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| The BBHQ Boomer Essays: |
| Our Boomer-In-Charge here at BBHQ, Hershel Chicowitz, writes frequently about current events... from a boomer perspective. He is sometimes funny, sometimes provocative, sometimes a little of each. We hope you get a kick out of our Boomer Essays. |
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Princess and I just got back from our summer vacation. Strange as it may seem, we spent part of our vacation in Cleveland, Ohio, where I grew up. We visited many of the "old haunts"; it brought back a flood of memories.
One of my first visits was to the municipal swimming pool, Thornton Park, in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. I spent the better part of many summers there. No, I was not a life guard; I worked in the food service area... by choice. As I recall, the primary task of the life guards was to examine the feet of everyone who entered the pool area... looking for athlete's foot, I guess. Junior life guards spent the entire summer with their heads bent down, looking at feet. I could do without that, thank you.
Thornton Park was originally just a small sledding hill a couple blocks from the shopping center. We went there only in the winter, which, in Northern Ohio, could be 8-10 months of the year. In the early sixties, they added an Olympic-sized swimming pool at the top of the hill, the highest point in the city of Shaker Heights. How ironic that down in the shopping center, it could be 85 degrees, hot and sultry. A couple blocks away, at the top of the hill, it might be a balmy 75 degrees, with a gusty wind coming off Lake Erie. So who needs a swimming pool up there?
The food service area at the park consisted of about 15 picnic tables, 20 vending machines, and a small counter service. Ron Silver, the President of Variety Vending, taught us how to fill and maintain the vending machines. Ron was a short, stocky, wiseguy; he was about 40. He was the first adult I called by his first name. But the job consisted of much more than just maintaining the vending machines. We were responsible for taking care of anything that went wrong. And a thousand things could go wrong.
Variety Vending had strict rules that we had to enforce. The life guards were supposed to stop anyone from entering the park chewing gum. But they were too busy looking at feet; so, many slipped by. But none slipped by the food service area; we caught 'em all. It was our version of "America's Most Wanted." And woe be unto us if we missed one. 'Cause if we did, Ron would catch them, and then make us pay the price. Ron was at the park every minute that it was open, seven days a week, all summer.
Ron Silver had the worst temper of anyone I have ever worked for. The slightest provocation could send him into an outrage. He'd rip you up one side and down the other for the slightest oversight. Then he'd send you back out onto the floor while he stood in the corner waiting to take another shot at you.
The first week I worked there I thought I was going to be fired every day. But at the end of the week, Ron gave me a raise: five cents an hour, from $1.25 an hour to $1.30. I was amazed and thrilled. I soon learned that his bark was far worse than his bite. Ron never fired anyone; he couldn't afford to. He started each summer with about 40 kids working for him; he ended up with about eight by Labor Day. Only the strong survived Variety Vending. I was one of the strong... three years in a row.
Ron seemed to pick on me more than anyone else. I was always in the dog house; maybe it's just because he knew I could take it. I quickly learned that the best defense was a good offense. But I had to attack carefully; he was not always right, but he was always the boss.
| Whenever Ron went up to the pool front office (about 200 feet away), he would announce his departure: "I'm goin' up front for a minute," as he walked away. Remember Grog, the short, ugly, Neanderthal character in the comic strip "BC"? One day the strip showed Grog with a leash around his neck. Grog was holding the end of the leash in one hand, above his head, taking himself for a walk. I clipped that frame out of the paper and posted it on the employee bulletin board with the caption, "I'm going up front for a minute." From then on, whenever Ron headed up front, he would just raise his hand above his head as if he were holding a leash. Ron could take it, too. |  |
Ron's favorite machine was a hot dog and pizza machine; your choice, 35 cents. I guess they were high-profit items. We heated the hot dogs and pizza in an oven and then loaded them in the vending machine that kept them warm. Early one cool, cloudy morning, Ron had me heat the dogs and pizza; but there was some question as to whether the park would even open that day. So when they were done, as he was flirting with a life guard, I asked him if he wanted me to load them in the machine. "No," he replied, "I want you to stick 'em up your nose." I may have been born yesterday, but it was early yesterday. I took one look at that huge beak hanging over the smile on his face, and shot back, "They wouldn't fit up mine." That got me 30 seconds dangling upside down by my ankles over the kiddie pool.
But he who last laughs... That evening, a few minutes before closing, I walked up front, asked the park manager to look the other way, went into the pool office and took over the P.A. system: "Ron Silver... report to the deep end. Ron Silver... go soak your head." Fortunately I had the next day off.
I spent a few minutes at the park last week. No, the life guards don't check for athlete's foot any more. I guess they decided that a little athlete's foot is the least of the ills in today's society. Of course, Ron is gone; so are all the vending machines. They have replaced them with a full-service snack bar. I bought a crushed-ice snow cone... cherry. It was not very good. There was a kid over in the corner chewing gum. It took every ounce of self-control I had to keep from walking over and ordering him to spit it out.
I suppose there could never be an employer like Ron Silver these days. After about three days, half the staff would sue him for abuse, and run him out of town. They'd take away his license and see that he never supervised anybody again. So instead, we have K-mart, Wal-Mart, and Target. Echhhh!
That's too bad. I learned diligence, respect, responsibility, and "a sense of urgency" from him. I learned what is expected of an employee, and how to perform on a job - traits sadly lacking in today's service-oriented society. I also learned how to stick up for myself. Ron Silver was the best person I ever worked for.
And I can still spot anybody chewing gum from 100 feet away. It drives me nuts.
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If you like what we're doing here at BBHQ, please help us by buying stuff through our link to Amazon.com:
| The BBHQ Album of the Month is "Old Friends Live on Stage (Deluxe Edition) (2 CD/1 DVD)," by Simon & Garfunkel. If you were fortunate enough to see them in concert last year, I do not have to sell you. The concert was terrific! This album collection includes 55 songs, plus their new recording, "Citizen of the Planet," and one of the songs sung by the Everly Brothers during the concert. The DVD was recorded during their concert in Madison Square Garden in 2003. For any S&G fan, this is a must have! But then, you knew that already, didn't you? |
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The BBHQ Book of the Month is
"Vinyl Highway," by
Dee Dee Phelps. You remember her as Dee Dee, of Dick and Dee Dee.
Together, they took a decade long ride on the rock and roll roller
coaster. It was a heck of a ride! Dick Clark, Quincy Jones, the Beach
Boys, Glenn Campbell, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Vinton... Dick and Dee Dee
rubbed shoulders with all of them. This is her "behind the scenes" story.
It's pretty cool.
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Copyright © 1998-2008 Baby Boomer HeadQuarters (BBHQ) All rights reserved.
rev. 07/11/01
