Has It Really Been That Long?

We had absolutely no time to write during our time at the San Diego Fair.  We worked so many frigging hours and those hours were the busiest and hardest we have ever worked.  The media caught onto this new idea that Mike Peterson came up with for the Bacon A-Fair and we were off and running and I do mean running our entire shift.  

Nobody expected it to be such a fantastic busy ride.  Our best sellers were the Bacon Wrapped Turkey Legs and our Porkabellos (play on words)...Portabella mushrooms stuffed with Gouda Cheese, wrapped with bacon and grilled to perfection!

Most of our days were 13 to 15 hour days without much time to catch our breaths, we were exhausted and tried to find ways to make this adventure fun...it wasn't easy but we were determined to keep smiling.

We continued to play catch up with trying to get some good people to work, it was not easy.  People say they want a job, but work does not seem to be a part of what they want to do.  We had long lines of people from opening to close almost constant, we started so far behind that no matter what we did it was never enough. 

Most of our staff ended up being whining, crying babies who needed a break every hour and then began to tell me that I was picking on them, oh boohoo!  I asked them to do certain things and when they did not do it, I asked them again and again and again…then they cried and said I was picking on them.  Then a few brought their drama lives to work with them… 

We had never worked with such incompetent people before in our lives...they fought us every step of the way for one reason or another.  We did have a few that were exceptional workers and got it, but unfortunately we needed more of them to step up and do their jobs without all the chaos they brought with them.  Several said I showed favoritism to a few of them, I wanted to ask them if they thought we were back in grade school but instead I tried to explain that it was because they knew how to do their jobs well and did not need micro-managing, but they just did not get it!

We had Mondays off, and it was spent doing laundry and shopping and then just trying to get our bodies to not hurt, one day was not enough.  Then the last Monday the fair was open so we worked for 9 days straight at 13 to 15 hour days…we were spent!  We had nothing left to give to our writing or anything but to try to sleep a few hours before having to do it all over again.

We barely got through with that fair and we have now moved to the Orange County Fair.  The big difference is that we are ahead of this one.  We have over hired the counter and grilling staff, so it gives us leeway to let people go who are not up to par.  It only runs 5 days per week so we will have Monday and Tuesdays off with no long stretches of work days in a row.  The long hours will be the same but we will be able to handle it until August 12th.  After what we endured at the San Diego Fair, this will feel like a vacation.

The only thing that kept us going was working for Mike and Brittney Peterson, owners of RSI Concessions.  They are so good to work for, Brittney is funny and says the things that I am thinking and Mike, well he is so laid back but gets his point across when needed.  We are such total opposites, they are so easy going and we are so intense, but together we make it all work.  When they hired us, they were looking for someone who can take charge and restructure the counter staff, bet they didn’t expect such a strong fix but they seem to be happy with us.  Micro-managing is not my style, but when the staff does not step up to the plate, then that is what ended up happening.  We plan to lighten up a bit now that we have the San Diego Fair over and we all know what to expect here at the Orange County Fair and will be prepared.