And now, time for another installment...

of As The Assisted Living Facility turns.  Today begins with problems in the dining room.  Well, not exactly IN the dining room.

The complaints to the President actually were made outside of the room where everyone sits and shares meals.  But they involved the food.  One resident was complaining that they put sandwiches on the menu too often.  Another resident is complaining that there are no longer 2nd menu choices that are actual entrees.  Oh, a resident can order a burger, or a chicken sandwich, or a deli-type sandwich to replace a meal, long as they order it three hours before meal-time; but that's not good enough.  Before there were two entree choices on the menu for every lunch and dinner.  In fact, the former director of the facility would actually market the place as offering two choices at every meal.  Now that's a thing of the past.

The President has discussed these two issues with the Chef, who has only been here a few months.  Food is much better since he arrived but people don't seem to be happy with that, or willing to speak up and notice the improvment.  They seem to live only to gripe and complain about how things don't live up to their expectations.  There is little the Chef can do, given budget considerations. Besides, the menu comes from a dietitian and is well-balanced.  If you don't like the scheduled entree, have a burger, or a hot dog, or a chicken sandwich, or a turkey sandwich.  Or a fruit plate or a big salad.  All viable options.  The President plans to address this at the next monthly meeting of the residents.

Then we have another food complaint, from just one resident.  She's not happy because the beef stew had green beans and corn in it.  Apparently where she comes from, you put carrots, onions and potatoes into beef stew and aside from the beef of course, nothing else is appropriate.  She was also unhappy with the thickness of the stew.  This is an old complaint but it came up again in conversation.

The Nativity scene controversy is bubbling under the surface, as one of the residents has called the Ombudsman.  Seems the Ombudsman (a state employee) is claiming that the facility must be responsive to the needs of the residents and if enough of them are bothered by the Nativity scene; then it has to come down.  I suspect that the message of what the Ombudsman actually said and how it was related are not entirely in sync.

They've hired a new receptionist, so now there will be someone at the front desk each weeknight until 8 or 8:30 which will make a lot of the residents happy.  Until now, the front desk was not manned after 6 p.m.

I happened to overhear the saddest thing while standing at the desk and talking to the Facility Director.  One of the residents came to the desk and said "I've forgotten which room I live in.  Can you tell me?"  Apparently she does that every single day at least once.  I can't imagine what life must be like if you can't even hold onto the number of the room you live in.  It must create incredible feelings of powerlessness.  Perhaps she will do better now that her roommate is back from the hospital; although she isn't up to getting around with her just yet.