Pining for the Lost Breakfast

Howdy folks. I'm traveling on the B.C. Ferries again this weekend and as usual this has inspired me in the blogular sense. Quite some time ago I was annoyed at a decision the good old ferry corporation made. I can't really blame them for the decision as they were a victim of a vicious smear campaign. Led by editorial cartoonist Raeside of the Times Colonist and various other pundits, the B.C. media perpetrated hate crimes against.... The Sunshine Breakfast!

Sure, in a visual sense the Sunshine Breakfast looked god awful, but who cares what it looks like if it tastes good and taste good it did. I'm not convinced that Raeside and his cronies in the media even dislike the SB as much as it was just a fun target to take shots at. Everyone likes to take shots at the ferries, especially back in the day. David Hahn (ferry CEO) was a wise man to ditch the SB. It was a symbolic separation from the old days of the B.C. Ferries and, combined with the change to serving White Spot fare, it convinced everyone that life was better aboard the boats.

I beg to differ. My research (quickly done I admit, but I'm sure nobody would be lying on the internet) tells me they sold 180,000 SB's a year. Somebody was eating all those SB's and that somebody wasn't just me. Those of us who like the Sunshine Breakfast have been deprived of this taste sensation because of optics, PR, and other marketing stuff. Dammit, I want my Sunshine Breakfast back.

B.C. Ferry story....

One time I was traveling on the ferry with the school. I had warned the students that I didn't want to hear, "Would the teacher in charge of the Sooke School group please report to the Chief Steward's office." Teachers don't like to hear that announcement because it isn't going to be something good. Well sure enough I hear the announcement and make my way to the Chief Steward's office expecting to find some student who has messed up.

When I get there it is not a problem with a student, but one of the supervising parents. Talk about a sticky situation. Turns out I even knew the Chief Steward. That probably helped save the situation. It was a big brouhaha over the rules in the buffet (say, maybe they got rid of the Sunshine Breakfast so more people would go to the buffet, since the best breakfast menu item in the cafeteria is now gone).

The parent had not paid for the buffet but had gone in with her child and said she wouldn't be eating (not a bad idea as the buffet is cheap for the kids). At the end of the meal there was something left on her daughter's plate. It was either a pineapple chunk or a chicken nugget, memory fails. The Buffet Police saw the transgression on the part of the mother and quickly pounced. She refused to pay for a full meal for eating one thing, but the Chief Steward explained to me that those were the rules. After all, where were they to draw the line against people trying to sneak free food, so they drew it at zero tolerance.

I managed to calm the situation down, but I don't remember the final outcome. I think the parent ended up bucking up once it became apparent that otherwise the school would be paying. So make sure you play by the rules in the buffet or you could be hauled down to the Cheif Stewards office and if Little Jackie Showers ain't there to bail you out then you could be walking the plank.