August 28, 2008


Today at Lunch in the Hospital Cafeteria

At the table to my left, a woman was going on at length to her companion about her diabetes. I glanced over–her lunch consisted of two corn dogs and a huge basket of onion rings.

A slender woman of about 60 took the table across from me. Her lunch consisted of a piece of chocolate cake and a small tub of vanilla ice cream. She ate it very slowly. I wanted to think of it as a treat, as something happy, but I know that it was not.

To my right, three Latino hospital workers ate pizza and spoke to each other in Spanish. One of them referred to his boss as a pinche culero (which roughly translates to fucking asshole). They all nodded earnestly.

posted by Cindy Scroggins in observations 

comments

8 Responses to “Today at Lunch in the Hospital Cafeteria”

  1. Rick Neece on August 28th, 2008 at 3:58 pm

    I love Cindy Scroggins, y’all.

  2. Kris on August 28th, 2008 at 4:02 pm

    They do corn dogs and onion rings at the hospital?!?

    Bloody hell! You’re lucky if you can get some cold mashed swede here.

    There’s been a lot of hatin’ on the American people of late, but I think they’re grand.

  3. Daryl Scroggins on August 28th, 2008 at 4:12 pm

    ..and then they all rushed outside for a smoke before going back to work in the X-Ray lab.

  4. Cindy Scroggins on August 28th, 2008 at 5:05 pm

    Rick, you’re a sweetheart.

  5. Cindy Scroggins on August 28th, 2008 at 5:27 pm

    Oh, sure, Kris–the hospital cafeteria specializes in heart attack on a plate. They offer healthy choices as well, but the big sellers are chicken fried steak, hamburgers, pizza and the like. Why, if I were a cynical person, I’d think they were promoting bad eating as a means of keeping the hospital beds filled.

    For the record, I had a tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella panini. It was lovely.

    And I’m still thinking about that woman and her cake.

  6. Kris on August 28th, 2008 at 5:59 pm

    I’m going to have to forward this onto my mother, she works in the kitchen of a hospital back in my old home town.

    For the record, yes, she is an ordinary cook.

    I’m sorry mother, but it’s true.

  7. Brandon Hobson on August 28th, 2008 at 8:45 pm

    Damn mexicans!

  8. Mike Dresser on August 28th, 2008 at 9:25 pm

    I spent a weekend in the hospital with a broken ankle. The standard fare was inedible, but the nurses kept the graham crackers and cranberry juice coming 24/7. I appreciated that. One afternoon I sent my ma to Wendy’s for a burger and fries, and I yelled at her when she brought it back and hour later, stone cold. I still can’t forgive myself for that.

    Hospital food, man.

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