In college, I quickly learned that working at a restaurant is a great way to guarantee you’ll get at least one free (or drastically reduced) meal per shift. I always vied for the Sunday buffet brunch shift because even though I had to show up early on Sunday after a late Saturday night, buffet brunch meant 1) I only had to take drink orders, bring fresh rolls, and bus tables, 2) I could enjoy a huge plate of brunch leftovers once the restaurant was closed, and 3) I could pack a to-go box with rations for my now-husband. During the rest of the week, the long hours on my feet and difficult customers were well worth the 1/2 price dinner and shift drink that came with each night on the floor.

Of course, leave it to politicians to destroy this small but crucial perk. Michigan State Representative Mark Meadows (D-East Lansing) has introduced House Bill 6214, which would tax restaurant employees on meals they receive while working. Let’s be clear here: when I was a server in Alabama, the minimum base pay was $2.13/hour. Yes, servers get tips and depending on where they work, they could be making well over $100 per night in tips alone. But if the restaurant is dead, you go home with a few measly dollars and the knowledge that your weekly paycheck will be enough for a tank of gas and a few staples from the grocery store. I counted on my shift dinner to be my meal of the day–supplemented with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or cheese on crackers.

Now, Representative Meadows wants to take more money from the pockets of restaurant employees. I’ve known some fine “professional” servers who have worked in the food industry for the majority of their lives. These people generally work at high-class establishments and make more than I do in my 9-5. However, the majority of folks working in restaurants aren’t doing it for the big bucks. They are busting ass by night at Chili’s after working their day jobs, they are folks without extensive training or educational opportunities, and they are people with a nice smile and warm demeanor that can hustle a few extra dollars from a table. It’s unfortunate that Representative Meadows now wants to target this population with this terribly greedy plan. More money for the state of Michigan, less for you!

Photo courtesy of bradleyolin.

Boston Licensing Board Chairman Daniel Pokaski thinks hotel staff aren’t capable of dealing with nudity in their own establishment and police intervention is necessary. According to the Universal Hub, on March 3 a woman was in the lobby of the Doubletree Hotel on Washington Street, naked from the waist down. “The hotel security guard who found the woman told the board she appeared to be OK, aside from the fact she had no clothes south of her waist and that he figured she was drunk, wanted to avoid further embarrassment and that the other two women seemed to have things under control.”

Seems logical, right? I’ve never been on such a bender where I ended up half-naked in a hotel lobby, but hey, things happen. Nakie lady had two ladies with her who were apparently taking care of the situation. A car was called, nakie lady was taken outside, no more nudity in the place of business. Yet the police should have been called!  Pokaski said, “You got somebody naked in your hotel and you didn’t call the police. I’m just dumbfounded by that. … You can’t allow this to happen again. It’s bad for business, it’s bad for their health, it’s bad for your health.”

You have someone naked in your hotel. You ask the lady to cover up or leave the establishment. She leaves. You clean any surface she may have sat on. What’s bad for business is having police in your lobby. What’s bad for business is relying on police intervention rather than common sense. I am dumbfounded that Pokaski believes that a hotelier can’t handle a half-naked woman in the lobby without calling 911.

I love food shows, enough to be sucked into watching the first two episodes of “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” (I also only have basic cable, so no more Food Network. Sigh.) Last week we followed Oliver as he created a new lunch menu for an elementary school in Huntington, West Virginia, the CDC’s unhealthiest city of 2008. And what did we find? Oliver’s menu of baked chicken, brown rice, and fruit did not meet the USDA standards for a well-rounded lunch. He wasn’t offering two grains! Heaven forbid! Oliver resorted to toasting hamburger buns to serve with the lunch, all the while complaining that this extra starch was just going to make the students fat. The USDA-approved lunch, however, met the guidelines–a slice of cheese pizza is two grains. I think they threw a few carrot and celery sticks and a piece of fruit on the tray as well. Which would you rather your child have for lunch? Well, it doesn’t matter because the USDA demands they have the pizza.

As a child of a lunch lady, I know that the ire for the sub-par school lunch is often directed at those who prepare and serve the food and not at the true culprit: the USDA. I asked my mother exactly how the lunches are planned at her school, and I learned that she is given a menu each week which she must strictly abide by. The only alterations she can make are to remove spices, butter, and anything else that may add any actual flavor to the food. Can she incorporate any local foods? Can she tailor the menus to local tastes? Absolutely not! Them’s the rules, lunch lady.

My mother, and countless other lunch ladies (and men!) across the country, LOVE what they do. They enjoy feeding the children. They like to see empty trays returned to the kitchen. They truly care about the health and well-being of the kiddies who walk through their line everyday. But they are given no opportunity to create lunches that kids actually want to eat. Instead, they are forced to reheat mostly processed foods and require each student to take a carton of milk, only to watch the unopened cartons go directly into the trash. Talk about a waste of money.

Nutrition is first taught in the home. Parents must take their responsibility as educators seriously and not depend on the schools to teach their children. And parents must take a more active role in their children’s development rather than believe that the government knows whats best for their children. The USDA thinks they know what is best: cheese pizza and chicken nuggets for lunch.