June 18, 2003

• So, who wants to hear my crazy pool story today?
  
  Well to bad, I'm telling you anyway. I had the opening shift today- 9 to 3. It was kinda annoying just because it was so warm, and still nobody showed up. It was hovering above 90 degrees- man was it hot today. And it was perfectly still, I'm telling you- not a breeze, well maybe occasionally a light breeze- but no wind! Hot, humid, and still.
  
  And then, all of a sudden, while I was talking with the one patron at the pool, a huge gust of wind came. A big gust-- and it filled one of the large table umbrellas. I saw the umbrella sway and I ran to it- those things are at least 4 or 6 hundred dollars a piece. As I tried desperately to crank it closed, the thing lifted off the ground like the sail of a ship. The wind then carried the umbrella, the table, and me (my guess is that's 200 pounds) across the pool deck. At one point my whole body was off the ground as I clung desperately to the umbrella, which had carried the big table 10 yards at least. It nearly nocked me into the pool, but I tried to manuver it away from the pool as I was screaming for the other patron to shut the other umbrellas. Papers were flying everywhere in the howling wind- and as I held the umbrella, its metal branches began to bend, snap, and fly all over the pool deck. The wind that had appeared out of no where finally died down, leaving the umbrella mangled and in serval pieces-- completely destroyed. The table was a long way from where it started, and some of the little tables had blown across the pool by themselves. The furnature was a mess, and the clouds were all of a sudden building rapidly out of the blue. I was not a happy camper-- I was freaked out of my wits.
  
  Guess who heard the wind and decided to come by to ask me to close the umbrellas? None other than Ed, the old and obnoxious president of the Pool Board. He saw the umbrella, said the "s" word 50 times and then started going off on how he knew this was going to happen and how the umbrellas shouldn't have been raised etc. etc. etc. I thought he was going to murder me.
  
  Then there was thunder. Guess who called. Margaret-- my boss. Lucky, the freak wind gust wasn't isolated to the Old Farm Village Pool. She also experienced the gust and thunder, and was very understanding. I asked if I should close the pool-- my shift was over in 10 min. anyway. She said no, Kirt was coming to replace me and she wanted him to work since he had been slacking off and annoying patrons.
  
  It wasn't long before a freak storm then pelted me with rain, soaking all of my things which had previously been under an umbrella.
  
  I have learned my lesson: stop wishing for excitement at work. I should have known that there would be none by the name of the pool/complex-- Old Farm Village.
  
  *sigh*
  
  P.S. JP- how's that for Drama?

  • 7:07 pm
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