FAO Debbie (or anyone really) re school meals

[JoM]

Doesn't it work out expensive?
Tom and Joe both take a packed lunch but the school have introduced a cashless system so that everything is paid for by thumbprint or online. All pupils had their thumb prints scanned and parents have had to take out an account and now, for them to have a school meal, you have to make sure there's money in your online account and your child just goes along at dinnertime, picks up what food they want and takes it to the till where their thumb is scanned and the cost of the meal deducted from your online account....BUT the minimum amount you can pay into your account is £10 so they can go along at breaktime and get a snack and a drink and then once they've had lunch as well it could be that they're close to spending a fiver in a day
Suffice to say that their meal accounts have a balance of £0.

We do pay for trips, proms etc this way too though, by logging into the account, selecting the activity and paying online. That's easier than them having to pin down the right person in school to make a payment.

[pollR78]

yeah Amy's school have done this since she she started in 2010, Amy used to get school lunches and would say her name to the cashier who would put it onto her account.

School lunches here are £1.80 per day, Amy used to get 'free' school lunches as I got tax credits but not got that sorted this year so at the moment she has packed lunch!

x

[JoM]

It'd work better if there was a set price for meals and you knew they could only spend x amount a day but everything's priced differently with it being a high school and they can choose what they like and spend what they like - if there's not enough money on their account to pay for it they don't go hungry, they can still have it but you get a message to say you need to top up the account.

[pollR78]

oh yeah, forgot about things being priced differently at high school!

its all just so expensive isn't it

x

[JoM]

It really is!

And while I think about it, I need to remember that the school owe me some money, to the tune of £60. I ordered Tom's leaver's hoodie and Yearbook back in May, last date to order was early July, and he was supposed to collect them when he got his results but he found out then that there'd been a lack of interest so they'd decided not to have them produced. So they've known since early July that there weren't enough orders to make it viable but haven't yet refunded any payments.

[pollR78]

That's not good, although schools are good at that kind of thing aren't they!



x

[Kaz]

Blimey, they scan their thumbprints That reminds me of the joke on Mock the Week about iris scanning for passports, and how if you got your identity stolen you'd need new eyes Better hope the kids don't ever need a plaster or bandage on their thumbs

Harry gets free school meals as his dad only works P/T and gets Tax Credits........He's not keen on them and would rather take a packed lunch, but his dad (and myself and Mick) prefer him to have a cooked meal

[Ally]

Kaz..that joke about the eyes reminds me of the debacle at Birmingham airport!

It was an all singing-all dancing hugely expensive piece of machinery that was meant to speed up the passport control queues whereby you stood in front of this contraption, it scanned your eyes and hey presto, speedy exit.
Well...that was the theory.
Until Don came along....

Stand here sir, don't move sir, don't blink sir..this won't take a moment sir.

Don moved!
He blinked!
Then sneezed!

The queue behind him got longer and longer.

I moved to the next queue and pretended I didn't know him!

Said machine was deemed to be useless and it's now back to normal queues.

[Kaz]

Excellent

I did the same at Gatwick when Mick kept setting off the metal scanner I thought about jokingly mentioning the plate in his head, but thought better of it

[Workingman]

My children hated school meals from an early age and preferred to make their own packed lunches. We liked the idea, too, as we knew that what went in the box was what they wanted to eat and not what we, or anyone else, felt was best. We always allowed a biscuit, but crisps and other 'packets' were never a problem as we didn't keep them in - none of us liked them much.

@ Don

I used to get caught at a few airports due to the plate in my back. Through the arc: bing, bing, bing. Search with hand-held baton: nothing! Me: "I have a plate in my back." Them: "Empty pockets, take off watch, take off belt, take off jacket." Through the arc: bing, bing, bing. Me: "I have a metal plate in my back." Them: "Go through scanner again." Through the arc: bing, bing, bing. Me: "Metal plate, back, want to see the scars?" ...................

At Heathbloodyrow I had to go to a cubicle and dress down to my underpants and socks before being allowed on the San Fran plane.

Err, they did allow me to get dressed properly before leaving the cubicle and joining the queue.......