A Better Day Next Thursday II
The Manager has been let go. He was the only sane, sober person around here (us excluded of course) but since being on duty and coping with small problems 24/7 is not as visible as Don’s work on the cabins, Robert’s work on making the new RV sites or my cleaning, the Owner decided he wasn’t doing enough work and he couldn’t afford to pay him.
Part of this, I think, is a result of The Eye Lady having a really superb Drama Queen event. She has been trying, without success, to seduce the Manager including saying he was going to buy a house and move into it with her and the kid. When he denied this, the kid reported it and next we knew, she was going to sue him for slander for saying that she was crazy if she thought that, and told the Owner either she or the Manger would have to leave. She was seen staggering around, and fell "over a dog’s leash” hurting her ribs and called the ambulance. We don’t know what really happened, but she sometimes remembers to hold her side when she is walking. (One resident, at a Video Store heard there was a stabbing, and said that the police were always being called down here, nice PR) The Owner let her realize that she should leave, she was set to go the middle of the month. But Mr. Creased Pants pled her case, so she was allowed to stay.
Last week a guest was sitting out and Mr. Creased Pants, with drink in hand, rolled up to talk to her. The Eye Lady came boiling over shrieking invectives, the guest fled to her cabin. The Eye Lady was later spoken to by the Owner and he apparently told her no more dramatics or she was out. (Don’t hold your breath)
It’s not really clear how much the Owner’s shrinking bank account was the reason for letting the Manager go, or whether the Owner believed that he was the causes of The Eye Lady’s outburst. But our job is more difficult now.
The nice workamper couple who came Dec 1 are looking for another place. They need more money than he can make in a week building and she is not able to do the heavy work that I can do. She has made an effort to organize the reservations, books and etc, but the Owner can’t remember to even call us when he has rented something. People just turn up. We are waiting for a double booking. And as usual, his rosy descriptions of the place and its amenities often produce a pretty shocked reaction once the prospective guest gets here. One woman thought she was getting a cabin with a boat ramp on the river in the middle of 12 A. He does own a spit of land on the river, the boat ramp is a state run one that is ¼ mile away, and the 13 cabins and 15 RV sites are pretty close together. He told one set of prospective workampers that we were right on the lake and that there were jet skis for rent here.
Once they leave, it will be Don and I. Theoretically this means we shouldn’t leave ever, since there would be no one in charge, but as he is paying us by the hour, and not a fee for staying around, we will just go. I have been calling the Owner for every little thing that happens from barking dogs to bad light bulbs, and every person that turns up, I call him too. This is my way of protesting the loss of the Manager. I am also charging him liberally for everything I have to attend to.
Compared to teaching high school, running a campground this small on the off season is a piece of cake. Or it would be if the Owner weren’t lost in some delusional place in his head. He said to me on the phone that he heard we could get $250 a month for boarding horses, you just put them in a field right ? I listed some of the work horses require just to keep and recited my horse credentials. He then wondered if running trail rides would be a good draw. Not only is this a dumb idea almost every where, there are NO trails around here, no public land, nada.
Some of the nonsense he puts his carpenters through: Wanted to run a 16’ span with a cedar log that is 12” at the butt end tapering to 4”. He has insisted that these logs, from his land clearing be peeled, which I do with a pressure washer, very slowly and wetly. I did the installed ones on the porch, he wanted me to do one inside the new area, which would soak everything. He has changed the floor plan on both projects almost daily, refuses to buy the materials requested, getting something cheaper and unsuitable or less of it. He leaves for time in Houston frequently and then on his return finds much that was not done his idiosyncratic way, and therefore wrong. He demanded that the vents face the prevailing rain direction, bought a fancy new round vent of wood to replace the already installed metal one and all framing had to be redone. Wanted pull chains for the lights and ceiling fan instead of wall switches. Flooring right on joists with no sub floor. He is a great believer in caulk, wants me to make essentially a dam of it around a hot water heater in case it leaks.
My theory is that at the hardware store he goes to, there is a team of geezers who feed him bad information on construction techniques just for the hell of it, hoping he will do it.
He is devoted to bargains, the latest ones, electric fireplaces, $39.95 at Home Depot. There is really no where in the cabins that these will fit except where they will set the mattress on fire and block the path to the bathroom.
I spent two days painting the railing on the “Lodge”, It had been badly primed, never cleaned, and the paint is a $7.50 a gal special from Big Lots. Even white wash would have done a better job.
For the new RV sites down the hill, all effluent will go through a macerator (read garbage disposal for sewage) and be pumped into a honey wagon. He figures he will just empty the honey wagon when it gets full. We don’t know where, since the system he has for the rest of the place is at max. Since each RV probably generates at least 10 gal a day, he will need to get rid of at least 100 gal a day .
One of my favorites is his idea that dog shit is a marvelous fertilizer for plants. Since everything he has planted was on sale at Home Depot and not hardy here, and never get watered, it is hard to tell what actually did kill them. And it’s true that we have plenty of dog shit.
Everything has been covered with 3/4" of ice here for the last 4 days, the area is at a standstill, Interstates closed, TV reporters in sweaters. We did not lose power, mostly because the trees here are too stunted to be tall enough to fall on the wires. Ain't seen the sunshine, baby, since I don't know when. If we are very lucky it will get to 40 today. Wasn't this far enough south ???
Part of this, I think, is a result of The Eye Lady having a really superb Drama Queen event. She has been trying, without success, to seduce the Manager including saying he was going to buy a house and move into it with her and the kid. When he denied this, the kid reported it and next we knew, she was going to sue him for slander for saying that she was crazy if she thought that, and told the Owner either she or the Manger would have to leave. She was seen staggering around, and fell "over a dog’s leash” hurting her ribs and called the ambulance. We don’t know what really happened, but she sometimes remembers to hold her side when she is walking. (One resident, at a Video Store heard there was a stabbing, and said that the police were always being called down here, nice PR) The Owner let her realize that she should leave, she was set to go the middle of the month. But Mr. Creased Pants pled her case, so she was allowed to stay.
Last week a guest was sitting out and Mr. Creased Pants, with drink in hand, rolled up to talk to her. The Eye Lady came boiling over shrieking invectives, the guest fled to her cabin. The Eye Lady was later spoken to by the Owner and he apparently told her no more dramatics or she was out. (Don’t hold your breath)
It’s not really clear how much the Owner’s shrinking bank account was the reason for letting the Manager go, or whether the Owner believed that he was the causes of The Eye Lady’s outburst. But our job is more difficult now.
The nice workamper couple who came Dec 1 are looking for another place. They need more money than he can make in a week building and she is not able to do the heavy work that I can do. She has made an effort to organize the reservations, books and etc, but the Owner can’t remember to even call us when he has rented something. People just turn up. We are waiting for a double booking. And as usual, his rosy descriptions of the place and its amenities often produce a pretty shocked reaction once the prospective guest gets here. One woman thought she was getting a cabin with a boat ramp on the river in the middle of 12 A. He does own a spit of land on the river, the boat ramp is a state run one that is ¼ mile away, and the 13 cabins and 15 RV sites are pretty close together. He told one set of prospective workampers that we were right on the lake and that there were jet skis for rent here.
Once they leave, it will be Don and I. Theoretically this means we shouldn’t leave ever, since there would be no one in charge, but as he is paying us by the hour, and not a fee for staying around, we will just go. I have been calling the Owner for every little thing that happens from barking dogs to bad light bulbs, and every person that turns up, I call him too. This is my way of protesting the loss of the Manager. I am also charging him liberally for everything I have to attend to.
Compared to teaching high school, running a campground this small on the off season is a piece of cake. Or it would be if the Owner weren’t lost in some delusional place in his head. He said to me on the phone that he heard we could get $250 a month for boarding horses, you just put them in a field right ? I listed some of the work horses require just to keep and recited my horse credentials. He then wondered if running trail rides would be a good draw. Not only is this a dumb idea almost every where, there are NO trails around here, no public land, nada.
Some of the nonsense he puts his carpenters through: Wanted to run a 16’ span with a cedar log that is 12” at the butt end tapering to 4”. He has insisted that these logs, from his land clearing be peeled, which I do with a pressure washer, very slowly and wetly. I did the installed ones on the porch, he wanted me to do one inside the new area, which would soak everything. He has changed the floor plan on both projects almost daily, refuses to buy the materials requested, getting something cheaper and unsuitable or less of it. He leaves for time in Houston frequently and then on his return finds much that was not done his idiosyncratic way, and therefore wrong. He demanded that the vents face the prevailing rain direction, bought a fancy new round vent of wood to replace the already installed metal one and all framing had to be redone. Wanted pull chains for the lights and ceiling fan instead of wall switches. Flooring right on joists with no sub floor. He is a great believer in caulk, wants me to make essentially a dam of it around a hot water heater in case it leaks.
My theory is that at the hardware store he goes to, there is a team of geezers who feed him bad information on construction techniques just for the hell of it, hoping he will do it.
He is devoted to bargains, the latest ones, electric fireplaces, $39.95 at Home Depot. There is really no where in the cabins that these will fit except where they will set the mattress on fire and block the path to the bathroom.
I spent two days painting the railing on the “Lodge”, It had been badly primed, never cleaned, and the paint is a $7.50 a gal special from Big Lots. Even white wash would have done a better job.
For the new RV sites down the hill, all effluent will go through a macerator (read garbage disposal for sewage) and be pumped into a honey wagon. He figures he will just empty the honey wagon when it gets full. We don’t know where, since the system he has for the rest of the place is at max. Since each RV probably generates at least 10 gal a day, he will need to get rid of at least 100 gal a day .
One of my favorites is his idea that dog shit is a marvelous fertilizer for plants. Since everything he has planted was on sale at Home Depot and not hardy here, and never get watered, it is hard to tell what actually did kill them. And it’s true that we have plenty of dog shit.
Everything has been covered with 3/4" of ice here for the last 4 days, the area is at a standstill, Interstates closed, TV reporters in sweaters. We did not lose power, mostly because the trees here are too stunted to be tall enough to fall on the wires. Ain't seen the sunshine, baby, since I don't know when. If we are very lucky it will get to 40 today. Wasn't this far enough south ???
posted by Thistledown24 at 6:33 AM
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