Do Not Murder Turtles

 Do you ever wonder if witchcraft is real? Have you ever met someone you are drawn to and genuinely like until they show their true self to you? Then suddenly you really see them, like a spell has been broken? You find yourself wondering how you could have been fooled for so long.

I am sure it has happened to all of us at one time or another in our lives. I find that as I grow older I am less inclined to be impressed or shocked. In retrospect, it is always easy to see where you missed the clues. Of course, the sorcerer/sorceress is always on guard in your presence, careful to only let you see what they want you to see. 

Others can easily see the flaws, as no effort to win them over have been applied. They see to be immune to the charms of the sorcerer. 

This past weekend has left me wrung out. I failed to close on time all three nights. Have I mentioned that there is a night check-in available? I even have simple instructions to follow posted. You grab a registration packet from the clip board, fill out the pertinent information and then retain one copy for yourself, put the other copy, along with your payment in the envelope provided and deposit it in the drop box. Then go find an empty site, pull in and spend the night.

When we traveled in our RV, we would often come in later than the office was open and make use of the night registration. Nobody ever explained it to us. We just followed the instructions. So, why is it that lately, no one seems to be able to do just that. I had a call yesterday about a site for a pop-up. I told the caller that I had plenty of sites available for that purpose and that I would be closing in less than an hour. I even told her the range of site numbers available and the rate. "Can't you just stay there until we get there?" "We will be there just a few minutes after 5." 

At 5:30, I locked the door and cooked our dinner. I saw a pop-up come in and saw the woman go to the office door, look exasperated and then leave. There was a time when I would have stopped eating and jumped up to take care of the late customer. I don't do that anymore. Not good for digestion, as the food is usually inedible by the time I get back to it. The dogs used to love it when I was interrupted and forgot to guard my food on the highest counter.

"There goes $30", I thought to myself. Then I decided it wasn't worth it. I wonder if she would have waited for me if the tables were turned. Probably not. I didn't lose any sleep over it. I finished my meal and had just settled among the hounds to watch a previously recorded TV show when the phone rang.

"I saw on your web site that you have night registration available." I noted the headlamps of a vehicle on the monitor that projects the camera view of the front parking lot. I agreed with the caller that we did, indeed, have night registration available. "Well ...... what do we do?" I tell her there is a registration packet on a clipboard, located to the left of the office door, next to the drop box, with instructions posted right above the drop box. "Oh, no one is coming out?" I tell her that we are currently closed and not in the office. Once again she wanted to know what to do. I ended up going over each step and telling her a site number that I knew to be vacant. It would have been quicker to just go in the office and let her in to take care of it, but I had already taken my clothes off and was in my nightgown, knowing I wanted to be in bed early.

I am still dealing with the towed RV and all the repercussions involved with it. The owner of the RV gave me a bogus credit card number. She was supposed to have been here Saturday morning. She called Saturday afternoon to say she couldn't get here until Sunday morning, but "PROMISED" she would be here early.

She had insisted that the tow drop her on a full hook up site, that she planned to stay in it while waiting for the insurance adjuster. From what she told me on the phone, she did not plan to be here past the weekend. She was sitting on a site that was already reserved for Monday.

He showed up early and I could not park him.  He was quite nice about it and agreed to park in the dry storage area until today. When the woman called she was, on how to put this so I don't sound like I am judging her? She was definitely excited about something and talking faster than me (I did not realize this was possible). I found it hard to get a word in. She had given me the credit card info, but not her phone number and I had campers waiting to be checked in. So, not having a way to contact her, I tried to run her card for her bill thus far. That is how I knew the number was not valid. All I knew as I went to bed was that I needed to get the disabled RV off that  site for the reservation pending.

We woke to find the insurance adjuster already here and got her contact info from him. HeWho took pity on me and he called her. Because he can't hear well, his volume is way up there and I could hear both sides of the conversation. I was finding it necessary to mouth what she was saying. He could not understand her.

She finally came with a valid credit card and now, having seen her, I can tell you her "excitement" was definitely enhanced with something that is probably not legal. Upon finding out that the insurance adjuster had already come and gone, she went a little crazy, yanking her mask down to call him.

HeWho said I was harsh when I reprimanded her about taking her mask off inside my office. He should know better than to try to reel me in. There was a carful of them and they were all quite excitable. One guy was jumping up and down and gesturing wildly with his arms as he spoke to someone in the car that I couldn't quite see. Then he proceeded to run down the drive. Since HeWho thought me harsh had left the office to go piddle around, I got to my feet and quietly locked the door to the office. As they finally gathered the jumping man and drove out of the park I noted that they liked turtles a lot. Someone had painted "stop turtle murders" on the side window of the vehicle. 

I believe I might have said that Mondays are usually quiet. I was wrong.