Sunday, September 1, 2019

Just Hanging In There!

As I sit here, sipping coffee and trying to wake up, I glance at a magazine cover on my desk in the stack of yesterday's mail and see that Kelly Clarkson never thought she would be this happy. I never thought I would be this tired!

We are filled to capacity and I am facing another long day stuck in this store. I wonder why being in here makes me so tired? I am not this tired on the days I mow and tend gardens. I am free to sit here doing nothing when I am not busy with customers. I would much rather be busy. I did manage to paint another sign while confined to the building. But I was so tired when I finally was able to lock the door last night.

My work kampers stepped up and have been a God send the past few days. My buddy Alex loves to deliver wood to sites and he has had a workout this weekend. It is cloudy and dreary in the 60's and 70's. Perfect for a campfire. We have made a huge dent in the huge woodpile. Thanks to Craig and Alex for their hard work splitting and stacking wood. HeWho has been kept busy with electric and sewer issues.

For my part, I always carefully chart out the sites and do my best to accommodate everyone's needs. It is not easy, this positioning of campers. I will always fail to make someone happy. This time, though, I really messed up. Last week I spilled a cup of coffee on my desk ….. on the chart. I had to re-create it and parts of it were illegible. I did my best and made some calls to verify the number of sites in a party, but like I said, some were illegible.

I managed to turn a party of two with the same last name into a party of one. I apologized and put them in sites together in the non-sewer area where I had cancellations and gave them a huge discount.  Due to all the cancellations I had some wiggle room and was able to let another party of two call a friend who had not made reservations and get him in a site next to them. Oddly enough, this is where all my complaints are coming from. They keep tripping the breaker and swearing they are not using any appliances. Air conditioners are not needed and the only thing I can think of that would pull on the power load and trip it is an electric heater. The man just called me again and said his wife was still sleeping and they were not using anything and the breaker tripped again, not 15 minutes after HeWho went over and turned them back on. 

Back to work kampers. I never ask a work kamper to do something I would not do myself. The shower house and the bathrooms on the main building are a constant. Have to be attended to daily and sometimes twice a day when we have a full park. So, when people express an interest in working off their rent, this is one of the jobs I offer.

 I can tend to the main building easily enough. But the other bathhouse is across the park. I used to do that one before I opened the store and after I closed, but that extended my work time to 14 hours a day on the weekend. That is if everything was running smoothly. Nowadays, I turn over that responsibility to HeWho has more help than I do. I am old, you know!

Seems like every time I get a worker to clean bathrooms, they start off like gang busters, then slack off completely. I never just assume the job is being done, I will look into the bathrooms when I am outside and make sure their is paper and hand soap and the floors will always tell the story. So, of course the person who accepted the responsibility just stopped cleaning them altogether last week. I tend to think she quit before that on the day she interrupted me while I mowed to ask to be paid in cash for her "hours" and I refused. We had paid her the month before with cash to help her get on her feet, but her rent was late and work camping is about taking that money off the rent.

So, the rent has not been paid, was due on the 12th and they have decided to pull out today, having no regards for what they owe. Cutting our losses, I am just happy to see them go. I sure could have used their site to actually make some money and help with the bathrooms would have been great on a holiday weekend. Karma ….

Such is life. I really miss one of my old work kampers. She went a little crazy cleaning, but I always knew the job would be done and done to the extreme. You could have eaten off the floor when she finished! She would watch that bathhouse all day and rush in to clean after every use even though I tried to convince her that was not necessary. Miss her!

5 comments:

Linda O'Connell said...

I love your opening sentiment! I imagine you are ticking off the hours until YOU can get a some R&R. That woman camper cleaner was OCD if she went in after each use. Hope this long weekend is a good one for you and the pups.

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

Feeling tired sucks
some people leave us scratching our heads

Joanne Noragon said...

I certainly understand the frustration of messing up the visual schedule. My friend Ann must schedule out her kennel spaces in the same way. On big weekends like this, she will book in a dog for a dog going out, and then be messed up when the owner makes new plans and does not pick up on schedule. Just knowing about it keeps me religious about picking up my cat.

Val said...

Good riddance to bad cleaners! At least you're done with them now, and they won't accrue more indebtedness.

River said...

I quite like the idea of work kamping, to get a little off the cost of the site. I'm pretty good with keeping bathrooms clean and stocked. I'm glad your slacker is gone though. Is it possible the woman is using an electric blanket and that is tripping the fuses?