"How Are You Not Gray Yet?"

This is what a lady said to me when I was working prize center last Wednesday. I'd had to call in BACKUP, you see. There was a long line composed of Day Camp Kids (they attend "camp" during the summer while their parents are at work; it's like after-school care, but all day. If you understand what I'm saying, great. If not, just smile and nod), and while they were well-behaved, I was in over my head.

I called in backup.

"If there's anyone available, please send them to prize counter!" I pleaded over the radio. I was about to ask again when Jordan showed up, grabbed a scanner, and jumped into the fray.

After nearly a straight hour of helping day-camp kids, as well as the people in line behind them (I'm estimating maybe 40 kids, and then about 10 or so people aside from them... Maybe 50-60 people total?), we were able to relax for about five seconds. Then came another two customers, so I got one and he got one.

"Hey, buddy! You've got 370 tickets on your card, so that means you can get stuff out of this case, that case, and the top two rows of the last case. What can I get you?" And I smiled as I said it. I checked my watch. It was 3:06 p.m., and I was scheduled to go home at 4:00.

Their mother looked at me in wonder. "I just saw you handle that impressive line, and you're being so patient with my son-" (the kid was hemming and hawing and couldn't figure out what he wanted) "-and I want to know, how are you not gray yet? These two are driving me prematurely gray! I can't imagine dealing with hundreds of them all day long!"

And I smiled and said, "I get paid for this, ma'am, and I'm scheduled to go home in an hour. Prize Counter's not so bad on week days. Café's the most stressful place here, and I'm scheduled there on weekends. You should see me smile at 7:50 p.m, ten minutes from closing!" And I carried on with her son's transaction, they thanked me, and they left.

And I nearly fell over from exhaustion.

So, the question is, how am I not gray yet? I really have no idea. Let me give you a run-down of TreeTop's areas (that I'm able to work), and their stress-level.

1. Clubhouse. There's pretty much nothing to do at Clubhouse except sit and read. When a kid comes up, you swipe their card, stamp their hand, and let them in. You tell them to take off their shoes, and not to climb up the slide. They go on their merry way, and you sit back down. When the place is empty, you can read. When you have kids, you're expected to sit and watch them. And that's fine with me.
2. Jumpies. Pretty much the same as Clubhouse (except they have wristbands, which they have to get inside, so you don't swipe their card). You keep an eye on them. It's outside, so I hate it with a fiery passion. Thankfully, I don't get scheduled for Jumpies. It's boring, and I hate outside.
3. Water Wars. Pretty laid-back. Not many people like staying out in the boiling sun, paying $5 for six water balloons just for a chance to hit the other person. I'm not a fun Water Wars person (the guys like to nail the dry kids with water balloons), and as I previously mentioned, I hate the outdoors. But it's easy, at least. You can sit at the tables under the pavilion until you have customers.
4. Laser Tag. You get a seven and a half minute break every time you send a group in (ten minutes if you send in a party). I've gotten good at Solitaire. I can repeat the safety speech in my sleep. It's nice and air-conditioned, too, and the only stressful thing is when people outside are getting mad at you for letting parties ahead of them (which is what we're supposed to do; parties get priority, because they're paying hundreds of dollars to be here).
5. Prize Center. It can be dead for hours, then everybody in the entire place will rush in, leaving the one person scheduled there completely overwhelmed. Some days, we have two people working. On weekends, at around 8:30, we try to have about three people working Prize Center because EVERYONE rushes there at five 'til closing, which means the PC workers don't get to START their closing duties until the line is gone. (I once started my closing duties 20 minutes after closing. The managers wanted to go home, so they told me not to worry about them. I was scheduled to do THE most time-consuming things, too, even though they knew I was the only one on Prize.)
6. Café. This is what's going to cause me to have an aneurysm. I run cash register here normally, but I also help cook the food. Keeping orders straight, giving everyone their drinks, remembering to print the correct copies of receipts and putting the right numbers on them, PLUS dealing with the customer's complaints of, "Well, at McDonald's they have the burger READY AND WAITING for me!" is going to drive me into an early grave. ("We're not McDonald's, sir. We cook everything to-order. I'm sorry for the inconvenience we've apparently caused you, but you saw us getting the frozen patties out of the freezer, and I told you it would be about a ten minute wait. Now if you would please step aside, I have a line. Thank you.") Plus, with Russia breathing down my neck - he apparently doesn't think I can work the register, even though I pretty much LIVED in café while he was on vacation - I'm extra nervous. Some days I just want to step into the back room and SCREAM.

Also, Rule #1: everything is your fault. If the customer thinks the menu's too expensive, they'll blame you. If the customer's spending too much money, they'll blame you. If their kid crawls up the slide and gets hit, they'll blame you.

This Week's Lesson: Learn to block things out. Don't let them get to you. Don't let them have the satisfaction of seeing you break. If you need to, after they're gone, ask your manager/supervisor/whatever if you can take about five minutes to compose yourself. (If I'm in café, I go step into the freezer for a few moments. It helps tremendously.) Then, put a smile back on your face and return to what you were doing. Working with little kids and their harassed parents is something I never, ever saw myself doing. It's stretched me to my limits some days. But I always stay strong and push through it.

Never let 'em see you cry. It's not worth the gloating that will (more than likely) occur. Don't be that one person to break down. You can do it. Things'll get better. Remind yourself that you're just doing your job, that the customer is an idiot, and you'll be able to plaster that smile back on your face and continue with what you were doing.

You've got this.