For those of whom that don't know, I landed a summer job at a marina. Not just any marina, but Pilot's Point Marina, the second largest marina in CT. It's owned and operated by Brewer's Marina corp. The marina consists of the upper class of Connecticut, and owning a BMW or MBZ is a requirement to be a member. I landed a job here in desperate need for gas money, and luckily Keith, my boss, hired me. I work only on the weekends from 8 to 8, and Friday from 4-8, so I put in a lot of hours into work. For only two and a half days of work a week, it's not bad.
I wear this great hat there, too. It makes me stand out, it makes me noticeable. Many a time, actually, people have commented on my straw fedora saying, "nice hat, I like it." When people see the hat, they know who I am, the pool boy.
The Job:
The first and last hour of work are always the most interesting. In the morning, I have to clean the bathrooms and manage the pool and occasionally backwash the filter. Exciting, right? Well, the first four hours of work go on by and I start to meet people. For example, there's this old lady who frequently "bothers" me whenever she comes to the pool. I say "bothers" because she really just talks with me about my job, and her daughter, perhaps in her 30's, is convinced that she is bothering me and asks her to stop talking to me. Well, I convinced them both that having her "bother" me makes my job more exciting and interesting, and for that, I thank her.
At about two, I usually take a break, because between then and six, sitting in the chair when the umbrella shade has moved is the equivalent to burning in hell for four hours. So, because no one likes doing that, I ask Rich (the dock master, whatever that means) to send up a relief, to which I say, "here ya go, sucker," and I leave for a little while and check out the boats.
One day at work was "Kids day." The marina brought in large inflatable bounce houses and a popcorn and snow cone machine. On this particular day, it was raining quite a bit, and there was little attendance at the pool. So, my Rich came up to me and told me "Stephen, we're gonna have you be working on the popcorn machine because I know you've always wanted to learn how to make popcorn." No, I didn't, but I guess that would be a useful thing to know how to do. So, I made popcorn for two hours. (Popcorn cooking wasn't in the job description, but alright) PPM, the only place where a pool attendant can go from doing their job to making popcorn for two hours and then back again. Well, that made for an interesting story.
The boats:
At PPM, there are boats. Didn't think so right? Well, there are something like 650 boats located there, and I see many of them on my break. Boats of all sizes from dinghy's and jet skis to mega yachts, such as the Debbie Lou or the Miss Daisy. The Debbie Lou is (from what I learned from Steve, more about him later) the largest yacht in the marina and is owned by an executive at UTC, the empire that owns Otis Elevator and Pratt and Whitney, and many other various CT based industries. I also learned that he received over 20 million dollars in bonuses in the last year. There's also my bosses boat, Feather, a 42 foot sailing boat that he charters. There's also the Miss Daisy, a gigantic classic yacht at dry dock in the parking lot. (out of Block Island) Also, there were a couple large sailing yachts like the Crown Jewel, a 50 something foot sailing yacht that was on her way to England for a yachting regatta. Now, working at the marina pool isn't exactly what I had in mind when I went to work at a marina, but its better than nothing. Maybe next summer I'll do what I really want to do, work on the docks or in the maintenance bays on the yachts in the large hangars.
Cleaning:
Cleaning the bathroom has resulted in a few.... interesting...surprises. I'm asked to take out the trash from each of the bathrooms and throw it into the trash barrel outside the bathrooms and then at the end of the day throw that into the dumpster. When determining if the trash should be taken out, I made a few interesting discoveries in the trash cans such as:
An empty box of Wheat Thins
Two empty cans of Bud Lite
An empty Pringles can
An empty Monster can
Honestly, who finishes that stuff when they're sitting on the john? That's just weird people.
The people:
The people I meet at the marina really spice up the boring hellish day. My hat makes me stand out, and I usually start talking to people who actually notice it and say something like, "nice hat." I usually get at least three of those a day. (By the way, do something obscure to make yourself stand out, like wearing a straw fedora if you want to be noticed more in the work place, works like a charm.) Also, a group of really interesting characters that looked very out of place at a high end marina came in. I'm gonna be completely honest, they look like the stereotype redneck. They wore ratty T-shirts, and the wife had a back of cigarettes tucked in her shirt. Interesting characters. So, the people I met:
Steve:
There are two Steves. This one is a friend of a boat owner named Lou, who works for UTC. Hence, where I learned about the largest yacht in the marina. After talking a bit about UTC and work, I discovered that he lives in Madison as well. He was listing off names of people he knew in town, but I didn't know many of them, except for one. He asked me, "How do you know that name?" I replied, "Well, the girls are in my class." To which he replied, "Good answer!" We all got a great laugh out of that. He also told me "Hold onto being sixteen, because next thing you know you'll be like me, 50 and asking yourself, 'where did it all go." Thanks Steve, I'll remember that
The other Steve:
The other Steve is the security guard who works at the marina. He's a big guy, and believe me, you wouldn't want to get in a tussle with him, because he looks pretty tough.
Skip Dohl:
Skip I met at work the other day because, of course, he noticed my hat. Skip is another interesting character, with unorganized hair and a ratty old button down shirt. He and I got into talking because he's a gear head and I'm interested in cars and I later found out that he went to good ol' DHHS. That is, in the 70's he did. He worked at the marina for 25 years now in the maintenance bays working on yachts that he openly admits "Will never be able to afford." But he was telling me about how he has no wife or kids and how after high school he didn't do anything but party. He told me that he never did anything with high school, but that it didn't matter to him because he's as happy as can be working on boats. He told me "What you'll get out of high school is related to what you put in. If you put in a lot, you'll get out a lot. If you don't, like me, you won't get much out of it. But that's just me, I'm happy with what I do and I couldn't ask for anything more." Well, good for you Skip for being happy.
On the note of him living in Madison, I told him where about I lived in town. He then asked me if I knew a neighbor of mine, and I told him yes. Then we really hit it off with each other. I told him that the woman who he had mentioned taught me how to swim, and he said that three of her daughters worked as a pool attendant at the very pool I'm working at now. He and her still keep in touch, and he told me to tell her about him next time I see her around town. I think I'll hang out with him, he can show me around the boats and teach me a couple mechanical techniques and how to be happy.
