On the Fourth, Camp, and Drunk Girl's doppelganger
Between the holiday, work, my busy Saturday, sunburn, and this possible thing I have, I haven't been keeping up with everything that's gone on recently. The bad news is that time tends to take away specific details...which means good news for you, as that should mean shorter blurbs. :) Let's delve in:
The Fourth
I had to work all day--it was basically like a Sunday for me, with the exception that, due to it being a holiday, I got time and a half for it. Yes, I'll definitely whore myself out volunteer to work holidays if it means I'll make more money. I also know that, of the other three keyholders, two of them are already getting holiday pay, and the last one probably thinks it's sacrilegious to work on any form of holiday. Eh. More for me. :) The day was slow, like we expected; my coworker and I got a LOT of scanning done. That's where we go through each book and see if it gets to stay in the store. We're also able to do "discretionary returns," meaning if we think it shouldn't be in the store anymore, we can sent it back to the warehouse. What? We have 50 copies of Night? Not anymore!
I was tired after I'd gotten home from work, so I rested a bit before heading to Nick's parents' house for the annual party. I think it's awesome that they still threw a party for us "kids" even though Nick no longer lives with them. At one point Nick's mom said that the Fourth just wouldn't be the same without us kids there. The party was in full swing when I got there around 7:30, and about an hour later most of us walked to where Heather had set up our spot--as usual, excellent. The consensus of some of the guys was that, overall, the fireworks weren't as good as in past years. I thought they were okay, but I was mad that the smiley face fireworks didn't go off during Bon Jovi's "Have a Nice Day." I mean, come on. But there were a few pieces of pop music that got played, and you could hear much of the crowd singing along--the end song from Grease, anyone? Afterward we went back to the house and hung out, but you can tell we're getting old--the party dispersed just after midnight, as many of us had to work in the morning, including Nick and his family. Wow, we're maturing. Scary!
Also, something I learned while at work (*affecting Linda Richman "Coffee Talk" voice*): Italian piano bars involve neither pianos nor bars. Discuss.
Camp party
I wasn't sure who or what to expect at the camp party, but it turns out that it was meant as a general counselor get-together. Of course, who were the first few people there? Mr. & Mrs. C, Jinny (other senior counselor), her brother/former counselor PJ, me, and Mr. M (other main camp director). It turns out that there was a Battle of the Bands at the Hoffman Estates school, where a number of the counselors come from, so Jerry and several counselors were involved in that and couldn't make it. Also, it turns out that these kids like to make money, and either were working or came from work. There were two or three rookies that came, and a few of the "older" counselors (going into first or second year of college). We mostly just sat around and talked, or rather, sat around and listened to Mr. C tell stories. There was a bit of swimming, but not a whole lot; we did discover how to make a fountain using funnoodles and the pool's water jet. Surprisingly, few people went in the hot tub. Overall, it was okay, but I think it was better toward the end when only a couple of the girls were left--we weren't so spread out and were able to have a conversation.
I ended up being the last one there and I asked Mr. C if there were any plans for the anniversary year. Mr. C said that Jerry was the one to talk to, and I just got off the phone with him. He had a list of half a dozen ideas, most of which I won't go into, but I think they're all good. One involves getting glowsticks for all the kids for the bonfire. I already have about 30, having picked them up after the Fourth; it turns out that he gets something pretty similar when he picks them up. They're the bracelet-style ones, and they come eleven to a tube for $1. Also, every year the counselors serenade the directors with the Dirty Dancing song "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," and he thought of something special for that. My ideas involved making posters of camp in the dark ages, which he liked; making awards for the campers, which was done at Band Camp II (quick, help me think of some wacky awards, like Read Most Books This Week); and, the craziest one, writing a human interest article about camp for one of the local papers. At first he was thinking something else (I didn't explain myself well) and thought of having the counselors write one-paragraph blurbs that we could put in the program; when I got my actual idea across, he mentioned putting something in the Daily Herald, and that someone who works at the church actually writes similar stories for the Herald. Hmm. I just think it would be nice to publicize our little camp and to show how far we've come. I was also thinking about seeing if I could get it in, say, the Tribune, but the Herald is probably more realistic. Hmm. We shall see. Jerry is also planning on sending out an email to get more feedback from the counselors.
Doppelganger!
Work yesterday was even slower than normal. I missed the big excitement from last week--apparently the guy who works across the hall from us, whose store has only been open a few months (and isn't always open during the mall's hours), got arrested on Wednesday. Fabulous. Ever since then, the store has been closed, and we're stuck without our daily dose of the "Will the store across the hall open on time/close on time/be closed for lunch longer than a few hours/etc." game. Seriously--on the Fourth, he wasn't open two hours. I think the gate went up around 12:30; by the time I got back from lunch at 2:30, the gate was back down and nobody ever came back. The next day brought the excitement, which happened after I'd left for the day. I guess on Thursday somebody kept coming by and taking out boxes from the store, but from what I can tell it looks untouched. Anyway. So, with our typical excitement gone, we got to concentrate on work. Yesterday, I didn't even have many customers to wait on; I think I finally broke the $200 mark on my last customer of the day. I was fine with that, as I was scanning more kids' books. These are the books that go in our beginner reader spinners, and so I wouldn't be stuck in the back corner of the store for hours at a time, I just kept bringing armloads of books to the counter and I'd scan and organize them there. This took most of my workday. That was fine, as I'd rather be busy, but it meant I couldn't really leave the counter. That was not so fine. Why? Around three o'clock this rather odd guy came in by himself. It didn't take me long to realize that he was, well, special. The best way to describe him is to think of Drunk Girl from SNL, then take away the alcohol and replace it with a mental challenge. He even *sounded* like Drunk Girl, which made the whole thing freakier. (If you're not familiar with Drunk Girl, she's played by a guy.) He struck up a conversation with me, which was fine...then picked up one of our carabiner lights and started trying to attach it to his ear. That was not so fine. Eventually, he succeeded. Um, check please! He did leave after about ten minutes, but if there was ever a time I didn't want to be alone in the store, that was one of them. Few customers truly freak me out, but this one did. At least he wasn't dangerous; he was just...hmm...not acting the way I'm used to my special customers acting. (I'm also used to them coming in groups with one or two aides along.)
There. All done. Now aren't you glad I *didn't* go into detail for most of that? ;)
The Fourth
I had to work all day--it was basically like a Sunday for me, with the exception that, due to it being a holiday, I got time and a half for it. Yes, I'll definitely whore myself out volunteer to work holidays if it means I'll make more money. I also know that, of the other three keyholders, two of them are already getting holiday pay, and the last one probably thinks it's sacrilegious to work on any form of holiday. Eh. More for me. :) The day was slow, like we expected; my coworker and I got a LOT of scanning done. That's where we go through each book and see if it gets to stay in the store. We're also able to do "discretionary returns," meaning if we think it shouldn't be in the store anymore, we can sent it back to the warehouse. What? We have 50 copies of Night? Not anymore!
I was tired after I'd gotten home from work, so I rested a bit before heading to Nick's parents' house for the annual party. I think it's awesome that they still threw a party for us "kids" even though Nick no longer lives with them. At one point Nick's mom said that the Fourth just wouldn't be the same without us kids there. The party was in full swing when I got there around 7:30, and about an hour later most of us walked to where Heather had set up our spot--as usual, excellent. The consensus of some of the guys was that, overall, the fireworks weren't as good as in past years. I thought they were okay, but I was mad that the smiley face fireworks didn't go off during Bon Jovi's "Have a Nice Day." I mean, come on. But there were a few pieces of pop music that got played, and you could hear much of the crowd singing along--the end song from Grease, anyone? Afterward we went back to the house and hung out, but you can tell we're getting old--the party dispersed just after midnight, as many of us had to work in the morning, including Nick and his family. Wow, we're maturing. Scary!
Also, something I learned while at work (*affecting Linda Richman "Coffee Talk" voice*): Italian piano bars involve neither pianos nor bars. Discuss.
Camp party
I wasn't sure who or what to expect at the camp party, but it turns out that it was meant as a general counselor get-together. Of course, who were the first few people there? Mr. & Mrs. C, Jinny (other senior counselor), her brother/former counselor PJ, me, and Mr. M (other main camp director). It turns out that there was a Battle of the Bands at the Hoffman Estates school, where a number of the counselors come from, so Jerry and several counselors were involved in that and couldn't make it. Also, it turns out that these kids like to make money, and either were working or came from work. There were two or three rookies that came, and a few of the "older" counselors (going into first or second year of college). We mostly just sat around and talked, or rather, sat around and listened to Mr. C tell stories. There was a bit of swimming, but not a whole lot; we did discover how to make a fountain using funnoodles and the pool's water jet. Surprisingly, few people went in the hot tub. Overall, it was okay, but I think it was better toward the end when only a couple of the girls were left--we weren't so spread out and were able to have a conversation.
I ended up being the last one there and I asked Mr. C if there were any plans for the anniversary year. Mr. C said that Jerry was the one to talk to, and I just got off the phone with him. He had a list of half a dozen ideas, most of which I won't go into, but I think they're all good. One involves getting glowsticks for all the kids for the bonfire. I already have about 30, having picked them up after the Fourth; it turns out that he gets something pretty similar when he picks them up. They're the bracelet-style ones, and they come eleven to a tube for $1. Also, every year the counselors serenade the directors with the Dirty Dancing song "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," and he thought of something special for that. My ideas involved making posters of camp in the dark ages, which he liked; making awards for the campers, which was done at Band Camp II (quick, help me think of some wacky awards, like Read Most Books This Week); and, the craziest one, writing a human interest article about camp for one of the local papers. At first he was thinking something else (I didn't explain myself well) and thought of having the counselors write one-paragraph blurbs that we could put in the program; when I got my actual idea across, he mentioned putting something in the Daily Herald, and that someone who works at the church actually writes similar stories for the Herald. Hmm. I just think it would be nice to publicize our little camp and to show how far we've come. I was also thinking about seeing if I could get it in, say, the Tribune, but the Herald is probably more realistic. Hmm. We shall see. Jerry is also planning on sending out an email to get more feedback from the counselors.
Doppelganger!
Work yesterday was even slower than normal. I missed the big excitement from last week--apparently the guy who works across the hall from us, whose store has only been open a few months (and isn't always open during the mall's hours), got arrested on Wednesday. Fabulous. Ever since then, the store has been closed, and we're stuck without our daily dose of the "Will the store across the hall open on time/close on time/be closed for lunch longer than a few hours/etc." game. Seriously--on the Fourth, he wasn't open two hours. I think the gate went up around 12:30; by the time I got back from lunch at 2:30, the gate was back down and nobody ever came back. The next day brought the excitement, which happened after I'd left for the day. I guess on Thursday somebody kept coming by and taking out boxes from the store, but from what I can tell it looks untouched. Anyway. So, with our typical excitement gone, we got to concentrate on work. Yesterday, I didn't even have many customers to wait on; I think I finally broke the $200 mark on my last customer of the day. I was fine with that, as I was scanning more kids' books. These are the books that go in our beginner reader spinners, and so I wouldn't be stuck in the back corner of the store for hours at a time, I just kept bringing armloads of books to the counter and I'd scan and organize them there. This took most of my workday. That was fine, as I'd rather be busy, but it meant I couldn't really leave the counter. That was not so fine. Why? Around three o'clock this rather odd guy came in by himself. It didn't take me long to realize that he was, well, special. The best way to describe him is to think of Drunk Girl from SNL, then take away the alcohol and replace it with a mental challenge. He even *sounded* like Drunk Girl, which made the whole thing freakier. (If you're not familiar with Drunk Girl, she's played by a guy.) He struck up a conversation with me, which was fine...then picked up one of our carabiner lights and started trying to attach it to his ear. That was not so fine. Eventually, he succeeded. Um, check please! He did leave after about ten minutes, but if there was ever a time I didn't want to be alone in the store, that was one of them. Few customers truly freak me out, but this one did. At least he wasn't dangerous; he was just...hmm...not acting the way I'm used to my special customers acting. (I'm also used to them coming in groups with one or two aides along.)
There. All done. Now aren't you glad I *didn't* go into detail for most of that? ;)