So another Blue Lake story on it's way...
Well, things had calmed down with camper Tina and things were just getting started with Bertha. Now there were new camper issues getting stirred up in Counselor E's cabin. Poor counselor E! When I look back at that session, she was sooo stressed out! I don't blame her, her cabin was a handful in itself that session.
Counselor E's cabin for the most part, was filled with obnoxious kids. It wasn't the entire cabin, but it was definitely the majority. Let's say it was eight out of the 12 kids. Enough of them to make me and Counselor E want to pull our hair out. Like for instance, the fact that they would never clean the cabin. EVER. The cabin was disgusting and horrific. From the July/August heat, the cabin wreaked of odor. The moment you stepped in the door, you wanted out! They left food everywhere, allllllll over the floor. For some reason, the entire camp had been having a mouse problem this summer. Not that mice aren't a normal thing in the middle of the wilderness, but for some reason, this summer, they were everywhere. (Luckily, not in my hut or else I would have had a fit!) So of course, what happened? The cabin became overrun by mice. Counselor E simply couldn't take it anymore, and for that matter, neither could I.
So, it was time for me to pull the bad UD card. I had somehow pretty much managed to get through the summer without needing to do it much, but this cabin was calling my name. I had already decided with Counselor E that I was going to talk to her cabin that night. Before I could talk to them however, they decided to add to the list of things I needed to lecture them about.
As a side note, with a camp that large, there is no way it could function without a cleaning staff. As counseling staff members, it would be impossible to have a cleaning rotation for the bathrooms, because our schedules are way more jam-packed then the campers. So there is a cleaning staff, otherwise known as "Becky and her crew" who come to clean the bathrooms and showers. Becky is this Mexican woman who talks with a heavy accent, who always calls me "Tah-mare-ah," and does as little work as possible. She drives this junky camp owned van around camp, and you can usually hear her van coming to your unit 5 minutes before it's arrival. She hates a messy bathroom, and instead of going to the camp director with her issues like requested, she harasses the unit directors into making their campers clean their bathroom. Becky has no problem getting in on all the camp gossip, if not creating it. If she likes you, you are golden! She'll rarely complain about your bathrooms, and she'll even give you a gift at the end of the summer. (My gift this summer was a stuffed pig that oinks and wiggles. Once she bought my friend Sarah a dildo. LOL.) If you are on her bad side, watch out. Your life will be hell. She'll complain to you every day about your bathrooms, even if they are sparkly clean. As a rule, all new unit directors are generally on her bad side, even if she liked you the previous year when you were a counselor. If she hates you, well...let's just hope she doesn't hate you. She once told anyone who would listen about what a whore another UD was... yes this woman is crazy, but it's the kind of hilarious crazy that you just humor and remember to not take seriously.
Okay, moving on. This cabin of Counselor E's made the cardinal mistake that day. They insulted Becky the Cleaning Lady. I'm not even sure what happened exactly, because I was not there to witness it. But apparently it went along the lines of the girls were irritated that they were made to come out of the bathroom while the Becky and her crew had arrived to clean. While sitting outside on a picnic table near the bathroom, they talked very loudly about they'd rather die then ever have to be someones janitor...and how it was "beneath them" and...something else about the cleaning staff should just shut up and do their job.
Yeah, so if I was irritated and annoyed by these kids already, let's just say now, I was roaring pissed. Becky seemed so hurt by their comments that she wouldn't even tell me what had been said. Another counselor overheard it and yelled at them all for being so rude. Becky informed me that day that she wasn't going to be able to clean the next day, because she was going to the funeral of her niece. So that was awesome, not only did this woman have to go to a funeral of a child tomorrow, but in the meanwhile today she's being insulted by 16 year olds with attitude. Ohh...I was getting more and more upset by the minute.
Since the whole unit had been having issues keeping things clean in the bathroom, I used the fact that Becky wasn't going to be cleaning the next day to my advantage. In a unit meeting with all the girls of the unit, I remember giving the speech of "I have been so disappointed by your attitudes towards the restroom. The cleaning staff come to clean, not to pick up after you. They are not your maids! And I also heard that a few young ladies, if I can refer to them as ladies, which is doubtful at the moment, made some very nasty comments to the cleaning staff. That will NOT be tolerated. Just to let you know, the cleaning staff will not be coming tomorrow. And while myself and the counselors could go in there and clean tomorrow, we're not going to. No, we're going to let you see just what the toilets and the showers, and the sinks will look like after a day of more then 70 people using them...and not being cleaned. Then, maybe then, you'll appreciate what the cleaning staff does for us, and not talk to them like you think they owe you something. If you haven't learned this lesson before, hopefully I'm going to help you learn it now rather then learning it the hard way. We're all human beings here, and if you think you're so much better than someone else because they clean a toilet for a living, well you're sadly mistaken. If anyone deserves to be praised, it is the person who has the hard job of cleaning up after someone else. I'm not saying this attitude is held by everyone in this unit, because I know it is not. But there is a particular cabin who feels like it is their need to insult the cleaning crew. So, I hope they learn their lesson tomorrow."
Well, it seemed like a had gotten my point across. The other girls were very apologetic, and ran into the bathroom to straighten it up. Of course, the girls who had caused all the problems just stared at me and sulked and rolled their eyes. LOL I remember telling Counselor E that for one of her campers I had never seen the color of her eyes because every time I looked at her they were rolled back in her head. I was proud of myself, I had given the unit a lecture, and managed to not lie in the process. I never said the cleaning staff wasn't coming because of the girls' behavior, I simply said that they weren't coming.
Of course, at this time Bertha felt the need to speak up, and tell me that she thought that I was being a bit "carried away" with the cleaning staff not coming. Uh huh, just another mental note of Bertha and her quest to make trouble....
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Sunday, December 10, 2006
Summer at Blue Lake 2006: Not even Middle Sunday yet!
So another Blue Lake story on it's way...
Well, things had calmed down with camper Tina and things were just getting started with Bertha. Now there were new camper issues getting stirred up in Counselor E's cabin. Poor counselor E! When I look back at that session, she was sooo stressed out! I don't blame her, her cabin was a handful in itself that session.
Counselor E's cabin for the most part, was filled with obnoxious kids. It wasn't the entire cabin, but it was definitely the majority. Let's say it was eight out of the 12 kids. Enough of them to make me and Counselor E want to pull our hair out. Like for instance, the fact that they would never clean the cabin. EVER. The cabin was disgusting and horrific. From the July/August heat, the cabin wreaked of odor. The moment you stepped in the door, you wanted out! They left food everywhere, allllllll over the floor. For some reason, the entire camp had been having a mouse problem this summer. Not that mice aren't a normal thing in the middle of the wilderness, but for some reason, this summer, they were everywhere. (Luckily, not in my hut or else I would have had a fit!) So of course, what happened? The cabin became overrun by mice. Counselor E simply couldn't take it anymore, and for that matter, neither could I.
So, it was time for me to pull the bad UD card. I had somehow pretty much managed to get through the summer without needing to do it much, but this cabin was calling my name. I had already decided with Counselor E that I was going to talk to her cabin that night. Before I could talk to them however, they decided to add to the list of things I needed to lecture them about.
As a side note, with a camp that large, there is no way it could function without a cleaning staff. As counseling staff members, it would be impossible to have a cleaning rotation for the bathrooms, because our schedules are way more jam-packed then the campers. So there is a cleaning staff, otherwise known as "Becky and her crew" who come to clean the bathrooms and showers. Becky is this Mexican woman who talks with a heavy accent, who always calls me "Tah-mare-ah," and does as little work as possible. She drives this junky camp owned van around camp, and you can usually hear her van coming to your unit 5 minutes before it's arrival. She hates a messy bathroom, and instead of going to the camp director with her issues like requested, she harasses the unit directors into making their campers clean their bathroom. Becky has no problem getting in on all the camp gossip, if not creating it. If she likes you, you are golden! She'll rarely complain about your bathrooms, and she'll even give you a gift at the end of the summer. (My gift this summer was a stuffed pig that oinks and wiggles. Once she bought my friend Sarah a dildo. LOL.) If you are on her bad side, watch out. Your life will be hell. She'll complain to you every day about your bathrooms, even if they are sparkly clean. As a rule, all new unit directors are generally on her bad side, even if she liked you the previous year when you were a counselor. If she hates you, well...let's just hope she doesn't hate you. She once told anyone who would listen about what a whore another UD was... yes this woman is crazy, but it's the kind of hilarious crazy that you just humor and remember to not take seriously.
Okay, moving on. This cabin of Counselor E's made the cardinal mistake that day. They insulted Becky the Cleaning Lady. I'm not even sure what happened exactly, because I was not there to witness it. But apparently it went along the lines of the girls were irritated that they were made to come out of the bathroom while the Becky and her crew had arrived to clean. While sitting outside on a picnic table near the bathroom, they talked very loudly about they'd rather die then ever have to be someones janitor...and how it was "beneath them" and...something else about the cleaning staff should just shut up and do their job.
Yeah, so if I was irritated and annoyed by these kids already, let's just say now, I was roaring pissed. Becky seemed so hurt by their comments that she wouldn't even tell me what had been said. Another counselor overheard it and yelled at them all for being so rude. Becky informed me that day that she wasn't going to be able to clean the next day, because she was going to the funeral of her niece. So that was awesome, not only did this woman have to go to a funeral of a child tomorrow, but in the meanwhile today she's being insulted by 16 year olds with attitude. Ohh...I was getting more and more upset by the minute.
Since the whole unit had been having issues keeping things clean in the bathroom, I used the fact that Becky wasn't going to be cleaning the next day to my advantage. In a unit meeting with all the girls of the unit, I remember giving the speech of "I have been so disappointed by your attitudes towards the restroom. The cleaning staff come to clean, not to pick up after you. They are not your maids! And I also heard that a few young ladies, if I can refer to them as ladies, which is doubtful at the moment, made some very nasty comments to the cleaning staff. That will NOT be tolerated. Just to let you know, the cleaning staff will not be coming tomorrow. And while myself and the counselors could go in there and clean tomorrow, we're not going to. No, we're going to let you see just what the toilets and the showers, and the sinks will look like after a day of more then 70 people using them...and not being cleaned. Then, maybe then, you'll appreciate what the cleaning staff does for us, and not talk to them like you think they owe you something. If you haven't learned this lesson before, hopefully I'm going to help you learn it now rather then learning it the hard way. We're all human beings here, and if you think you're so much better than someone else because they clean a toilet for a living, well you're sadly mistaken. If anyone deserves to be praised, it is the person who has the hard job of cleaning up after someone else. I'm not saying this attitude is held by everyone in this unit, because I know it is not. But there is a particular cabin who feels like it is their need to insult the cleaning crew. So, I hope they learn their lesson tomorrow."
Well, it seemed like a had gotten my point across. The other girls were very apologetic, and ran into the bathroom to straighten it up. Of course, the girls who had caused all the problems just stared at me and sulked and rolled their eyes. LOL I remember telling Counselor E that for one of her campers I had never seen the color of her eyes because every time I looked at her they were rolled back in her head. I was proud of myself, I had given the unit a lecture, and managed to not lie in the process. I never said the cleaning staff wasn't coming because of the girls' behavior, I simply said that they weren't coming.
Of course, at this time Bertha felt the need to speak up, and tell me that she thought that I was being a bit "carried away" with the cleaning staff not coming. Uh huh, just another mental note of Bertha and her quest to make trouble....
Well, things had calmed down with camper Tina and things were just getting started with Bertha. Now there were new camper issues getting stirred up in Counselor E's cabin. Poor counselor E! When I look back at that session, she was sooo stressed out! I don't blame her, her cabin was a handful in itself that session.
Counselor E's cabin for the most part, was filled with obnoxious kids. It wasn't the entire cabin, but it was definitely the majority. Let's say it was eight out of the 12 kids. Enough of them to make me and Counselor E want to pull our hair out. Like for instance, the fact that they would never clean the cabin. EVER. The cabin was disgusting and horrific. From the July/August heat, the cabin wreaked of odor. The moment you stepped in the door, you wanted out! They left food everywhere, allllllll over the floor. For some reason, the entire camp had been having a mouse problem this summer. Not that mice aren't a normal thing in the middle of the wilderness, but for some reason, this summer, they were everywhere. (Luckily, not in my hut or else I would have had a fit!) So of course, what happened? The cabin became overrun by mice. Counselor E simply couldn't take it anymore, and for that matter, neither could I.
So, it was time for me to pull the bad UD card. I had somehow pretty much managed to get through the summer without needing to do it much, but this cabin was calling my name. I had already decided with Counselor E that I was going to talk to her cabin that night. Before I could talk to them however, they decided to add to the list of things I needed to lecture them about.
As a side note, with a camp that large, there is no way it could function without a cleaning staff. As counseling staff members, it would be impossible to have a cleaning rotation for the bathrooms, because our schedules are way more jam-packed then the campers. So there is a cleaning staff, otherwise known as "Becky and her crew" who come to clean the bathrooms and showers. Becky is this Mexican woman who talks with a heavy accent, who always calls me "Tah-mare-ah," and does as little work as possible. She drives this junky camp owned van around camp, and you can usually hear her van coming to your unit 5 minutes before it's arrival. She hates a messy bathroom, and instead of going to the camp director with her issues like requested, she harasses the unit directors into making their campers clean their bathroom. Becky has no problem getting in on all the camp gossip, if not creating it. If she likes you, you are golden! She'll rarely complain about your bathrooms, and she'll even give you a gift at the end of the summer. (My gift this summer was a stuffed pig that oinks and wiggles. Once she bought my friend Sarah a dildo. LOL.) If you are on her bad side, watch out. Your life will be hell. She'll complain to you every day about your bathrooms, even if they are sparkly clean. As a rule, all new unit directors are generally on her bad side, even if she liked you the previous year when you were a counselor. If she hates you, well...let's just hope she doesn't hate you. She once told anyone who would listen about what a whore another UD was... yes this woman is crazy, but it's the kind of hilarious crazy that you just humor and remember to not take seriously.
Okay, moving on. This cabin of Counselor E's made the cardinal mistake that day. They insulted Becky the Cleaning Lady. I'm not even sure what happened exactly, because I was not there to witness it. But apparently it went along the lines of the girls were irritated that they were made to come out of the bathroom while the Becky and her crew had arrived to clean. While sitting outside on a picnic table near the bathroom, they talked very loudly about they'd rather die then ever have to be someones janitor...and how it was "beneath them" and...something else about the cleaning staff should just shut up and do their job.
Yeah, so if I was irritated and annoyed by these kids already, let's just say now, I was roaring pissed. Becky seemed so hurt by their comments that she wouldn't even tell me what had been said. Another counselor overheard it and yelled at them all for being so rude. Becky informed me that day that she wasn't going to be able to clean the next day, because she was going to the funeral of her niece. So that was awesome, not only did this woman have to go to a funeral of a child tomorrow, but in the meanwhile today she's being insulted by 16 year olds with attitude. Ohh...I was getting more and more upset by the minute.
Since the whole unit had been having issues keeping things clean in the bathroom, I used the fact that Becky wasn't going to be cleaning the next day to my advantage. In a unit meeting with all the girls of the unit, I remember giving the speech of "I have been so disappointed by your attitudes towards the restroom. The cleaning staff come to clean, not to pick up after you. They are not your maids! And I also heard that a few young ladies, if I can refer to them as ladies, which is doubtful at the moment, made some very nasty comments to the cleaning staff. That will NOT be tolerated. Just to let you know, the cleaning staff will not be coming tomorrow. And while myself and the counselors could go in there and clean tomorrow, we're not going to. No, we're going to let you see just what the toilets and the showers, and the sinks will look like after a day of more then 70 people using them...and not being cleaned. Then, maybe then, you'll appreciate what the cleaning staff does for us, and not talk to them like you think they owe you something. If you haven't learned this lesson before, hopefully I'm going to help you learn it now rather then learning it the hard way. We're all human beings here, and if you think you're so much better than someone else because they clean a toilet for a living, well you're sadly mistaken. If anyone deserves to be praised, it is the person who has the hard job of cleaning up after someone else. I'm not saying this attitude is held by everyone in this unit, because I know it is not. But there is a particular cabin who feels like it is their need to insult the cleaning crew. So, I hope they learn their lesson tomorrow."
Well, it seemed like a had gotten my point across. The other girls were very apologetic, and ran into the bathroom to straighten it up. Of course, the girls who had caused all the problems just stared at me and sulked and rolled their eyes. LOL I remember telling Counselor E that for one of her campers I had never seen the color of her eyes because every time I looked at her they were rolled back in her head. I was proud of myself, I had given the unit a lecture, and managed to not lie in the process. I never said the cleaning staff wasn't coming because of the girls' behavior, I simply said that they weren't coming.
Of course, at this time Bertha felt the need to speak up, and tell me that she thought that I was being a bit "carried away" with the cleaning staff not coming. Uh huh, just another mental note of Bertha and her quest to make trouble....
2 comments:
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Deanna said...
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Yikes they sound like a bunch of princesses. I can remember in college I took more pains in those bathrooms to be neat because I wasn't cleaning them and I could appriticate a clean bathroom and I had two different cleaning ladies complain to me about my roommate's mess and they knew I couldn't do anything about it. I always would treat them with respect and chit chat with them for a few minutes and guess what last Christmas I got a card from one of them. :)
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6:40 PM EST
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Tamara said...
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Yeah, you know, I just don't understand the ideas some people carry around about being better than someone else. It always boggles my brain, and then just simply makes me upset. Those kids were a total pain, but ironically enough they were not my biggest headache that session.
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11:39 AM EST
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2 comments:
Yikes they sound like a bunch of princesses. I can remember in college I took more pains in those bathrooms to be neat because I wasn't cleaning them and I could appriticate a clean bathroom and I had two different cleaning ladies complain to me about my roommate's mess and they knew I couldn't do anything about it. I always would treat them with respect and chit chat with them for a few minutes and guess what last Christmas I got a card from one of them. :)
Yeah, you know, I just don't understand the ideas some people carry around about being better than someone else. It always boggles my brain, and then just simply makes me upset. Those kids were a total pain, but ironically enough they were not my biggest headache that session.
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