JUST A HIPPIE GYPSY

The past ten days have been tied to the Blue Grass fair.  Every year this event arrives and I am required to manager it, be responsible for its success. Because it will not fail!  It is a mess and getting better every year.  I still ad it.  When May rolls around the little voice in the back of my head begins to whisper, "It's almost July....Almost July....Almost July". 

Things are much better.  The first year I was in "charge" I wa brand new at this job, my boss was brand new, the account manager I replaced had been promoted to another sales center.  It was if I was on my own.  They did give me the "boy".  I have to call him Brian.  Brian was a University of Kentucky college student who worked for my company in a Campus Rep capacity.  He needed a summer job, and we used him shamelessly.

He was (and still is) a good kid.  He was a fifth year senior, an only child, mature beyond his years, responsible and a great companion.  He was given to me with these instructions, "Use him to help with the Fair, and teach him something."  I'm not sure I taught him much of anything, but we had a great time together that summer.  I began to think of him as the son I never had.  Be it a bet friend, get into trouble with, son, but son all the same.

The first thing we did with the Fair was to meet every one and take their orders for our product then load it on to the Pup Truck (a small kind you can use without a CDL) deliver it to the Fair people concessions, look for the concessionaire for payment.  This is July, it is 90+ degress everyday, and the Carnies realize we are Newbies and have not a clue what we are doing.

They abused us, refused to pay, told us our prices were too high, had us running ragged and loving every minute of it.  We worked from 7am until 8pm some nights.  Brian had the money.  He began to look like a Carnie when he would pull the huge wad of money from his shirt and begin to give change or add to the stash.

In addition to the Fair, I was also in charge of the Cincinnati Bengal Training Camp in Georgetown.  So I had two huge events happening simuntaneoulsy and not a clue about either of them.  But I did have Brian, and we got through it somehow.  Barely.

Saturday afternoon we met and delivered our "much needed and much loved" product to the Fair.  We were driving around the circle doing our thing of dropping off the product and trying to find someone to pay us.  We were paged from the Bengal Camp...Frantically!  The key to unlock the truck we had dropped there (delivering product on a daily basis was too costlyl, dropping a trailer was more cost effective) was LOST.

Mary and Brian to the rescue!  But, taking that right turn out of the Fair, we got way too close to the gate and I clipped it...Clipped it good.

Now I'm still pretty new at this job.  I did not know that I was required to immediately report myself as having an addident to my supervisor so I can immediately be drug tested (one of the idiocentiries of working with the DOT).  Instead, we continued on our mission to resolve the problem in G-town.

The next day we found ourselves in Cincinnati at Kings Island having the yearly family outing the company throws.  I was sitting in the Beer Garden with my immediate supervisor and I causally mention, "Oh by the way, I wrecked the van at the Fair yesterday".  He spit beer across the table and nearly got Joe in the face.

"You WHAT!!!!!!"

Monday morning Brian and I were seated in separate rooms and made to give our depositions on the accident as to not hear what the other was saying.  We must have come up with the same story.  The biggest concern was that they felt I was taking the rap for Brian, as they felt as a college student, he did not want to take the drug teat for obvious reasons.  One of them being, maybe he did not have time to "study for it".

There is more to this story, that involves breaking the law so I will not go into it.  HA HA.

Brian and I were separated for the rest of his tenure at the company, which was another three years!  Every so often we would work it so that he would accompany me, help me out.  When ever we were seen together people would feigh maock horror.

We loved it!

The Fair has always been a hassle.  It is hard to believe that this fair is the seventh fair I have over seen.  It is run much more smoothly that that first frantic summer.  But it never has been as much fun since.