Friends in the right places.........

Usually once a week, I head down to the cafeteria in our building to go grab some lunch. I don't eat there every day, but it's nice to break up the monotony of the work week every once in awhile by doing something different.

There's a really nice middle-aged woman down there who takes care of the same grill station every day. She loves to chat with everyone and I usually engage in conversation with her. She would talk your ear off if you hung around there long enough, but the line has to keep moving. So you're usually saved from chatting too much as the person behind you in line quickly ends up being the next target for her chatter.

The lunch lady knows me because I usually get the same thing each time: chicken fingers and fries. It's one of the few things that they make that are really good. I've found that going down to the lunch area later often results in the lunch lady being generous to me in the size of my portions. She's always willing to do as much as she can.

Yesterday, I went down around 12:50 PM and asked for the 3 chicken strips and fries. I watched as she reached down and grabbed 6 (!) chicken strips and placed them in the to-go container. She then grabbed a large handful of fries and placed them precisely to make sure that 3 of the 6 chicken strips were covered up to the naked eye. She then lifted up the container to hand it to me. She pointed at the food in the container and said with a smile, "Now, you be sure to tell them at the cash register that you have 3 chicken strips and fries. You hear me????"

I nodded with a smile and thanked her. She smiled back and said, "You're very welcome!"

It pays to be in an alliance with the lunch lady.