Tribute to dining staff atIowastate…

A Tribute to the Dining Staff of Iowa State University, and all the other countless people who serve in dining rooms across theUnited States

by motivational speaker Kelly Swanson

So you’re the dining staff. Hmmm. Can’t say as I’ve ever seen life from your side of the fence. But here’s what I imagine it must feel like to be you…

I’ve worked all day without a break

Up to my elbows in shake and bake

Don’t just stand there, stock the shelves

Get moving, this foods not gonna cook itself!

You work in jeans, look what I have to wear

Can’t remember the last time I saw my hair

I get to put mine up in this netted bliss

You try to get a date in this!

If I see black and white once more I’ll die, it’s true

Call me a penguin again, and you will too!

Carrots, carrots, potatos, peas

Can I not get a simple thank you please?

My hands smell like a mildewed mop

I have to clean your messy table tops

Drop something and you leave it on the floor

Were you raised in a barn? That’s what trash cans are for!

Do you know what it takes to stock these shelves?

Again, this food doesn’t cook itself

And now you come in here talking attitude

Come do my job and see if it doesn’t turn you rude

We have to do more and more with less and less

We finally learn the moves to checkers, you switch us to chess

Hurry, hurry, we don’t have enough time

What do you mean she wants her tea with lime

Sweetie, what you see is what you get

We don’t serve steak tartar yet

I’m sorry if your chicken’s cold,

Bread ain’t gonna kill you if it’s one day old

This ain’t the Hilton! Now we don’t play

Here you don’t get to have your food your way

What, you want me to sing you a ballad?

Whose fingernail is in the potato salad?

Good grief, You call this plate clean?

Looks like it’s done caught gangrene

It’s hot in here, I just dropped a tray

My back is killing me,but I don’t work I don’t get paid

You’ve come and gone and never even saw

Me standing all night in front of you at all

You laughed and toast at the party tonight

And didn’t think how long it took us to get this right

Because you kept changing the number, adding one more

Sure, we’ll just scrape this extra food off the floor!

Get it right and nobody ever speaks

Get it wrong, we hear about it for weeks!

I’m sorry ma’am, no I can’t bring you your purse from the car

I’m sorry sir, but we don’t have an open bar

You didn’t notice the fancy things upon that plate

Or think of me here  cleaning up til late

As far as jobs go, this one’ll have to do

Until my winning lottery ticket comes through

It’s not that I’m complaining,I just wish someone would say

They appreciate the job I did today

That they see me as more than a pair of hands

That they notice all the work this job demands

That the college experience you sell, the one they buy

Takes every hand, including mine

There is great value in what I do

I’m an important part of this family too

For every person who came here to follow a dream

id that, in part, because of me

For often the people in this world who serve

Are the quiet ones who are not seen or heard

Whose job is thankless and seldom seen

For the long hours and work behind the scenes

So today, let me take this chance to say

On behalf of all those who’ve passed your way

Thank you, for all you are, have done, will do

This university is great, thanks To people like you.

I think I was napoleon who once said an army fights on it’s stomach, meaning that battles can not be won in life, without the basic things we often take for granted. So in those times when you feel as if you are taken for granted Walk tall. Walk proud. Just keep walking.

Now go get me something to eat!

With love,

Your new friend and fan, motivational speaker Kelly Swanson