I Got OFF the Ride!
Last post I told you all the details of what led me to runaway and join the circus. Oh wait I didn't join the circus, there were just a lot of CLOWNS working there. Too mean? Oh well! Anyway I left off pulling into the amusement park questioning every choice I've ever made that led me to that moment.
First stop was the wardrobe office where I had to turn in my all black sports bar uniform for the bright blue polo and terrible khakis!! As I put that polo over my head my soul started to melt, I went to fashion school and this uniform went against all the laws of fashion. However, I knew I had a 12 hour shift ahead of me and I had to turn my frown upside down. I was scheduled to work in two locations. The catering hall and a coffee shop.
I set off on my quest through the park to find the catering hall. I was stopped on the way 5 times by patrons asking me questions I had no idea what the answers were. I'm pretty sure some of them are still wandering around the park lost because my directions were of no help. I was lost my damn self! I had no idea where I was going and neither did anyone else who worked there. I asked 3 different people where catering was, none of them had a clue. So I meandered around some more until I stumbled upon a girl eating lunch in a back alley. She was like my fairy godmother, she sent me in the right direction. When I arrived at catering I was greeted with a lovely "oh you're Ashley, where have you been?" I explained and then got right to work passing out chicken tenders and hot dogs. Passing out food was easy enough, but then I had to take out the trash and wash the dishes. I truly felt like Cinderella. After multiple trips of carrying twenty pound bags of garbage I was pooped and probably smelled like it too. Unfortunately for me I still had eight more hours to go.
Next stop the coffee shop, but first I had to go back across the park to the money room and get a bag of money holding $150.00. Then I had to walk back across the park carrying this money. Talk about a nervous wreck. I was sure I would get robbed, drop the money or bend down to tie my shoe stand up and forget the bag on the ground. Luckily I made it to the coffee shop without incident. I was being shown the ropes by a very nice lady. She had long claw like nails and fake eyelashes, but when she opened her mouth she had braces. At first glance she looked about 35 years old, but the braces threw me off. When she told me she was 18 years old, I was like oh snap this lady is a teenage girl. Britney Spears lyrics came to my mind "I'm not girl, not yet a woman." She asked me my age, I told her 28, she was in disbelief. She said "wow, I thought you were 20 or 21." Then she went on to say "I wasn't sure how old you were because you look young but speak like an old person." I decided to take that as a compliment.
About 6 hours into my shift I started to think oh this isn't too bad. Greet customers and swipe some cards. I could do this, make some easy money. Then I realized that tomorrow I'd be working at the chicken wing shop, I'm way to clumsy to be working near hot grease. Around hour 11 my fortitude started to wain. I felt like I was either babysitting or being a caregiver. Everyone that worked there was either 12 or 80 years old. Randomly one of the girls was like "you think he's cute huh?" Then pointed to our coworker, he looked like his balls hadn't even dropped. I told her "no he's not my cup of tea." She responded with "good, because I like him." Did I just dodge a trap? The nail in the coffin was when my supervisor told me to wash another huge pile of dishes, that's when I knew amusement park life wasn't for me.
When I got home that night I washed that ugly uniform in preparation of turning it in. I took my defeat, although I may have looked the part of a 20 year old, I was not! My bones ached, my arms were jelly, and my hands oh my poor hands. They looked so dry I thought if I rubbed them together they'd spark a fire. So although the amusement park wasn't very amusing to me. I did learn one key thing, I could make any uniform look cute! HAHA
