I'm ungry

Every day at work seems to bring a new rule. The busier we get, the more we have to legislate in order to keep our centre from exploding.

Most new rules fall into one of two areas - meals and internet access. Except, I guess, for 'Don't eat at the computer' which straddles both and is very strongly policed.

The backbone of the meal rules is 'No food served outside of set meal times'. People will try all manner of fast talk and flattery in order to get food at irregular times. It didn't take long for everyone to realise that the following doesn't have much effect on me:

"Mr Joe, good morning... you are looking very handsome today... I'm very hungry"

Yesterday, someone tried a smarter and slightly more effective technique. I tried my best to counter it with more smart talk:

"Joe, zallah"
"What?"
"Zallah, now that you are so good in French you have to start with Lingala"
"What's zallah?"
"It means 'I'm hungry'"
"Anita, please think of this place as your mother's house"
"Thank you"
"This is not McDonalds where you can take food anytime. It is like your mother's house where you have to eat at meal times"

I gave a biscuit for effort and well directed flattery. My French, by the way, is still very limited.