Carla tucks in for a living

There’s never an idle moment for this tuck shop owner.

It's six in the morning, the sun is barely up and Carla Cronje is already at work prepping foqr another day of meals, snacks and a legion of kids an sometimes parents at the tuck shop she runs.

"It's the best job I have ever had, even though at the end of each day I am exhausted," Cronje said. It's a 12-hour gig from the get-go. Sometimes six days a week when there's sport or cultural events at the school.

Running a tuck shop is not as straightforward as it sounds. It's a full-time commitment with extra time added on gratis.

"When tuck shuts at four in the afternoon, I'm off to do shopping for fresh stock, like tomatoes and cucumbers and bread before heading home," she said.

Then it's still chores at home and cooking, again. It's a crazy schedule but, said Cronje, it's far from a "thankless job. Instead, she finds joy daily in seeing the children's faces light up when it's tuck time.

Whereas a normal office job might include a healthy dollop of politics, corner office races and watercooler gossip, the challenges are somewhat different when your customers are barely tall enough to look over the counter.

"It tests my patience a little bit, sometimes," she said, jokingly.

"You've got these little four and five year olds staring at this big selection of stuff, not knowing what they want."