Monday arrives and the alarm goes off at 4:00 am and Mr. Jim gets out of bed and showers, shaves and puts on his tan pants, black sneakers and belt (uniform prerequisites) and a windshirt and heads off to Scottsdale for his debut at the golf tournament... Arrive at 5:15 and stand in line to sign in and receive 2 golf shirts (purple) and one golf hat (tan)...(which I will pay for out of check). Also receive one windbreaker (purple) and reflective vest (optic, eye-hurting yellow)...(which must be turned in at the end of the day). While standing in line Andy (one of the crew chiefs) asks me if anyone has asked me to join their crew. I say no and he tells me that I'm with him in Parking Lot 4 and don't let anyone steal me... Several other guys ask me to join but I tell them I'm in Lot 4...
Andy asks me my name, I tell him and he tells me he'll forget it because he's bad with names... We climb in a truck (about 6 of us) and head to Lot 4. It's still dark and damn cold...(note to self---wear more layers tomorrow)... We get out of the truck and Andy says he needs a body... I volunteer and am put at the entrance to the lot... I will check parking passes and direct the patrons to either Lot 3 (valet parking) or Lot 4 (handicap, media, Thunderbirds and all "all days" passes)...Andy calls me Dan, I correct him and gives me a radio to call him if there's a problem...(there is---My name is Jim)...The shift starts at 6 and off he goes to deploy the other guys and gals throughout Lot 4...
Monday is like a practice day for all the tournament help...There aren't many spectators but there's a lot of special events for kids, a pro-am round and practice rounds... So the parking lot rules are lax and we allow pretty much everyone to come in even if they don't have the requisite passes (everyone feels like a VIP because Lot 4 is the closest to the venue...) The crew chiefs remind us of the rules and tell us where we messed up and the stories from patrons are minimal...(I'm only parking quick to pick up my passes, yada yada yada and so forth)... Eating on the job is prohibited so you sneak a bite every now and then and have to have a person man your post for bathroom breaks... there is NO sitting down on post and the bosses are around to make sure... But at least I get to talk to the customers as they come in...
Shift ends at 5 pm...On my feet in the parking lot for 11 hours and at the job for 12...My legs were so sore I almost couldn't get out of the car!!! The only thing missing was I didn't have to wear steel toe boots... I found a new respect for parking lot attendants at sporting venues... Got home around 7:30... ("the" 101 was jammed all the way back to Chandler)... Ate something...(don't remember what) and crashed at 8:30....
Oh yeah, the Thunderbirds... they are the older members of the tournament and ran it from the days when it was the Phoenix Open and beyond...They have blue tunics with embellished metal belts and ornate medallions and have their own parking area...(They are the VIP-est of the VIPs)...So I'm in the lot closest to the venue without being able to see anything...
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