Things that happen at work

So I was looking through my drafts today in the post section and discovered this one that I hadn't posted. I thought ya might enjoy. ... remember-it's from this last summer when we were in Montana...

I was laughing tonight at an episode of Family Guy because it reminded me of work. Lois' dad is a bazillionaire, and he gets sued and loses all his money so he's forced to live with his daughter and her family who are just "average." His first morning there he walks downstairs in his underwear, and Lois yelps "Daddy! Where are your clothes!?" He looks at himself a little surprised and says, "Oh, I.... don't know. I used to have a guy for that..." And it's funny cause it's true. There are people like that. And Jeff and I work for them. I know that Jeff and I bragged earlier that we get paid to canoe, ATV, kayak/raft, boat, bike, and hike all day, but let me just say that its tough work. No seriously, it is. Not only do we set up trips to go for ourselves, but we also have to prepare for the people who are paying to go on them, and our "guests/clients" are not your average client. They're usually rich people who spend so much time making millions that they don't actually know how to do anything for themselves besides make money (and spend it). And they are usually from a big city and have never been outside of it, either. They have a nanny for each of their children so they don't have to deal with them (usually their kids are so obnoxious they have to pay people to be around them), they have an assistant scout out the resort FIRST before they'll come, and they bring their own drivers. Now, not all of them are quite like this just cause they have money, but they still have their own level of special. Last week this one lady kind of made me mad. Usually I'll hear at least three or four times a week, "Wow! What a great job!" or "You actually get paid to do this!?" (Ironically it is usually when I'm carrying two kayaks at once, unloading ginormous rafts or cleaning up after one of them) to which I respond with a big, fake smile, "It's a tough job, but someones got to do it!" Although secretly I want to say something else like "No! Cleaning up and taking care of YOU is NOT fun!" Sometimes I get really sick of that joke since I tell it so much. Anyway, one time I was repeating this conversation for the 100th time with some woman, and she adds "Well, I'm sure it beats fast food!" I just smiled. As Jeff and I were walking away we were like, "Did we just get insulted? Did she just insinuate that if we weren't working here we'd be in fast food?" It was a little insulting since we both have a bachelors degree, but maybe she thought it was a major in McDonald's and a minor in Wendy's. Sometimes it's not always the guests fault that silly things happen, but most of them time.. it is. This year we've had two or three people get concussions for driving their golf carts drunk, especially after we told them that it was a big no-no. We've also had them think they can take their carts on the highway and then act flabbergasted when they almost get squished by a log truck or run out of gas. Just this last week I had the following happen: A girl get her ATV stuck sideways in a barbed wire fence at the top of a huge hill.

A guy knowingly drive with the parking brake on the ATV but "thought it'd be OK" and was shocked when the brake cable snapped and he didn't have any brakes. Got the rope of a tube stuck in the propeller of the boat and had to spend 30 minutes swimming under a freaky boat trying to untangle a rope off a propeller. NOT COOL. And on top of that the last month we've had three people act like they knew what they were doing on an ATV and roll them.. one guy got three broken ribs, a girl got a staple in her head (through the helmet) and the other really bruised. Aside from roll-overs, one girl went flying into the barbed wire fence, one went into the electric fence and some guy had to get stitches from kicking one of the cleat things on the dock. That was actually funny cause the guide had just kicked it and while he was holding his stubbed toe the guy was making fun of him, only to turn around and kick it himself, only a lot harder requiring stitches. So our job isn't always a piece of cake. There is a LOT to deal with. And sometimes I swear the next time I'm serving 10 guests by myself, trying to drive a boat, get two idiots going on a wave runner, and find a life jacket some child threw in the lake and probably lost and someone says, "Gosh what a great job to have!" I will probably shove a helmet down their throat. .... no... actually we all know I'll smile and say "It's a tough job but..."