“Hi, all big sisters, grandmas, can you let me know what’s going on first. There are so many of you and all trying to talk at the same time, I don’t understand what is the problem here. Let me find out what is going on first, that way I can look for a solution.”
Once she had learned of the issue, she casted the kindergarten principal a glance then smiled and said in a fawning manner, “It’s so hot outside today, why don’t you come with me and have a seat in the lobby?” The manager’s gentle tone calmed a lot of the grandmothers in the front. She took them into the lobby and brought out water, tea, and a lot of fruits. When all was said and done, the angry parents began to calm down.
Seeing that the time was about right, the property manager smiled and said, “Okay, I think I understand what is going on now. I think the principal wasn’t too clear when she explained it. The school has hired a professional nutritionist to advise on their meals. We were told that kids their age don’t have very good GI, so we need to give them more vegetables over meat. I trust that the kids aren’t too keen about eating vegetables at home, right?”
Seeing that neither the mothers nor the grandmothers said anything, the manager smiled and carried on, “We hired a very well-known nutritionist from HK and he told us that kids need to have a lot of vegetables to maintain their vitamins. He’d plan out a whole week’s worth of menu for the kids and the items change daily. Today happened to be potatoes and carrots, lettuce, a small meat dish, plus a tomato and egg drop soup – a meat, two vegetables, and a soup. After lunch, the kids will each get half an apple. I guarantee you that the vegetables, meat, and fruit combo is the best among all the kindergartens in City Nan.”
“Are we talking about the menu right now? We are talking about hygiene. We are talking about the kind of meat that you give to our kids.” Shu Yan walked out from the back. “Yes, it is important that the kids have vegetables, but if they are not hygienic, I rather him not have any. After the vegetables were washed out, they weren’t even covered and there were flies crawling all over them. Never mind that there wasn’t a lot of meat, but feeding pork neck to the kids? Where is this nutritionist from HK that you speak of? I want to go ask him myself whether that’s the most nutritious part. If he’d say it to our faces that that’s good for the kids, then we are being unreasonable and we will apologize.”
“Exactly. We are not talking about the combination of the meals. We are talking about food hygiene and ingredients. Is $200 a month not enough? If so, you can say so. There’s no need to skim on the kids’ meals.” Grandma Wu came around right away and added immediately.
“Exactly, the kids are so young. We sent them to your kindergarten because we trusted you. And that’s what you are feeding our kids? And now you are telling me that there is nothing wrong? You go get that nutritionist. Let’s ask him if he eats pork neck himself.”
The parents started all over again.
The property manager gave Principal Lin a stare. She’s here trying all she could to resolve the issues and he hid from her the most serious of all issues. Never mind that he was skimming from the meal budget for the kids, but he was feeding them pork neck and couldn’t even maintain basic hygiene? After today, she must reflect this to upper management.
“Fellow parents. Please calm down for a little bit and listen to me. It is summer, so it’s inevitable that there will be a few flies in the kitchen. The teachers had already informed me of the situation, and I have already sent someone to get some fly stickers. As for the pork neck and hygiene condition, I had assigned the kitchen under the vice principal’s management. I can’t believe something like this has happened. I had overlooked this and will definitely look into it and take care of it.” Principal Lin finally stood up and said to everyone.
