Lost in the Safari

Yesterday was my training day at Safari Golf. I was there for 7 hours. Its basically the best job ever. Seriously where else can you cruise aimlessly in an enclosed golf cart? The best part is kicking the beast into high gear to screw up the amateurs who think the Picker is an oversized mobile target with a glowing neon sign above it flashing 'hit me.' Ah yes, the joys of the Safari.

To my astonishment, it was a pretty fast paced job. The day started off with Rich Coffman (the big kahuna) telling me I should leave the house 5 minutes earlier next time....ouch. After I brushed the dirt off my shoulder, Kayla (Rich's 18 year old niece) took me to the mini golf course & started showing me the ropes. Eventually Rich left and it was up to Kayla, myself, & Pat to hold down the fort, until 11 pm... Pat is so awesome, he's 65 and thriving. He ran the register and took care of the indoor facilities. So as the crowd picked up, we rapidly start running out of golf balls. Picker to the rescue! On our first time out on the range Kayla was like, 'Go ahead give it a try.' Sweetness. So we cruise in the bumpy machine for about 20 minutes, then we have to unload all the golf balls into the back room. There's a washing machine type thing in there (it only takes about a minute to wash a full load of golf balls.) Then we put them into small, medium, & super buckets for people to buy and hit, and then the cycle starts all over again. So that's pretty much all we did all day. Except when it was closing time, the actions picks up again.

So throughout the day Kayla and I took turns picking while the other person just chilled inside with Pat. Normally there wouldn't have been the two of us there, but I had to be trained. When business slowed down a bit (about dinner time) Kayla, Pat, & I talked inside for quite a while. Kayla was telling us about how today she's going camping & Pat started talking about the good ole days....this version was a little different from the ones mommy and daddy tell us. They used to 'party' at sand pits all the time. Back then they didn't have drugs or 'anything like that.' Back in his day they were satisfied with beer. Ahhh it was so funny. Then Kayla was saying that some people ask her if she was held back (since she is kind of old for a senior.) Pat said she should say she was held back in kindergarden. (coughJacqueline) So a few jokes flew around..."I couldn't get nap-time down etc.."

When it got dark out, the fireworks were rampant! Sherwood people, crazy wealthy I tell you. It was soo so pretty outside! That was amazing. Then Anne Schafer & Megan Sinclair showed up to hit the driving range, unexpected but cool. I'm so glad I have an outdoor job, that makes everything about 10 times better. Especially when the sun goes down and the florescent lights go on (by the way there are workers who turn those on for you) and its all breezy and there are fireworks...ahhh. I highly recommend the driving range at night, its so nice out there. We've got a driving range, pitch & put, mini-golf, and batting cages... & we're open till 10 on weeknights and 11 on Saturdays.

Wow already the sales pitch. Eventually 10:30 rolled around and it was time to close up. Oh yea, it was only Pat's 2nd day, so he didn't know what he was doing, and I obviously didn't know what was going on...so it was up to Kayla to get us out of there. FIIInally we got all the lights on that were supposed to be on, got the security gates put down, and all that good stuff. What a day! It'll get even better once I'm no longer 'lost in the safari' and I know what I'm supposed to be doing.