Well, it’s
dark, cloudy, and a little rainy here in Grand Teton National Park this
afternoon, but I’m feeling absolutely amazing! Today at work was one of the
best days I’ve had at the desk so far. At first it was just me and Haley at the
desk, with Rob as the supervisor. After being there for about a little over an
hour, a young couple that was staying here for their honeymoon stopped by the
desk. They said that they’d forgotten to pack the charger for their camera, and
were wondering if we by any chance had that type of charger in lost and found
or somewhere at the desk that they could borrow. We didn’t, but when the man
pulled out the camera I noticed that it was the exact same type of camera that
I have. I called Rob over and asked him if I could run back over to my dorm and
grab my own camera’s charger to let them borrow. It wasn’t very busy at the
desk yet, so he said that was fine. I quickly went back out to my dorm room,
got my own charger out of my camera bag, and brought it back to the lobby where
the couple was waiting. I plugged the charger in behind the desk, put their
camera’s battery into it, and they said they’d stop by and pick it up later.
Shortly after they left, Rob gave me an employee raffle ticket, which is given
out as a reward for great customer service. I just did it since I thought it
would suck to have a nice, expensive camera like that but not be able to use
it, especially for a really special event like a honeymoon.
Tanner’s
working at the desk from eleven to nine today, so he and I planned to both go
to lunch at noon. Cristina, Nate, and Jesse all have the day off today, so they
all went up into Yellowstone to hang out for the day. Getting the same lunch
break as Tanner was still really nice though. Hanging with him is definitely a
bright spot in pretty much any day.
The second
portion of the shift went really easily. I tried to keep busy instead of
constantly looking at the clock, counting down the minutes until my weekend
started. When there was only about half an hour until my shift was over,
another couple came to me to check in that looked very familiar. They
immediately agreed that I looked familiar as well, and we quickly realized, to
our amazement, that they’re the parents of one of my favorite and most loyal
zoo campers! I’ve known their wonderful daughter since she was five years, and
she’s now thirteen. One of the things that made me really sad about missing zoo
camp was that I wouldn’t see Amber this summer, but I was wrong! After I
checked in and talked with her parents for a while, they said that they were
going to go park then go to the Pioneer Grill with the kids. A few minutes
later a very excited (and considerably taller than last time I saw her) Amber
ran into the lobby. When she saw me, her face seemed to just light up. I
immediately came out from behind the desk and gave her a big hug. I couldn’t
believe how tall she’d gotten! At age thirteen, she’s almost old enough to
start volunteering at the zoo herself, which she said she’s going to do next
summer. We talked for a while, and I told her that I have the next two days
off, but will be back at the desk Friday and Saturday, which is the day they’re
scheduled to leave. It really blew my mind that, of all places, Amber and her
family would come here to vacation, and we would run into each other like that.
It really was one of the best crazy coincidences of my life. Zoo camp was a
part of my life for a long time, and there were some campers that I really got
to know and will always be special to me. And Amber is one of them.
Not long
after seeing Amber, my shift ended and weekend began! I came back here to my
room and sat down on my bed to write this. I don’t have any real plans for this
weekend; it’ll depend on the weather. Rain or shine, though, it’ll be a really
awesome few days.
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