Payback........

The temperature has been in the high 90's and the humidity is killer. Even so, the pool hasn't seen much action. Every July is like this. They can't wait to swim, then enthusiasm fades, but as the stores fill up with back to school supplies and the reality that summer won't last forever sets in, the pool goers will be back in force.

When we bought the campground the pool hours for day swimmers was set at 1 pm til 5 pm; and the previous owners were very strict about the time frame. I have heard tales of them shouting that your time was up and that you must leave. Awful! However, I am beginning to appreciate the need for some private time. Being new and eager to please our customers we let them swim from 9 am til 9 pm. That meant that sometimes they would arrive a bit early and then some would not want to leave the pool when I would try to lock up. Last year I started to wear thin and decided that this year I would change the pool and the store hours. Twelve hour days 7 days a week is just too much ......... even for me.

The new pool hours for day swimmers is 11 am til 7 pm. That is eight hours. I still have people show up as early as 10 and stay later than 7, but it is not as big a deal when you haven't been stuck inside that store for twelve hours. At first, those regulars who had been accustomed to a twelve hour day arrived too early and were told the new hours. I let them swim early anyway, since they were already here. Most everybody now knows the hours and they are fine with it and agree that I shouldn't have to be open twelve hours. Today, though, a young mother came in at almost 6. I would never want to charge full price for only one hour of swimming and have become so accustomed to reminding people of the new hours and said to her, "You do know that the pool closes at 7, don't you?" (She looked really familiar). She looked at me like I am somehow beneath her and said, "No, it doesn't." I told her that it did indeed close at 7. She proceeded to argue that I had told her it closed at 9 the last time she came in and I recall with clarity my last encounter with her. I charged her half-price and let them swim until 9 because they got here at 7 and I didn't want her to leave with a bad impression. Well, no good deed goes unpunished, does it? I remind her that I let her stay until 9 last time because she had been unaware of the new hours....... "Oh, yes, I remember you now and I did let you swim until 9 since you had come out thinking the hours were the same as last year. But, now you know the new hours." She huffed and looked at me like I was of a lesser life form and said, "So, you aren't going to let us swim even though you told me that the pool doesn't close until 9....."

I did let her swim. I charged her full price, though. She didn't stay til 9, though. The horse flies got her. Cosmic justice.