I am so totally relieved that I survived the big event we had at work in one piece and did not get arrested for assault. There were times during the day that I was ready to throw blows with people that I knew and didn't know but time to get jiggy on irritating folks was a luxury. I was running around like the proverbial chicken without a head trying to deal with all of the glitches that occured during the day - like 20% of my workforce not showing up or people taking more than their alloted amount of food.
The first thing I learned is I am definitely NOT a people person when it comes to having to deal with more than 300+ people in a short time period or even a long time period. Well, to be more accurate, I am definitely NOT a people person period.
By the time the first shift was done and the second shift began, I was quite ready to throw in the white towel and admit defeat. The prospect of becoming a former employee rather than remaining a current one was quite appealing. I appreciated the calmness of a blank piece of paper wanting to be written on and wondered what every possessed me to think that I would enjoy trying to convince students that standing in the hot sun for 4 hours handing out flyers for a teeny lunch, a t-shirt and a cup of water was a killer item to list on their college application forms.
The second thing I learned is don't expect students who go to the prom to show up the next day for work, even if they don't have to report until lunch time. Apparently I am so ancient that I completely forgot that prom is a 24 hour party that starts from the moment you enter the limo and ends, well, when your parents bust you the next day. I was impressed though at the honesty of one student who sent me an e-mail and told me the truth behind her failure to appear. I was expecting a lot of "I got sick" or "I missed the bus" or "the dog ate my waiver form" but the students actually were straight forward and truthful.
The third thing I learned is no matter how crappy it is, people will go crazy for anything that it free. Everyone in the office frantically dug through their desks and their homes for prizes for the games. We were sure that we would all go home with these items that had been packed away since before statehood. Yet, the boxes all came back empty. I think if we had stuck the tag "free" on a bags of puppy poop, people would have clamored the get them in a frenzy not seen since the debut of Cabbage Patch Kids. Perhaps it is the terrible economic situation that drives this but boy, it was just shocking.
The fourth thing I learned is that not everyone is as overprotective of their children as I am. I saw so many young children, including toddlers, walking around the event without any parental supervision. 5 year olds were left in charge of their younger siblings and it scared the life out of me. I would see them in the middle of the venue, totally lost but when I asked them if they were lost they said, "Oh, Mommy went to look upstairs and told us to stay here until she came back." Little kids were left alone at activities or in line at rides while their parents disappeared - and not for a short while. I noticed a bunch of five children who arrived when the event started and until the event ended five hours later, were completely without a competent supervising adult the entire time. Intially, the older kids watched the younger ones but after an hour, even these kids were nowhere to be found.
This was particularly heartbreaking to me since I had to work and did not get to see any of the actitivies my children participated in. Here I was dying inside since I was stuck at a post rather than spending time with my kids and while dozens of parents were wandering around upstairs somewhere without a concern about their kids crying downstairs.
The fifth thing I learned is kids go crazy when they see a costumed mascot.
The sixth thing I learned is kids go crazy when they get to be a costumed mascot.
The seventh thing I learned is do not make Oscar the Grounch answer phones, especially when he does not know the name of the place where you work.
The eighth thing I learned is even if a sign says no parking and there is a policeman standing right by the sign, people will still think the sign does not apply to them and will park. Then they will be furious when their car is towed.
The ninth thing I learned is if it is not an election year, the politicos will not be there for more than 5 minutes. They will just put on an ethnic costume, take a photo and leave. If it's an election year, they will actually interact with people and stay for 30 minutes or more - providing you give them free food and promise their photo will appear in your publicity.
The tenth thing I learned is that people who work hard during the work week will work twice a hard on a weekend while the people who slack off during the work will slack off twice as much. This is why the people who work look like crap for the rest of the week and smell like Ben Gay but the people who do not work cannot figure out why look like crap and smell like Ben Gay.
So much for the giving heart of public service.......
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