A Saturday Evening Post

I worked my last shift at The Park last night, at least for a while. I ended up closing Grouper, which isn't my favorite position to close. For some reason, at that hour no one stands where they're placed or WANTS to stand where they're placed.

Forty minutes before closing the ride cascaded and the lights went on. I reassured the guests that it probably wouldn't take too long. One young boy was sadly staring at the ground (he was only one group away from boarding, after all!) so I began to play with him and my laser pointer. I'd direct the beam around his feet and he'd stare at it, then look up at the adult next to him and try to get their attention. The beam would of course be gone and the adult would be distracted. He'd look carefully around to see if anyone else had seen it, then we'd repeat the whole thing. Sometimes, he'd try to step on it. Other times, he'd try to grab it with his hands. He was so cute!

While we were down, everyone I had grouped (including the little boy's party) was grumbling and complaining. I tried talking to them and distracting them. The man waiting next in line was especially irate and loud about his dissatisfaction, but I soon had him laughing. He said to me, "This must be a great job!"

"It really is a GREAT job."

"I mean, you get to meet all these people and they're all so happy to be here."

At this point I stared him right in the eye (because he had really been a royal pain not ten seconds earlier) and said, "YES. Everyone is so HAPPY."

He stared back at me for a second, then he burst out laughing.

Touché.


The one fun thing about closing grouper is that after the last guest has boarded, we're allowed to hop on the ride with them if there's a seat available. My friend Adam was on his break and we hopped on together! What a fun way to head to the break room.

The new audio does enhance the ride, but it sounds too much like disco music to me and disco is my least favorite genre. There are parts where it sounds like something is whizzing past and that's really cool. All in all, I like it!

Busy week ahead, then Saturday is Night of Joy!