Tales from Camp
My office is the one that fields questions from customers and parents concerning camp. We get some really weird calls. Now that I'm the 'sorting hat' for the camp, it's upped my ante of weird calls.
We had a child who flew in last Saturday night (camp begins on Sunday afternoon and early arrivals occasionally happen due to the vagaries of airline schedules), arriving at the camp at 9 PM. She was given a sack dinner, escorted to her dorm room and told to go to bed. At one o'clock in the morning she calls her mother moaning about how she is all by herself in the 'big' dorm (a room that sleeps 7) and scared (she's 11). Mother called everyone in the world on Sunday raising cane about this. My Sunday clerk left me copious notes explaining the situation and the mother's concerns. I arrived at 6:45 AM on Monday and there were already three voice mails on my phone from the mother. Before I had my purse locked away and my computer booted up the mother was on the line. Mother wanted us to 'rethink our handling of the situation'. I asked her what she would suggest, as her daughter was the only girl who arrived on Saturday. her suggestions were that 1. We put her in a room with a counselor or 2. Put her in the room with the boys ('she has two brothers' says mom)!!!! I told her neither was a possiblity due to liability issues. What mother would suggest I put her 11 year old girl in a room with 5 pre-teen to teen aged boys? Meanwhile, now that the child is in a room with 6 other little girls, she's having a ball...but mom isn't convinced the child could be happy after such a traumatic experience.
Then I had a call from a woman who wanted to know if she and her partner could have a private room for an adult camp. I looked at my room list and told her that wouldn't be a problem. She then asked if the beds were single beds. I told her the room had 7 single bunks (5 upper and 2 lower). She said she would like to upgrade to 'the rooms you give VIPs who come to camp'. I told her we had two types of rooms. One with 7 single bunks or one with 50 single bunks. She cajoled me and kept pestering me about the VIP rooms. Finally I told her she could call the Marriott next door, they'd be happy to give them a nice room with a double, queen or king bed, but there'd be no reduction in the cost of camp. I don't think she was a happy camper when we parted company.
Then we have the last minute camper. At four o'clock Friday afternoon as I pulled into the parking lot of the dry cleaners, I get a call from my clerk. Reservations is asking for permission to add a 13 year old boy to the camp that begins on Sunday. I made a quick call to my boss, who has the final say in such things and we decided to allow him in. Big mistake. Mother calls twice a day, concerned about him. Turns out she wanted to get him away from home while Dad is having serious, life threatening surgery. I can understand that, but the child knows something is up. He knows Dad is sick and knows Mom is lying to him. Meanwhile, the child is having a good time at camp, but when he calls home at night Mom puts him in a state. Mom calls back saying the child is having a miserable time, but the only time the child is unhappy is when he's on the phone with her. During the day she calls asking how he's doing, asking us to go check on him but not let him know she's checking on him, to feed him special food (as 'comfort' food) and keep assuring him that everything is totally normal. The child is not a fool. If she's going to protect him from the truth then she needs to back off and let him enjoy this time away from the trauma that is happening at home.
And speaking of which...if you're going to call your child at camp, hundreds even thousands of miles away, and tell them that their hampster, grandmother or father has died, you'd better be ready to bring them home immediately! We've had all three happen in the past two weeks!
*sigh* Why is there not a license required to be a parent?
Meanwhile, Hubby had to go to Hawaii again. Since he's gone for a full week I took his truck to the mechanic, as an oily spot had shown up on the carport floor. The mechanic called me today to tell me it wasn't oil, but transmission fluid. The truck has over 365,000 miles on it. The only 'major' work we've ever had done was having new shocks installed a few years back. It runs wonderfully, even though the mileage is only about 25 MPG. After talking to Hubby, I decided to give the mechanic the go-ahead to purchase a used transmission and get it installed. The mechanic told me that the engine is still in amazing condition. He said that an engine of that age with not the tiniest leak of oil is a very good engine. I personally think it's their favorite vehicle, simply because of the high milage. With the new transmission maybe we'll have the truck for another 365,000 miles!
We had a child who flew in last Saturday night (camp begins on Sunday afternoon and early arrivals occasionally happen due to the vagaries of airline schedules), arriving at the camp at 9 PM. She was given a sack dinner, escorted to her dorm room and told to go to bed. At one o'clock in the morning she calls her mother moaning about how she is all by herself in the 'big' dorm (a room that sleeps 7) and scared (she's 11). Mother called everyone in the world on Sunday raising cane about this. My Sunday clerk left me copious notes explaining the situation and the mother's concerns. I arrived at 6:45 AM on Monday and there were already three voice mails on my phone from the mother. Before I had my purse locked away and my computer booted up the mother was on the line. Mother wanted us to 'rethink our handling of the situation'. I asked her what she would suggest, as her daughter was the only girl who arrived on Saturday. her suggestions were that 1. We put her in a room with a counselor or 2. Put her in the room with the boys ('she has two brothers' says mom)!!!! I told her neither was a possiblity due to liability issues. What mother would suggest I put her 11 year old girl in a room with 5 pre-teen to teen aged boys? Meanwhile, now that the child is in a room with 6 other little girls, she's having a ball...but mom isn't convinced the child could be happy after such a traumatic experience.
Then I had a call from a woman who wanted to know if she and her partner could have a private room for an adult camp. I looked at my room list and told her that wouldn't be a problem. She then asked if the beds were single beds. I told her the room had 7 single bunks (5 upper and 2 lower). She said she would like to upgrade to 'the rooms you give VIPs who come to camp'. I told her we had two types of rooms. One with 7 single bunks or one with 50 single bunks. She cajoled me and kept pestering me about the VIP rooms. Finally I told her she could call the Marriott next door, they'd be happy to give them a nice room with a double, queen or king bed, but there'd be no reduction in the cost of camp. I don't think she was a happy camper when we parted company.
Then we have the last minute camper. At four o'clock Friday afternoon as I pulled into the parking lot of the dry cleaners, I get a call from my clerk. Reservations is asking for permission to add a 13 year old boy to the camp that begins on Sunday. I made a quick call to my boss, who has the final say in such things and we decided to allow him in. Big mistake. Mother calls twice a day, concerned about him. Turns out she wanted to get him away from home while Dad is having serious, life threatening surgery. I can understand that, but the child knows something is up. He knows Dad is sick and knows Mom is lying to him. Meanwhile, the child is having a good time at camp, but when he calls home at night Mom puts him in a state. Mom calls back saying the child is having a miserable time, but the only time the child is unhappy is when he's on the phone with her. During the day she calls asking how he's doing, asking us to go check on him but not let him know she's checking on him, to feed him special food (as 'comfort' food) and keep assuring him that everything is totally normal. The child is not a fool. If she's going to protect him from the truth then she needs to back off and let him enjoy this time away from the trauma that is happening at home.
And speaking of which...if you're going to call your child at camp, hundreds even thousands of miles away, and tell them that their hampster, grandmother or father has died, you'd better be ready to bring them home immediately! We've had all three happen in the past two weeks!
*sigh* Why is there not a license required to be a parent?
Meanwhile, Hubby had to go to Hawaii again. Since he's gone for a full week I took his truck to the mechanic, as an oily spot had shown up on the carport floor. The mechanic called me today to tell me it wasn't oil, but transmission fluid. The truck has over 365,000 miles on it. The only 'major' work we've ever had done was having new shocks installed a few years back. It runs wonderfully, even though the mileage is only about 25 MPG. After talking to Hubby, I decided to give the mechanic the go-ahead to purchase a used transmission and get it installed. The mechanic told me that the engine is still in amazing condition. He said that an engine of that age with not the tiniest leak of oil is a very good engine. I personally think it's their favorite vehicle, simply because of the high milage. With the new transmission maybe we'll have the truck for another 365,000 miles!