STRAWBERRY OATMEAL
Working in the Food
Bank was both one of the best and one of the worst jobs I've ever
had. Not my most or least favorite. My favorite job was in a video
store, eight hours on the clock reading in between customers and two
to six hours off the clock watching videos. What more could you ask
for? My least favorite would not be the military as you might
imagine but the night shift in the casino-I was overseeing the slot
department and the stress from being responsible for people and lots
of money was significant.
*
The Food Bank was the
best as in a job I could help people and make a difference ( this, my
writing job, is the most rewarding spiritually, but here I'm focused
on “real” jobs as in someone signs my paychecks ). But it was
the worst as in run not by incompetents but rather by hucksters.
They were very good at the job they did in milking public and
taxpayer money. They were not incompetent at their intended purpose,
but that itself made them look as such in their pretend job. Which
was “helping the unfortunate”.
*
I understand that not
all Food Banks are like this. The Catholic Church food bank in
Daytona Florida I had to use was run as a pure charity, with no
overhead costs. The two Nevada food banks I worked at were so top
heavy with paid positions it is a wonder anything was left to dribble
down to actual poor people. I have no data but my gut feeling is
that the Nevada “charities” are closer to the norm, where needy
folks just get in the way of fat assed bitches sitting in front of
computers filling out paperwork for government grants.
*
Yet, even knowing the
extreme waste and misdirection going on, I still felt good about
feeding people, especially as 2009 saw a huge uptick in customers,
going from primarily spoiled bums to families suddenly shy on job
hours to buy groceries. It felt good to load up the kids with food.
And I rarely “helped myself” to any food other than what would
have spoiled over the weekend and would have been thrown away. I had
not expected anything more than minimum wage as compensation, but I
knew I was doing better than most, so I didn't need any donations.
*
Well, sometime in the
first three years I ran the Food Bank all by myself ( picking up
donations in the morning, making food boxes to give out the rest of
the day ), federal and state funding must have become an issue (
remember at the time with the local governments declaring bankruptcy,
turning asphalt roads to gravel, and etc.? ) and the people running
the place went from wasteful, to wasteful, insecure about their job
security and outright dishonest in their administration. It became
all about pulling in money, and very little about feeding people.
*
I don't know if you've
ever noticed, but I can be a bit stubborn. I dug my heels in at work
and refused to play their little reindeer games. For instance, it
was assumed I'd devote most of my time to making the Food Bank all
pretty for when potential donors stopped by. It was assumed I'd keep
the shelves fully stocked ( I think they thought it would make us
look successful, hence getting people to match others generosity ).
I did neither, and let them know exactly what I thought of those
ideas. No, I won't cut back on how much food I give out. No, I
don't have time for spit and shine.
*
No, I don't have time
to drive a half hour away for near worthless donations of spoiled
dairy and dented cans, just to give some sleezeball business owner a
tax break. I can't feed anyone with that. No, I don't have time to
keep the truck all pretty-I'm busy picking up food. I'm working on
my lunch break, unpaid, so I'm eating in the truck between pick-ups.
Sorry it gets messy in there. I was doing more than two jobs, at
minimum pay. Needless to say, no good deed goes unpunished. I soon
was “replaced”. I still did all the work, but now I had a direct
supervisor. I was no longer the food bank manager, but the driver.
*
So, it was no longer up
to me how much food those in need got. It was no longer up to me to
say no to worthless donations, or beautification over real work. I
was picking up fruit and vegetable waste to inflate the donation
numbers ( and I mean, as in, it was all only suitable for pig food
and if you found a piece fit for humans that was by accident ). I
did little to hide my displeasure and was quickly relieved of nearly
half my hours ( not that any of my duties were cut, but rather added
to ). For a time there, I only stayed working because I wanted to
win in seeing who would quit first.
*
And after a time, I did
start helping myself to donations. Nothing ever serious. Never real
food like frozen meat, but more along the lines of whatever would be
stolen by others, or just sit on the shelves forever as props. I
still took perishables that were so abundant we couldn't give it all
away, mostly what was going to end up in the dumpster. And a LOT
ended up there. Because it all became about donation numbers and not
about food for the needy. It was about stroking local businesses,
and getting them tax breaks.
*
You want me to waste
how many hours trying to load and unload several pallets of
watermelons so beyond hope they were rotting from within (
genetically modified yumminess! )? It got pretty ridiculous. So, I
really had no guilt over my slight bit of skimming. It took zero out
of the mouths of the hungry, and was a tiny “Screw You” to the
much bigger crooks running the place.
*
Which saw me with,
eventually, about a dozen boxes of strawberry oatmeal. Which I
doubled with those I purchased myself during sales. I had a sweet
stockpile of oatmeal. Which I never ate, because I really hate
oatmeal. I ate the gruel through most of High School, almost every
day ( stepdad was an oatmeal freak, so we had stinking oatmeal near
every day. After a time, you simply couldn't make it taste okay,
even with fruit and other additions ). I never wanted to touch it
ever again. But, you know, apocalypse food ( I was going to add to
bread or, I would learn to love it, being something besides bread ).
*
And that my friends is
how you stretch out an introduction to your real article subject,
which is “Rewarding Your Frugality”, which is covered tomorrow.
( .Y. )
( today's related Amazon link click HERE )
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re:
ReplyDeleteoat
Oat is a grain.
Grain is a seed.
Seeds have a natural pesticide called 'phytic acid'.
Phytates are poison (hence the 'pesticide' category).
Phytates can be partially dispelled by overnight soaking in a water solution with a squeeze of lime or splash of vinegar.
This soaking reduces the poison of seeds so my body reaction is merely flu-like symptoms instead of a coma.
If I want full 'flu', I could consume pistachios. Walnuts. Pumpkin seeds. Legumes. If I want to feel extra bad, my breakfast might be peanut butter on a bagel. With coffee. And non-fat milk.
Then, at 10am, after my blood-sugar crashes from insulin over-load, I reach for a cinnamon roll or break into my Twinkies™ stash. And more coffee.
This creates an extremely stressful cycle known as The Blood-Sugar Rollercoaster.
But, back to oat.
The only way I can tolerate oat is as a filler with ground meat and spices. Cooked in a handy sheep stomach, some cultures call this 'haggis'.
Sheep eyeballs as garnish is optional.
My body gets sick on a high carbohydrates diet.
My body does best with massive amounts of vegetables with animals as a condiment.
Bacon is one such condiment.
Bacon goes good with eggs.
And 'yes', salsa counts toward your vegetables quota for the day.
Add a handful of left-over salad to your egg scramble for an excellent start to your daily TWELVE servings of vegetables.
Cooked in coconut oil with olive oil as a topper, this gives me lots of healthy fats to burn == the 'ketogenic' process we believe helped our Paleo ancestors thrive.
On this ketogenic diet, our Paleo ancestors evolved yuge brains; on grains and carbohydrates since the popularity of agriculture, our brains are shrinking.
Existing in the basturd sibling of agriculture called 'cities', our brains are shrinking tinier.
With enough carbs while living in an apartment 'complex', the need for a brain could diminish to non-existent.
Some folks call this 'The Matrix'.
Grain and other carbohydrates? Not needed unless I chronically train for IronMan marathons.
I agree with you on the Agricultural Age grain diet. Yet, my ginormous brain can handle a lot of shrinking before negatively impacted :) But it is all about moderation. Balance and get as healthy of the item as possible. And remember that a sub-optimal diet of anything is better than the Karen Carpenter diet we'll all get PA.
DeleteI was talking to a Japanese guy the other day and describing my disgust at a woman I knew in Japan who picked the eyes out of the roasted fish we ordered when we went drinking. He assured me that the eyes are actually the most delicious part.
DeleteSounds like something I'd tell the wife in the bedroom.
DeleteI didn’t know that you managed the food bank at one time. There’s no bigger slap in the face than being demoted in such a way. I’ve been there. I was next in line to get a promotion at a place that I once worked, and a dude that used to work for the company, and that the owner liked a lot, came back looking for a job. The owner gave him my job, then justified it by stating that he really didn’t think that my heart was in the promotion. All loyalty immediately left that place. I enrolled in college that fall. In the end, this decision didn’t really advance me much beyond what I had previously, by the time that you factored in student loan debt.
ReplyDeleteI would have thought that nothing could beat the military, in terms of suckiness. My cousin Francis used to work at a casino. He told me a story one time, and swore up and down that it was true, but he’s an enormous bullshitter (He’s also been known to indulge in an errant penis or two, but that’s a topic for a different discussion, I suppose :D ) so I wasn’t sure what to think? In either event, he told me that there were these people on the casino floor that the casino staff referred to as “Shaker’s”. Have you ever heard of this? I’m hesitant to say what it is, because it’s kinda sick, and I realize that this is a family friendly site :D
I haven't heard of "shakers". Of course, I worked, mostly, in smaller casino's in smaller towns so I think most excitement stayed in the big city mega-casino's ( like the false flag concert shooting ).
DeleteCasinos are their own different animal as a business and assemblage of peoples, as greed and degeneracy is a perpetual and self transporting customer through the doors 24/7/365. With that in mind go ahead and designate casinos / areas as no go zones or at a minimum, high alert territory zones on your maps.
DeleteSure it can seem like an adult fun zone with cheap food, but crowds and other(s) peoples in proximity.
Nope.
Casino's jacked up food prices to civilian market levels, so I no longer have any need of them. I'll pay $5 a month to my bank, or $5 to the cashier cashing my paycheck, so best to avoid the zoo and get direct deposit. They don't pay their people like they used to, either.
DeleteReward your frugality when circumstances or dynamics change against you. I am that loyal plebe employee as long as business runs properly and all things are generally fair with no stiffs. Some times a bit of "takings" will occur but when organizations grind up the hired help like a meat grinder with an indifference bordering on criminality, well then, the hired help will then help dissasemble the carcass as payback. No foul, it is nature. The stories I could share of purloined swag bags from the bloated lumbering death throes companies on the way out. Then one later on looks back at it as a just and smart move, even more so later in retospect. keep options open, stay alert for opportunities.
ReplyDeleteYa, oatmeal is bland and can't be easily made sexy as an entre' but stock it bigly I do. Feed filler and gruel bowl contents for lower caste tribe prospects.
Last fair employer, year 2000. All dinguses since then.
DeleteYou've discovered the "homeless industrial complex" - a typical example is, someone sets up a non-profit (and it sure is, after paying their huge salary) and gets the city to pay them, let's say, $20k per homeless person per year to give them a day center with showers, a phone, donated clothes etc. There's no way this actually costs $20k a year per dirty hobo. The person pockets the rest. Also! - Since they're paid per dirty hungry hobo, they have a vested interest in keeping a certain number of people hungry, dirty, and desperate, out on the street. The last thing they want is to actually help homeless people become non-homeless people. Not any more than a dentist wants all cavities to go away.
ReplyDeleteHa! So true. Sounds like a new game, Hungry Hungry Hobo.
DeleteIf you are worried about JIT food supplies becoming scarce, everybody should research NATURAL FOODS GROWN IN YOUR LOCALE. Learn to identify, when and how to harvest and process it. The vast majority of us (even preppers) know that information - it can literally save your life.
ReplyDeleteDo it - do it now. Baby steps - two or three materials a week. This knowledge will be invaluable if the collapse happens.
Fine and dandy, just beware that any competition for the food source will quickly lead to shortages. Got wheat?
Delete