To the tune of If We Ever Meet Again (feat Katy Perry) by Timbaland and Rock & Roll by Eric Hutchinson.This one is dedicated to everyone I met this fateful summer from the guy that always confessed his undying love to me to the girl that couldn't stop talking about funnel cakes and stole all my baseballs from catrack. I'm sorry I can't remember any of your names right now...
Some of my family members worked at Six Flags back in the seventies. My aunt and uncle always reminisce about their days at the park. The way they portrayed it, it sounded like a never-ending party that paid you, enticing right? For a good year after the first time my parents toted me out to the park, we would pass Six Flags on 360 and I would sing “that’s my Six Flags!” Yeah, I was a cute kid. When I was nine, I decided I wanted to work there one day and began counting down the years until I was old enough. Fifteen. It once seemed such a distant age. Regardless, working at Six flags was always one of my dreams.
So this summer, I went up to the human resources department, filled out heaps of forms and endured about three shaky interviews. Games was my department of choice and sure enough, one day in June I was offered the job. I happily accepted.
I got a job at Six Flags this summer. And it was an experience I will never forget. Wanna know what a typical day was like? Well, I’m gonna’ tell you anyways.
***
I barreled down the highway in the passenger seat with Katy Perry and Timbaland flirting a melody in my ears. “I’ll never be the same, if we ever meet again. Won’t let you get away, if we ever meet again.” My headphones were stuffed in my ears and my mom didn’t typically protest. I didn’t have to be a morning person yet; no one would bother me to sell, sell, sell or shove a microphone in my hands for a short while.
It was the same everyday. Roll up to the employee parking lot. Make it through security without getting griped at to tuck in your shirt. Walk in to the office. Badge in. Take your time slip. Leave the office. Look up at the Giant. Think “wow that drop looks steeper than yesterday.” Walk over the train tracks. Enter Mexico. Walk through Spain. Pass the canteen. Listen to Rock & Roll by Eric Hutchinson as it played over Six Flags Radio (and they played it every morning). Wind up in U.S.A. Pass a couple rides. Duck behind Top Glo (that’s the water gun game for those of you that aren’t devoted enough to memorize the names of all the games). End up in the game’s office where everyone is milling about. Hand over your time slip through a little hole in a window. Chat. Head to your respective area. Find your supervisor. Start cleaning counters. Scream at the kids running into the park to be the first in line at whatever ride. Get your positions. Start spieling.
And that’s just the first twenty minutes. Working in games definitely brought me out of my shell a bit. I’m still a bashful chap, but I’ll scream at you to play my game without a second thought. All in all, working games was pretty amazing. I got to make people laugh with the random things I would say over the microphone. Sure I got darts thrown at me by children but it was all good because I had safety goggles! No worries right? I also got shot with the water guns all the time.
Funny story about that. One of my favorite tales from this summer happened my second week on the job. I was talking with my supervisor, Matthew, at Top Glo about whatever. Another supervisor walked past my game, stopped, and turned back. He glanced at me through his red Ray-Bans and he couldn’t have been much older than me. Before I could say anything he leaned over, flipped the switch for one of the guns, jumped into my booth, turned on the game, jumped back out and took aim from the other side of the counter. Matthew grabbed his cowboy hat and ran. Next thing I know, this supervisor had turned one of the guns on me and was shooting me with freezing cold water! I laughed and screamed and shut off the game. And then he disappeared. I didn’t complain though. It was over one-hundred degrees outside as it typically was.
Another time I was working gun-ball, the game where you shoot foam balls at three cups in an attempt to knock them over. The prize for gun-ball was a guitar and people refused to believe the simplicity of that silly game. I argued endlessly with people that the plastic cups were not magnetic and I would often hand them the little things to prove that there was nothing special about the stupid plastic cup. One time a group of guys came up and began discussing whether or not they wanted to play. I convinced one to give it a try and he paid for three shots. He knocked them over in one. I was shocked but handed over his guitar gladly. Next thing I know the rest of the guys are shelling out their money to play too. They told me they were going to start a band now and write a song in honor of me. That was probably the best day of work apart from the day that the guy that always claimed he was in love with me told me, sincerely, that my smile was pretty. I was flattered both times. And I am still waiting for my song to show up on the radio.
So this summer was life-changing for me. I made a lot of friends and when I returned in the fall, I found that people were beginning to know my name.. I was finally starting to belong. And then, things ended on a sort of sour note. My last day was in November. For Holiday in the Park, half of the park closed and the fifteen-year-olds weren’t scheduled. I told them I would reapply, but I never went back to do so. Oh well. Point is there will never be anything like this summer. I’ll never forget any of the amazing people I met and the experiences had. I haven't signed up to go back this year. I don't think I will. Thing would be different and I'm just fine with the way I left things. This summer was probably the best yet.
So if you know me as the quiet kid at school, I promise I can be anything but. Just ask me to start spieling and I will never shut up:
“Hey! How ‘bout y’all right over there? You guys wanna’ give it a shot? Aww
come on all I need is just two
players- only two players
-to start the next race!
Aww come on up!
Give it a shot!!!!
There’s a guaranteed
winner everytime
which means
you’re walking
away with a
prize every.
Single.
Time.
You.
Play."
And it goes on and on. As they made us say, “Have a six flags day!”
Gee. I miss summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment