Um, what is vegemite???

Of course I know what vegemite is...Men at Work taught me all about it. But I played dumb the other day at work, and acted like I had never heard of vegemite.

Back story...One of my various jobs is through a hospitality agency. The agency finds me work each week and lately I have been working during the day at the Derabin Arts and Entertainment Center where I work functions like business meetings and conferences. Examples of such conferences have been with the Italian Teachers Organization, the Australian Fireman Association, music teachers learning about rythem and dance, etc. A typical day for for the conferences go like this:

8:30 - guests arrive, coffee and tea available

10:30 - morning tea and coffee with scones and muffins

12:45/1:00 - lunch (with a variety of hot and cold food like sandwiches, pizza, sushi rolls, sausage rolls, bruschetta, meat pies, veggie dishes, etc.

2:30 - afternoon tea and coffee with cookies, fudge, and pastries

What is amazing is that usually ALL of the food gets eaten...at least all of the best food. I mean, not a penny wasted! But it is problematic for me because I do not get any food to eat all day! Yes, I could pack my lunch, but I usually do not have time in the morning. And it is OUT of the question for me to grab anything off the platters as they sit and stare at me waiting to serve them to everyone. Not to mention, when there is food left over I have to wait for the chef, who has daily mood swings, to look over the left over food...probably to see what to make EVEN less of next time.

So back to me pretending not to know about vegemite. I literally was so hungry that I had no other option but to get the chef and manager on the subject of vegemite. By the way, both of them love chatting so it easy to get them going. In the past I have learned that if you say you have never had vegemite, the Aussies will run and get you some toast with vegemite, and maybe butter, and force feed you. So like I assumed they would, they ran and got me a slice of baguette and some vegemite. No butter, but I take what I can get. And so my plan worked, I finally got some food and they got the satisfaction of "introducing" me to vegemite. Which I actually do like...it is salty, so of course I like it. A few days later we were serving bite size pieces of sausage rolls. To be safe I asked to make sure they were indeed sausage rolls, and the manager replies "oh yes, you might not know, but sausage rolls are a very popular food in Australia. You should try one, quick before the chef Sean comes back..." So getting food is becoming too easy! I just have to act a little curious.

Mom and Dad, this story is about just one day when I was hungry. Usually I am fully sufficed each meal. Do not worry about this exaggerated story revolved around hunger.