Eat your vegetables

I went through the line in our cafeteria today, as I sometimes do, for my lunch. After perusing the choices, I decided on the chicken filet sandwich, the potato smilies (I love some potato smilies), and then on a whim, asked the server to toss a piece of lettuce on the tray for my sandwich. Got to the cash register and my total was $2.75 - $1.25 for the sandwich, $ .75 for the potato smilies, and $ .75 FOR THE PIECE OF LETTUCE. I was charged 75 cents for a piece of iceberg lettuce and they called it a "vegetable." I was stunned.
Didn't say a word to the cashier. On the way to my office, asked the secretaries if they could believe it...75 cents for a piece of lettuce. They were shocked as well. Ran into my old assistant and she said they'd been doing that to us the past two years, nickel and diming us for every item on our plates. I knew we paid a la carte prices, but it never dawned on me that a piece of lettuce would be considered a "vegetable" in and of itself.
It wasn't even good lettuce. No romaine or green leaf for us. Plain old icky iceberg.
A child's plate in the cafeteria is $1.00. The only difference between a child's plate today and mine was that a child would have had about 4 potato smilies (I had 7), and they would have also had the lettuce, a slice of tomato, a side of raw veggies (carrots, broccoli, cucumbers), and a milk for their dollar. Does anyone else see a problem with this?
I'd have been better off giving some kid with a lunchbox a dollar and having him go through the line for me! Which isn't exactly honest, but dang it - the cafeteria prices are ridiculous. They've gone up on all the "adult" prices this year. A cup of tea is 75 cents as well. I think I'm glad that tea is not on my low-oxalate diet.
I emailed my parents about "the lettuce incident" and as soon as my Daddy read the email, he told my mom I was as mad as a wet setting hen. And he was right. Later, I told my mother, "You can get a whole head of lettuce for a dollar!" And she replied, "Sometimes you can get it for 99 cents."
I think I'll buy one of those heads of 99 cent lettuce and sell a leaf for a ten cents on sandwich days. I bet I could sell some dime bags of lettuce, don't you?