Small Crowds

Yesterday was our first day back to work for our first full week. So far, the crowds have been disappointing at the games. We have averaged, I would guess, about 2000 per game so far. This is the first year that the games have started in February. Usually, they begin on March 1st and run just for the month. The extra week this year has probably resulted in the initial small crowds. That, plus the teams usually play all the minor league players and "players on the bubble" the first few games to get a good look at them before sending them back to the farm teams. Not many people are interested in watching the minor league players play in games. The crowds will pick up in March when the teams begin playing their starters and we can watch quality baseball. Nonetheless, we are getting valuable experience on our job.

The biggest complaint that I have is the relatively long hours that I have to spend entirely on my feet. I'm not used to working without any opportunity to sit at all. My back is paying the price. Josie has more realistic hours and is probably averaging about 4 to 5 hours a day vs my 7 to 9. I expected some longer days when I signed on for the Lead job, but I'm getting tired with these long hours. I'm glad it's only a month longer to work.

Today was our final weigh-in for the month of February. Our dieting is right on track. Josie has lost 20 pounds and I have lost 23 since January 1. We are determined to stay the course this time on our weight loss and hope that we have changed our eating habits for good. Our clothes are fitting much better and we feel great overall about achieving our weight loss goals. We should be pretty close to our goals by the time we arrive in Jackson for our summer jobs.

I expect the day to be a little shorter today as we will close the concession after the 7th inning today to allow for preparation for a night game of high school play. We have to get everything wrapped up by the time the regular game ends which should be about 4 PM today. It will be nice to get in a short day for a change...

Tax Work

More work was done on our taxes yesterday and I have to say it is not the way to spend the free days from working. It will be a year where we have to fork over more cash as our income was inflated as a result of the Holiday Retirement time. The extra cash was great while we were working there, but it made a big difference in our tax obligation. Maybe I'll slow down the tax report since I'm not anxious to help out the IRS anytime soon. Obama can get by without my contribution for awhile.

It was a laundry day for Josie and she had an over sized load to do yesterday. There are so many people driving and parking golf carts that it has made it tough for her to find parking space at the laundromat. She even had to use one of the satellite laundry facilities because she couldn't park near the main facility. Jan - Apr are the peak times here, and there are always tournaments and other activities at the Town Center during that time.

It's back to work today for our first full week. I'm not looking forward to being on my feet all day, every day, but we'll see how it goes this week. It should start to get easier now and my days should get a little shorter. I have been working about double the hours that Josie works, but she may have to put in more hours at the flower shop, where she would rather be anyway. We'll see how that goes...

Good Down Day

Our morning was pretty much taken up with Josie going to the fitness center for a workout and my installing our new printer. My back is still bothering me, so I didn't do the workout gig yesterday. The afternoon was completely consumed with traveling to Michael's to look for yarn and to pick up my completed picture, Joann's to look for more yarn, Costco for some items we needed from there, Orangewood RV to fill our propane tank and, finally, Sam's Club to look for strawberries that nobody else had. We didn't find the strawberries there, but discovered that most of what we purchased at Costco was $1 cheaper at Sam's Club. We don't know why we travel the extra distance to go to Costco when the Sam's Club is right down the street with most of the same stuff. We finally stopped at Walmart - also down the street - and found the strawberries. Following a mail stop at the clubhouse, we were done for the day. It seems like every time we go out to a store or two, the whole day is gone by the time we get back home.

We heard from our friends in Jackson and they are dealing with the frigid weather and some - not a lot - of snow. They are all looking forward to Spring, of course. One of the couples we worked with at the front desk that has been returning for over 10 years will not return this year as a result of health issues. The Young's live in FL and it is a long trip each year for them so we understand. We will inherit their prime RV space in the park for the summer this year. That was good news for us although we wish them well for this year. It is now especially important that we return so that Judy (Front Desk Manager) doesn't have to train a whole new staff.

Today will most likely be a stay at home day so we can rest up for the full week schedule at the games beginning tomorrow...

First Week Games

We completed our first (short) week of games at Spring Training yesterday. Both of us will have to rest our backs over the next two days as the standing all day has been a drag on our stamina. At least for me. There is no opportunity during any of the games to take a lunch break or any other kind of break. We work straight through to the end of our shifts. For me, that amounts to about 8+ hours per day of constant motion.

One thing that became obvious during the first three games, and that is that Aramark has missed the "mark" on organization and providing value in their products. For example, it is easy for any of the cashiers to pocket money if they they are inclined to do so since there are no checks and balances at individual registers at the end of the day. I hope there are no dishonest people, but the possibility exists. The value of the food items borders on astonishing. They are selling beer in 24 oz containers that are called "Bombers" for $10 each. You can buy at least a full case for less than that. We are also selling what amounts to 12 oz of bulk peanuts in a Family Bucket that is selling for $10. Sodas run $4 to $6.50 for soda in a 16 oz plastic souvenir cup. Kids hot dogs go for $3.50, jumbo dogs - the size of normal Ball Park Franks - go for $4.50 and you can get Polish Sausage or Brats for $6.50. Wow. It is very easy to spend $50 for you and your wife or child for a small meal. Inflation has hit the ballpark.

So far, the experience has been what we would call "interesting". The jury is out as to whether or not it is something we would do again. Josie is already saying she wouldn't. We need to work it some more before deciding for certain. Josie has an opportunity to work more hours at the flower shop and I'm sure she would rather do that if given a choice.

There are several errands we need to run today, plus I will finally get to install our new printer that arrived late on our final day off last week. One of our propane tanks ran dry during the night so that needs to be refilled also. We have been a little frustrated with the cold weather since the first of the year and have to say the winter weather is better in southern Florida - at least this year. We have had to use the heater a lot more than we normally would for a winter in the Phoenix area. Pretty soon it will be March, and before we know it, we'll be packing up for WA the first of April...

Missed Projections

Yesterday at work was almost like starting over again with a whole new staff. Except for Josie, one cook another returning cashier, all of the workers were new from from Friday. The group we had yesterday was not quite as good as the one Friday, but we didn't have any major problems except for the projections we were given for the crowd and food prep. Friday's crowd was around 2800 and yesterday we were projected to have a larger crowd - 3500. They missed it big time. There were actually a lot fewer folks at the game yesterday than there were Friday. We had thrown on lots of dogs, brats and sausages expecting the larger crowd that never materialized. At the end of the day, I had to throw away many of each since we couldn't sell what we made. Actually, any of the food that is not "bunned" is placed in containers and reheated for today's game. All of the unsold pretzels were tossed. There were many containers of popcorn and peanuts left over which we wrap and use again today. The day was just a huge contrast to Friday. I don't know who works up the projections, but they need to do a better job. All of the leftover food is offered to the employees to take home before tossing them, but yesterday, I still ended up tossing many of the meat sandwiches. It really hurts to throw away all that food with so many people starving in this world.

There will be another go around today as Kansas City plays Texas again for the third straight game. It appeared that yesterday's game was going to end in a tie the same as Friday's game, but the Kansas City Royals had a home run in the bottom of the ninth to win yesterday's game. The weather has been great, although a little cool. The high yesterday was 66 and the overnight low was 36 yesterday. It appears to be getting warmer though, as it is 45 outside at this moment, and sunny. The start for me is again at 10:15 this morning and Josie comes in at 11 AM. We are looking forward to having the next two days off as we stand the whole time we are working and both of us are feeling it in our backs. I hope we get better projections for today...

Play Ball!

Since I start working 45 minutes before Josie and have to stay at least an hour longer at the end of the game, we drove separate vehicles. My day started at 9:45 and didn't end until I clocked out at 7 PM. It was a hectic day, but was without any major problems. The first day, I'm told, is always the toughest and yesterday was no exception. It started with my counting all the inventory and stocking all the coolers and other warmers and stations. We had 12 people working our stand which is the largest and busiest of all the concession stands. The gates opened at 11:30 and the rush was on. The busiest part of the day was from the opening until about the 6th inning of the game when the traffic slowed to where I could let some people go home early. It was a sane and controlled afternoon for the rest of the game. Wouldn't you know that the Texas Rangers scored 2 runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the Royals. Fortunately, the game was called and declared a tie after the nine innings.

All of the workers were sent home following the cleanup and lowering of the concession doors to close. That really started the beginning of my day-ending tasks. I had to once again count inventory and include spoilage and waste in the counts and fill out all the paperwork for our manager to enter into the computer in the office. According to our manager (Danny) our stand - the largest and busiest - was the smoothest of all the stands and we did the best job starting up for the year. That was a good feeling knowing that I wasn't going to be fired on the first day.

The biggest concern that I have for today, the second game, is that almost all of the people that were working yesterday have the weekend off, so I have to start again with an almost totally different crew for the day. If it goes as well as yesterday, I will be happy. I took the camera yesterday but had no chance to get pictures, and even if I did, I wouldn't know what to shoot. We can barely see the field from the stand, so they wouldn't mean very much anyway. I haven't decided yet whether to take it again today.  I start at 10:30 and Josie starts at at 11:15, so we get to relax a little bit this morning. Game two coming up...

Waiting on Delivery

Our printer has been acting up over the last month or so by wasting lots of paper printing extra copies of documents we have sent to print. It seems to be getting worse, so we ordered a new printer that was too good an offer to refuse. It is an HP Photosmart 7520 all-n-one printer that normally sells for $200 and we got on sale for Presidents Day at $119. Anyway, it was scheduled for delivery yesterday by FedEx, and we all know that there is no way to predict the arrival times for those deliveries. I had to wait around close to home so I wouldn't miss the delivery as Josie was at work all day. Of course, the delivery was made late, at 6:30 last night. I didn't even open the box at that point since we were just getting ready to eat and I didn't want to spend the evening working on a new printer setup. I did get some important sorting done though and filled a trash bag with many old magazines and books we will no longer need.

The day was also very cool - high of 59 with a low of 36, and wouldn't have been a good day for outdoor activities anyway. Today begins our adventure at Spring Training with the Texas Rangers playing the Kansas City Royals in the annual Charity Game. I have to arrive early at 9:45 to make sure the stand is all set up and ready to go, and Josie starts at 10:30 as a cashier. We are both a little nervous, but excited at the same time. It is expected that there will be some rough edges to our first day on the job, but there really isn't a lot that can go wrong with so many people (20) working the stand. I just hope we don't get too far off the projections and our money till at the end of the game comes close to balancing. Hang on for the ride...