Friday, December 6, 2013

The Summer Job of Fun

by Bre Zierke



“Eww, that is so disgusting! Bre you’re the new employee. You grab it!” Being a staff member at eagle canyon hideaway I have many roles. First off, I have the role of being a maid. Also, I have the role of being a cook, and a cashier. Lastly, my favorite role is the role of being part of the family. The job may seem like you have a lot to do, but mainly I spend my time cleaning and helping out campers.

The role of being a maid is very time consuming.  I have to clean any of the seventeen cabins when they get dirty. There are eight small sleeper cabins. Then there is the Butterfly, Turtle, Lily Pad, Turkey, Whitetail, Eagle, Bear, Timber Wolf, and the Moose. Once in a while, when I’m cleaning, I will most likely find something. It was my first week of work, and I had to go clean the turkey cabin. I went in and went to the bedrooms to strip the beds and get the bedding in the wash. Well, once Sam, an employee, and I pulled back the sheets, we found two used condoms. We both argued on who was going to throw them away. She said, “Eww, that is so disgusting! Bre you’re the new employee. You grab it!”  I remember being so mad and refusing to do it. However, every now and then we find leftover alcohol. Sometimes the girls I work with drink it, or they’ll throw it out.

Another role I have to fulfill is the role of a cook. Whenever we are not busy cleaning cabins, we have to cook for the customers. A main thing people ask for is our pizzas and burritos. With our menu people are very satisfied, but the least popular food would have to be our Mac Bites. It’s macaroni with little pieces of bacon bits and jalapenos. If we have reunions staying at the camp ground, we are almost always swamped in the kitchen. We are normally running into each other trying to get the food prepared and out as soon as we possibly can. Almost every time I cooked, I burned my arm on the grill. One time, one of the employees, Lynn, was carrying dishes down stairs. Her arms were full, so she was unable to hold the railing, and she fell down a flight of stairs, and ended up breaking her nose and her arm. She was unable to work the rest of that summer.

The role of being a cashier comes with many responsibilities. I need to, of course, be able to work the cash register. But also, I have to stock shelves, sort items, fill the pop machine with ice, clean up the cafe room, and help campers with anything they need, and check in and make reservations for customers. Every day people will call and ask to set up a reservation. I must make sure I do all the paper work correctly and that the cabin they want is FOR SURE available. Many times this summer we had double booking, because people were being careless when filling out the papers. When that happens, we have to call back the people, and tell them that there has been a mishap and the cabin is not open.
I once had to call back a, let’s just say, very rude customer. I informed them that the cabin was already booked and that is was not available the weekend they wanted, and she started yelling at me. She told me that I was a dumb employee, who didn’t care about her job and that I double booked it on purpose. I calmly told her that we had another cabin available, but she didn’t want to hear it. Instead of listening, she hung up the phone. So I went and told my boss what was happening, and she called the lady back. However, the lady even yelled at my boss. Finally, after the lady quit yelling, my boss informed her that is was a mistake and that she was no longer allowed to come out to the camp ground ever again.

Whenever a camper needs assistance with anything, I must try to help them. Over the years, I’ve help people with many tasks. I helped set up a tent, hook-up a camper, show them how to start a grill, turn on the TV, and many other random tasks. One day, I was out cleaning the bathhouse, and a little girl came up to me crying, because there was a snake in the road. However, with me, I am terrified of snakes. Even the thought of a snake sends chills down my spine. But the little girl was very scared and we don’t want rattlesnakes around, I went and grabbed a shovel. I followed her to the spot where she saw the snake. Once I got to the spot, my heart was pounding. It was one of the biggest rattlesnakes I’ve ever seen. I carefully walked up to it and chopped its head off with the end of the shovel. The little girl was so thankful and ended up bringing me a s’mores that night. Sometimes, you even have to help reunions set up for their events. This summer we had one of our normal reunions come that dress up in matching costumes. This year they were cavemen. I ended up carrying clubs, spears, and rocks for them up to the rec room. It was probably one of the funniest costumes they worn so far. Over the years they’ve dressed as super heroes, fishermen, hunters, hippies, Indians, and many others.

Since I lived two hours away from my work and did not have a car, I had to live in the downstairs of the general store with my bosses. While staying with them, I played the role of being part of the family. I’ve know my bosses since I was in the third grade, and they have always felt like family to me. When I stayed with them, I lived in the storage room of the bathroom. It was a small room, but at least I didn’t have to sleep on the couch. I remember the first day I moved in. I asked, “Where’s my room at?” Julie, my boss, smiled at me and walked me into the bathroom and opened a sliding door to reveal a small room with a tiny twin rolling bed. Also, knowing that I had a fear of snake, Jimmy, Julie’s husband, had a dry snakeskin lying on my bed. I was so furious I didn’t talk to Jimmy for the rest of the day. One day, when I just got off work I went down stairs to go to bed. I walked into my room and started to get into my pj’s and all a sudden I say something in the corner of my eye. I looked over, and there was a rattlesnake crawling down from the air vent. I screamed so loud and quickly ran out of the room. It turned out one of the girls that worked at the store accidentally left the laundry door open and a snake got in and crawled down into my room. I made sure there was a sign on both sides of the door saying “CLOSE THE DOOR BEHIND YOU!” Everyone teased me after that. Another thing with living with Jimmy and Julie, is that you have to eat what they eat, or cook your own meals. And the thing is they are vegetarians. All summer long I almost eating pizza or Roman Noodles every night. Some of their meals are not too bad, for instance; the veggie enchiladas, or even the vegetarian hotdogs. However, I’m not a fan of the vegetarian bacon. Come on, who would want to eat vegetarian bacon or real bacon?

So again, being a part of the Eagle Canyon Hideaway staff, you’re going to be doing many roles. The role of a maid, cook, cashier, and part of the family. You also shouldn’t be afraid of snakes, unless you plan on getting Jimmy every time you see one. You need to know how to clean cabins, cook food, and run a cash register. You need to familiar yourself with the campground to know where everything is located. Be able to give directions to the campground, in case the campers get lost. Even how to check the chlorine and ph levels of the pool. It all many seem like a lot but it just depends on the person. Everyone has their own opinion on work and what is easy. As long as you love/like your job, that’s all that matters.

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