Dinner Money Silliness

[jennifleurs]

DS just recently changed to school dinners and I was unsure of the correct etiquette with money etc. It costs £9.75 per week.

Sent him with a £10 note 2 consecutive weeks expecting change, none came home. 3rd week sent £10 and noted on envelope please can you give DS the change. School office phoned me to say that no, they cannot send DS or any child home with change as "it would be too much work".

I thought this rather snappy remark was interesting, and pondered how my boss would react if I started telling customers at work that I couldn't be bothered giving them correct change because there are so many of them each day it's simply too much work.

This week I have counted out £9.75 in correct change, in 10s, 5s, 2s and 1s.

I shall brace myself for a phone call!

[collarsandcuffs]

I would assume it is common sense to give a week notice. The food will be ordered based on the number of children and the set meals for the week. Should all the school decide to have lunches that week there will not be enough to go around.

[HoratiaDrelincourt]

yy Pythonesque - our HT had to do a u-turn in similar circumstances recently.

[MidniteScribbler]

Exactly the sort of snotty 'we're far too busy to deal with you silly parents' attitude the school has. If you work in a school, dealing with "lazy parents" (ie LP trying to juggle child and working who forgot to have exact change ready) is your job.

No, my job is to teach students and provide appropriate liaison between school and home regarding their education. There is nothing in either my job description, or the job descriptions of our office staff to run around after parents who are obsessing about a few pennies which will be credited to their next account anyway. It shows you have very little understanding of what actually goes on in a school, and why office staff really can't be bothered chasing around a few pennies in change for someone.

[Pythonesque]

Pedantry and poor communication are two things I hate. With you on that one!! I got rather cross the other week when our school newsletter "reminded" us of a policy - actually after 4 1/2 years at the school it was the very first time I'd heard of it. I haven't but really should let them know that if a policy is new we need to be told about it not pretend it's always been there, and if it hasn't been communicated for several years it essentially hasn't existed.

[jennifleurs]

I'm not taking offence to all the replies at all - just that one. I think the office staff are pedantic which is why I did the same.

[ChocolateWombat]

Jennifleus, do you really think the school office are lazy? Is that because they didn't give you 25p back? After all the people who have posted here, can you not see the logistical issues of them giving change to everyone.

Just because a previous poster referred to lazy parents,modes not mean you need to retaliate with lazy office. Most people have said you don't need the rit change. You can send £10 as you have been and be in credit by 25p the following week. Why is there still a problem?

I'm sorry, but you sound like the kind of person who wants to pick a fight and feels like everyone is out to get you. They really are not. Do you want to argue with the school? Do you want to argue with people on here? Why ask for different opinions, if you aren't prepared to hear them. Maybe disagree, but I don't understand why you take offence so easily.

[jennifleurs]

MidniteScribbler And we don't do change. Our office administration staff don't need to waste time trying to get a few coins back to every parent who is too lazy to send in the correct money. It would be a huge waste of time working out who needs what change, sending someone to the bank to get that correct amount of coinage, then sitting down and sorting it in to envelopes, distributing those envelopes to each classroom, putting them in pigeon holes for the students to take home, and fending off all the phone calls from parents who complain that their change hasn't come home because little johnny stopped at the corner store on the way home and bought a freddo frog.

Exactly the sort of snotty 'we're far too busy to deal with you silly parents' attitude the school has. If you work in a school, dealing with "lazy parents" (ie LP trying to juggle child and working who forgot to have exact change ready) is your job.

Lazy school office staff.

[CointreauVersial]

Blimey, I didn't think schools took cash for dinners - none of the four schools mine have attended did this - it was either half termly cheques or Parent pay (with special arrangements for anyone who couldn't pay upfront).

If the school is fretting about the administrative burden then surely there are better ways to manage this than having a weekly influx of cash?

[ChocolateWombat]

It's the big schools thatvarevmore likely to be able to be more flexible. The no?s they are catering for, mean the odd one or two more may be. Manageable, but then again, in a big school, if 10% decide they suddenly want dinner one day, that's a lot of children.
I really think parents should expect to give some notice of changes. We wouldn't be pleased if suddenly extra guests turned up for dinner, when we had catered for a certain number. They do have to buy the ingredients and do run on tight margins. Your £2 or so a day, doesn't allow the cooking of extra meals which get thrown away, just in case so done fancies the dinner that day. Schools usually publish the menus in advance now, so asking for at least a weeks notice, seems reasonable to me.

[Ilovecake80]

I wouldn't expect change tbh too many children to do that for. I send in £10 each week and then at the end of term they let me know by text how much credit I'm in and usually get a couple of days then that I don't need to pay for.

[HoratiaDrelincourt]

yy to fucking cheque book. The cheques that aren't to school are to the PTA.

[MidniteScribbler]

It's not just one random child for lunch though. What if twenty other parents decide their child needs a meal that day? Schools run on pretty tight margins, they can't just cater extra every day on the off chance someone wants a meal.

And we don't do change. Our office administration staff don't need to waste time trying to get a few coins back to every parent who is too lazy to send in the correct money. It would be a huge waste of time working out who needs what change, sending someone to the bank to get that correct amount of coinage, then sitting down and sorting it in to envelopes, distributing those envelopes to each classroom, putting them in pigeon holes for the students to take home, and fending off all the phone calls from parents who complain that their change hasn't come home because little johnny stopped at the corner store on the way home and bought a freddo frog.

[ladyquinoa]

Most schools expect parents to be mind readers

[ladyquinoa]

I would work out how much money they have kept (that they shouldn't have) and take that amount off the 9.75.

[CatAmongThePigeons]

We have a pay as you go system.
Child puts their hands up at registration each morning, if they want a hot lunch. 700 pupil school, so not a small effort. If we pay on a Monday/Friday we see the lady who deals with the money, on any other day if we pay extra it is added on the childs' tab.

[my2bundles]

To add considering they are cooking fresh on site there is even more reason to give notice. They need to cook to numbers, you cannot expect them to order in extra food just in case a parent decides willy nilly one day to change a child onto cooked meals. Imagine how much extra that would cost, and how much food wastage there would be over the year.

[my2bundles]

I wouldnt say they are disorganised, they just need some common curtesy from parents to give them notice, is that really too much to ask for? Like i already said its 1 dinner tyo you, for the school its not that simple esp if several children wasnt to make the switch in the same week. They dont just have your child to consider.

[jennifleurs]

Bramshott I pay cash obviously. The only person I actually know who has a cheque book is my Grandma lol

[jennifleurs]

I don't see why it's such a big friggin drama for them. They cook all the food on site (and are very proud of this) so how much more effort is it really to do an extra dinner.

The first phone call I had when he changed to dinners, she was soo patronising and said 'I'll do it for you this once but in future we need a weeks notice'.

Maybe they're just disorganised behind the scenes.

[ilovepowerhoop]

and I have 2 at primary school

[ilovepowerhoop]

I never write cheques to the school ever! I give cash for trips or pay online onto their dinner cards. The last cheque I wrote was to renew my passport and cant remember the one before that as it was so long ago.

[Bramshott]

I always pay by cheque for this reason.

How do you manage without a chequebook if you have a child at primary school?! When I look through, 80% of my cheques are to school.

[my2bundles]

if thats how the school operates then fine, they will be used to the system and know approximately how many to cater for. Most school dont operate like this and need advance notice to ensure they have enough meals.

[insanityscatching]

ilove dd's school is the same. Children decide on the day and parents pay on the day if they choose to. No notice from day to day of how many meals are needed and yet everyone seems to cope. The kitchen even takes orders at the kitchen door for sandwiches and jacket potatoes and fillings that are available alongside the standard menu/the vegetarian option. 400 children in a state primary.

[ilovepowerhoop]

at our school the children can decide day to day whether they want a school dinner or packed lunch so the school doesnt get any notice apart from in the morning on the day when the teacher asks who is having a packed lunch and who is having a school dinner. It is a combined campus with probably about 500 or so pupils altogether and somehow they manage to get everyone fed.