All the advice I've gotten so far has been split cleanly down the middle. Out of 4 people, 2 think I should listen to my pride, 'cause it's the right thing to do. The other 2 said listen to my pocket, 'cause it's the smart thing to do.
I have this little problem. Lunch Money.
No, my kids are not jacking other kids for their lunch money on the playground. I did tell my daughter to go upside this little boy's head with her shoe the next time he pulls up her skirt on the playground...but that's another blog.
On to the crux, my kids bring their own lunch to school a majority of the time, and every blue moon (blue moons are kinda common where I live...) they buy lunch in the cafeteria.
Our school system has a website called paypams.com where you can load money into your kid's lunch account, pay for school field trips, etc. etc. (If your school system doesn't have it, mention it at a PTA meeting, it's worth it!) I put $30.00 at a time on the kid's lunch accounts, ten each, every 3 weeks or so.
This website also allows me to keep track of what my kids have been eating for lunch. That's the really good part, because my son would eat a Cinnamon Roll every day and call that lunch if I didn't make him get a meal. In the past his account would also get depleted much faster than his sisters', and this website is what tipped me off to the fact that he had a habit of going through the lunchline twice on 'Taco Day'. So the site helps me check up on them, what they're eating and how often.
Welllll...the site sends me an e-mail reminder telling me I need to replenish my son's lunch account, but I didn't get any notices for the twins, so I hop online real quick to see what the deal is. I'm fully expecting to see that Donovan either did a three-peat through the lunchline this time, or either he was mackin the little girls in his class and bought them all ice cream sandwhiches.
I log on, pull a calendar list report of all the lunches bought since the first day of school, for each kid. Cafeteria lunch in our school system K-12, costs $2.00. So I'm scrolling through Donovan's page and everything looks normal. He hasn't spent more than the $2.00 per lunch, so why is he spending faster than the twins? Hmmm....
I get to the twins' pages, and everything is kosher until I get to 9/14. On this day and any day after, the girls went through the lunch line and only got charged $0.40, while their brother was charged a full $2.00. Hmmmm...
So what's with the forty cents? Well, if you are a low-income parent or are able to "prove" financial need, you can apply to receive what they call "Reduced Lunch" for the low, low price of $0.40. Fo' dimes. And if the ratio of kids to income in your household is just right, you can even get "Free Lunch"...for FREE. Mmm hmm, sho' can.
So you say, Nakena, get to the freakin point already. Aaiight. I will.
Apparently, my kids' dumbass daddy (pat me on the back, I could have chosen 25 other invectives, but I was nice) received Reduced Lunch Applications in the mail along with the other School Assignment information that was sent to his house, none of which he gave to me. Unbeknownst to me, the...*wince*...daddy...filled out these forms and actually managed to get the kids approved for Reduced Lunch. (I don't know this for a fact, I'm just smart and came to this conclusion on my own. It can't simply be an error on the part of a cafeteria lady because the girls are in different classes, and eat lunch at different times, and have different lunch account numbers.)
Since I'm so smart, I then wonder, well hell, why isn't my son getting reduced lunch then? Did the ....*wince*...daddy...not fill out a form for him? Why would he do that, or not do that rather?? ??
?? I know he's ....*wince*...a man...but didn't he realize he missed a kid? ?
Regardless, of how or why the twins came to be on Reduced Lunch, I have a problem with the whole idea of it. We don't need it. I don't go to work everyday and bust my butt....ok, I don't go to work everyday just so I can take advantage of handouts that I don't need.
I'm not well-off by any means, but neither do I need assistance from the government. That's where my pride comes in. I do it all by myself, and while these 40 cent lunches allow me to keep a little more money in my pockets, it's not right for me to potentially take help away from some single mother who really does need it. The slap in the face is that my girls are somebody's statistic in somebody's government spreadsheet now, unfairly and without my knowledge or doing. I'm not having it.
So I mentioned it to a friend at first, and he just stared at me like I was the dumbest knothole on the dumbest piece of driftwood he'd ever seen. "Why pay $2.00 when you can pay $0.40? Are you serious?"
"Umm, yeah??"
"You did not just come over here with that, and mad about it too! Nakena, go sit down somewhere."
I totally see his point, pocket-wise. But he doesn't see mine pride-wise. If this is a simple mistake and the cafeteria lady's chain isn't long enough to get her bifocals on right when my girls go through the lunchline, then ok. If the school messes up fair and square, ok, I have the same problem keeping their money as they do taking mine...which is no problem at all. But I totally believe that's not the case. They're dumbass daddy signed them up for reduced lunch and lied about his income. I know it like I know it's time for me to log off for the day and take my behind home.
So what do you all think? Should I let them keep reduced lunch and go on about my guilty-feeling, government handout-stealing, newly low-income statistically-challenged-children having business?
Do I really need to sell my soul for $1.60 x 2?
It ain't right. It just ain't right.
No comments:
Post a Comment