Did This Lady Deserve To Be Sacked?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2381769/Primary-school-dinner-lady-sacked-negligence-carelessness-idleness-accidentally-served-gammon-Muslim-pupil.html

A dressing down perhaps, it was not as if it was life threatening situation,
but sacked even after giving an apology, a little over the top I think, and I am not on my own apparently.

/// British Muslim groups said Ms Waldock's sacking was 'heavy-handed' and an 'overreaction'. ///

[237SJ]

Actually, 40 diners isn`t a lot. I have more than that when I go to work (and they change every time I go to work). I can still keep the info in my brain as to who`s who though. It`s certainly not difficult.

[237SJ]

And by who`s who I mean who is lacto, vegan, moslem, kosher, gluten free etc. Maybe it`s a case that the dinner lady just didn`t want to make the effort to know.

[sp1814]

There is more to this story.

I do not trust the Daily Mail's reporting of it.

[naomi24]

SP, I think you're probably right.

[TurkishBioHazard]

Dutch media say:
De directeur vertelde de ouders van het meisje vervolgens hoe hun dochter bijna als zondige door het leven was gegaan. De ouders dienden vervolgens een klacht in bij de cateraar van de school, die de verantwoordelijke medewerkster ontsloeg wegens nalatigheid.
-
Which means the director told the parents their daughter would go on with her life as sinnfull person and they bitched about it to the food company school and thats why they fired her.

[sp1814]

Curiouser and curiouser...

[Barmaid]

SP, I am with you 100%.

[Prudie]

Which is what i said page 1.

[hc4361]

237SJ You could confidently identify 40 children with special requirements out of several hundred children from day 1?

HOW?

[pixie373]

It wasn't day one. 237SJ is right. Out of 74 people in a Care Home, some (15) of which are respite and change regularly. It doesn't take long to remember who is vegetarian/allergic/ doesn't like beans etc. Who has sugar/sweetener/prefers tea or coffee at what time. It isn't rocket science. However, i think it was either an overreaction to sack her, or there were problems before and they've wanted an excuse.

[LazyGun]

Well, 40 diners does not seem unduly taxing to me, and I cannot see where it says it was day 1 on the job for her (although I might have missed that bit)

And it does say towards the bottom of the article, just above the Nigel Farage UKip spokesperson, that this had happened before.

Given that she had full union representation and went through the tribunal process, it does seem likely that there is more to the story than the bare bones reported in the Daily Mail....

[pixie373]

I thought she'd been there 11 years. Obviously the children haven't though. Would need to learn a new intake once a year.

[LazyGun]

@ Pixie Fair point, and I am tired. I had missed a couple of points. It says she has been a dinner lady for 11 years, but does not say all 11 years were spent at that school. I don't think it elaborates on exactly how long she has been at that school.

And its 40 kids with dietary requirements; Not 40 kids in total as I had wrongly assumed on my first read of the article, So one can assume a substantially higher total of meals served,which in turn could obviously add to the confusion and the potential for an honest mistake etc..

[jno]

a "significant number of children" were involved, the company (quoted by the school) said. If the same woman has made the mistake before - and I can't be sure that's what the company means - then perhaps she was in the wrong job.

[hc4361]

Yes, she has been there 11 years.

In general though, how is dinner lady (surely there is a better job title) expected to identify 40 children out of several hundred in either the first week of their employment ; or first week at a different school; or first week in September with the new influx bearing in mind this could be a life/death situation with severe allergies?

A 4/5 year old new pupil can't be relied upon to state any allergy or religion. Does the dinner lady get introduced to these children or shown photographs?

I'm thinking back to my school days - the dinner ladies didn't have time to look at us, just dolloped food on to the plate and moved on to the next pupil.

[jno]

hc4361, Joko suggested a perfectly workable procedure. Clearly in cases like this you will need a procedure, and one was apparently in operation, but the woman couldn't cope with it. Perhaps that's her fault, or perhaps the procedure is unworkable, in which case you'd expect there to have been problems before.

I say again: we're not getting the full story here.

[hc4361]

I can't see a card procedure being practical for children so young, really.

Is that system used in infant and junior schools?

[jno]

just pinning the card to their shirt would suffice, surely? (I've no idea if anyone uses such a system.)

[sp1814]

Dinner ladies (and yes, they should get a better job title in this day and age) are not expected to remember the dietary requirements for their charges in a primary school (I've just been speaking to a Kate's wife on this).

At that age, children are walked into the dining hall with their teachers.

The teachers then pass a list confirming pupils' allergies and dietary requirements to the dinner ladies.

This story is simply not complete.

Please, please, please be very careful when reading stories about Muslims in the Daily Mail.

It's like trusting a review of a Rhianna concert in a Ku Klux Klan newsletter.

(Okay, yes...I've gone too far - but you know what I mean...)

[jim360]

Nutritional Provision Officers.