingArea · 15/09/2019 12:00

I can't believe this is still going on.

The woman in question should be given an opporTUNAty to give her side of the story.

Juells · 15/09/2019 12:02

😂

Is there a ray of hope that the OP will have seen sense?

ElizaDee · 15/09/2019 12:04

Anyone else having fish fingers, chips and beans for dinner now 😂

SchadenfreudePersonified · 15/09/2019 12:15

This is genuinely one of the most sensible posts I have ever read on Mumsnet. I hope you don't mind but I took a note of it, I think it's cracking advice.

Our Great Minds think alike joblotbubble.

I've taken a note, too, and intend to put it on our church notice board. Because of reasons. Hmm

Bigmango · 15/09/2019 12:29

Wow - school is definitely back on isn’t it. This along with the P-phile thread are making me very glad I am not currently teaching.

Devonishome1 · 15/09/2019 12:49

I would have had to eaten more than one fish finger.....they are delicious. Who could resist one!

spanglydangly · 15/09/2019 12:59

@ElizaDee fish fingers should be served in a soft roll with tartare sauce! Yum!

carsonforPM · 15/09/2019 13:31

The woman in question should be given an opporTUNAty to give her side of the story.

Perhaps the lunch supervisor will sea kelp over her fishy addiction 😂

LolaSmiles · 15/09/2019 14:17

Bigmango
The actual teaching is great!

The hilariously ridiculous complaints and issues that come your way range from the infuriatingly unpleasant and confrontational to the staff room banter stories. You've got to see the funny side otherwise you'd go insane

TheNestedIf · 15/09/2019 14:20

For Cod's Hake. Are we still at it?

PortiaCastis · 15/09/2019 14:24

Are we still at it
Afraid sole!

PhilCornwall1 · 15/09/2019 14:24

We are and this thread has warmed the cockles of my heart

PortiaCastis · 15/09/2019 14:25

Still carping on

PlaceYourItemInTheBaggingArea · 15/09/2019 14:29

Perhaps the lunch supervisor will sea kelp over her fishy addiction

I doubt it, she seems like a right Codzilla!

Swipe left for the next trending thread