It's amazing to me how some people can drive 2 hours from civilization to 'get away from it all' and enjoy nature and then be completely distraught when a small middle-of-nowhere market doesn't have something they apparently can't live without. If something is that essential to someone's well being, it seems like they would have thought to pack it before they headed 2 hours up a mountain. There is no Wal-Mart in the woods. We just don't have the resources to knock down some 1,000 year old Sequoia trees to build one yet.
We've been out of ibuprofen and Tylenol pretty much since I started working a few weeks ago and I feel like I hear about it everyday. Most of these people only seem minorly inconvenienced and I feel kind of bad for them because I love my Advil. However, the biggest tragedy lately is that we ran out of tampons. To some people, this is inexcusable. One lady was so annoyed and upset, I felt like she was accusing me of withholding them from her on purpose as if I enjoyed seeing her suffer. She was complaining that all we had was pads and "do you have any idea how hard it is to hike in these?" I don't think she has any idea how long it takes for delivery trucks to make their way up the hill. Shit happens. We run out and it takes like a week or longer to get more.
Even so, I can forgive a cranky bleeding woman for getting annoyed with me but the most perplexing thing to me is when we run out of large ice. There were many people who seemed extremely put out and inconvenienced when I told them we were out of 20 pound bags of ice. As someone was buying three 7-pound bags (which are the SAME price per pound), they asked "when are you getting more 20 pound bags in?" to which I replied "I'm not sure" but my eyes said "what does it matter? It's the same fucking ice."
We also ran out of marshmallows. Surprisingly, no one seemed quite as upset over that as not having a big ass bag of ice. Next time someone bitches about ice, I should offer to open three 7-pound bags and dump them into a garbage bag so that the ice is all together in one bag. Apparently that's very important. Ice must work better when in the company of more ice. I had no idea it was such a social creature. I could've have sworn it was just frozen water.
We'll probably run out of milk soon. The only bitching I'll tolerate is from John because we go through it pretty fast.
-Angela
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Living with Giants
(I actually wrote this post about 3 days ago. I was just able to get to the internet to post it tonight. I realize it's kind of all over the place. There was just so much going on.)
Here I am on July 7th in the year 2011 and somehow I have made my way back to Sequoia National Park for the 4th summer in a row. This was originally supposed to be a one time thing but after all the moving around during and after college, this place has become something of a second home for me. It is reminiscent of the home I grew up in because I am surrounded by a forest but the giant sequoia's give it a special "there's no other place like it" feel. They act as giant guardians making me feel safe and secure.
Ever since beginning college, security is something that I have missed and longed for. In recent months, I have found such security in the form of another giant: my 6 foot 8 inch soul-mate, John Goodin. We had planned to spend the summer apart for financial reasons, but after only one week apart, he is back in my life and working for the same company in my second home.
John drove me to Sequoia and left me here last Tuesday. The very next day I took up my old post as cashier at Lodgepole Market. I picked the wrong day to start. After going through about 3 hours of filling out paper work and listening to rambling speeches from the HR manager, I began working in the market at about a quarter to 4 in the afternoon. That day just happened to be inventory day. I didn't clock out until almost 4:30 in the morning. I'm good friends with the manager so I didn't feel shy complaining to him, which I did.... a lot.
The next few days were a bit challenging on my feet because they weren't used to standing for so long. Everyone knew about it because I complained so they would ask me for updates when I would go into work and sometime toward the end of the day. It probably didn't help that I had dragged John to the top of Moro Rock on the first night we were here. We watched the sunset.
So, on my fifth day of work, the manager, Vince, informed me that John called him and wanted to come work at Sequoia. John found out that his job at Target was less than half time hours. Needless to say this made my whole day even though we were crazy busy because it was 4th of July weekend.
Later that day we had a fire alarm and I got to stand outside and stop customers from going inside. The next day, I worked the second half of my shift at the Wuksachi Gift shop. Anyone who has had the privilege of reading the notes I write while working understands how extremely boring that job is. The day after that, we had a crazy downpour and the storm drain was clogged so the parking lot of flooded and approaching the store front. A few hours later about half of the power went out and mine was the only register open. Somewhere in there John arrived from Sacramento all sweaty and tired.
I got my first day off yesterday. John did orientation and we set up our room. Today is his first day of work. He's moving large piles of wood. I hear there's a lot of it although I have not seen these piles with my own eyes.
Now we have about 8 more weeks until we both go home and start school. I'm excited that I don't have to spend those 8 weeks apart. I get to have my job and my boy and live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I'm feeling pretty good right now.
-Angela
 |
| John resting after I dragged him to the top of Moro Rock |
Ever since beginning college, security is something that I have missed and longed for. In recent months, I have found such security in the form of another giant: my 6 foot 8 inch soul-mate, John Goodin. We had planned to spend the summer apart for financial reasons, but after only one week apart, he is back in my life and working for the same company in my second home.
John drove me to Sequoia and left me here last Tuesday. The very next day I took up my old post as cashier at Lodgepole Market. I picked the wrong day to start. After going through about 3 hours of filling out paper work and listening to rambling speeches from the HR manager, I began working in the market at about a quarter to 4 in the afternoon. That day just happened to be inventory day. I didn't clock out until almost 4:30 in the morning. I'm good friends with the manager so I didn't feel shy complaining to him, which I did.... a lot.
The next few days were a bit challenging on my feet because they weren't used to standing for so long. Everyone knew about it because I complained so they would ask me for updates when I would go into work and sometime toward the end of the day. It probably didn't help that I had dragged John to the top of Moro Rock on the first night we were here. We watched the sunset.
So, on my fifth day of work, the manager, Vince, informed me that John called him and wanted to come work at Sequoia. John found out that his job at Target was less than half time hours. Needless to say this made my whole day even though we were crazy busy because it was 4th of July weekend.
Later that day we had a fire alarm and I got to stand outside and stop customers from going inside. The next day, I worked the second half of my shift at the Wuksachi Gift shop. Anyone who has had the privilege of reading the notes I write while working understands how extremely boring that job is. The day after that, we had a crazy downpour and the storm drain was clogged so the parking lot of flooded and approaching the store front. A few hours later about half of the power went out and mine was the only register open. Somewhere in there John arrived from Sacramento all sweaty and tired.
I got my first day off yesterday. John did orientation and we set up our room. Today is his first day of work. He's moving large piles of wood. I hear there's a lot of it although I have not seen these piles with my own eyes.
Now we have about 8 more weeks until we both go home and start school. I'm excited that I don't have to spend those 8 weeks apart. I get to have my job and my boy and live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I'm feeling pretty good right now.
-Angela
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