Before the summer started I really enjoyed getting salads for lunch at the company cafeteria. Yes, a salad will never truly taste better than let’s say poutine but at least they made it a viable alternative. Then sometime during the summer, they replaced the person or persons working at the salad station. They had this new lady making the salads. I could tell she was new. Now I understand that when people are still learning they will make mistakes. You learn from your mistakes and you get better at what you are doing. So, initially I was patient with her when she forgot key ingredients in my salad like the chopped egg, the goat cheese, or the candied walnuts, stuff like that. I even over looked this annoying habit she had of leaning over my plate while preparing my salad to get at the ingredients. While she did this, her sleeve or other parts of her clothing would make contact with my food. I mean really, I was being more than patient.
In general, her salads really weren’t that good compared to the other people who made them before she started working. It’s hard to describe, they just tasted quite meh. After two months of her working the salad station, there were no signs of improvement. She still forgot ingredients and she’d still touch my food with her clothing. I had enough of that, so I stopped getting salads for lunch. If I didn’t like the main entrée selection, I’d go get a sandwich made instead. Speaking of sandwiches, there’s this one lady at the sandwich bar who is so good at her job. She’s quick and efficient and always constructs your sandwich to your exact specifications. Whenever she’s making my sandwich, I know I’m in good hands and that my lunch will be a good one on that particular day.
So where was I? Oh yeah, so if you read my previous post, I ate terribly on the weekend. When lunch time rolled around today, I decided to bite the bullet and get a salad for lunch, even if the salad lady was going to probably screw up my salad. I probably should have bailed when I noticed she was a bit flustered as she was preparing the orders of the people ahead of me in line. Yet, like a fool, I soldiered on. The feature today was a Cobb salad and when I ordered, I asked that they replace the blue cheese with goat cheese, something I’ve done in the past with no problem. By this time, the line behind me was massive because she was a bit slower today than usual in making all the orders. I patiently waited for my salad construction to be finished as more and more people lined up. When she was finally done, she handed me my plate and I looked down and there was the blue cheese which I didn’t want. I took a quick look at the long line and then looked my salad once more and I realized it wasn’t worth it.
I went back to my desk and picked off all the blue cheese from the rest of salad. I ate my lunch with quiet resentment. I really want salad lady to get better at her job but it’s clear to me that probably won’t be possible. I also really want to eat healthy for lunch but if crappy salads are what I’m going to get, then that makes it very difficult. It seems like fate that the people who make poutine, burgers, chicken strips, and fries at the cafeteria never ever screw up. Is that a sign?