the_other_sandy: Yomiko Readman hugging a book (Agt. Paper Chibi)
the_other_sandy ([personal profile] the_other_sandy) wrote2008-11-22 07:54 pm
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On the Night Shift...

It's Day 22 of NaBloPoMo, and I haven't missed a day yet. ::touches wood:: The real surprise is that there's only been one day where I totally couldn't think of anything to write about. Until now, anyway. I got nothin', so today you get a story. This really did happen to me on a job I had about 18 years ago.

Back in the late '80s and early '90s, there was a series of novelty toys based on sound detection. Remember the dancing Coke cans? They looked like real Coke cans wearing little headphones and they would react to sounds by moving in time with them. Play music, and the little Coke cans would bop along to the beat. There were also other types of dancing cans, and other plastic items like potted flowers that would react to sound by turning towards it.

During my summer break from college in 1990, I worked as a security guard for a very large amusement park. I chose to work the midnight shift because that shift got paid extra. One of the duties for security staff on the night shift was to visit every single souvenir stand, food stand, gift shop, restaurant, and arcade to make sure the money had been collected from the cash registers and coin slots and turned over to Accounting.

One night shortly after I started, I was sent out to check the gift shops at the front of the park. I had never been in those particular stores before and didn't know what they sold. Due to the layout of the stores (they were long and narrow) and the way they were locked up at night, I had to go in the back door, walk the entire length of the store to the register, then walk all the way through the store again and out the back door. Well, I unlocked the door, flicked on the lights, and a hundred plastic potted sunflowers all turned around and stared at me. It was the single most bizarre thing I had ever seen. As I walked the length of the main aisle to check the register, all the plastic sunflowers turned in their plastic pots to watch me go, and then turned to watch me walk all the way back again. Have you ever had to walk the entire length of a store with a hundred plastic potted sunflowers staring holes in your back? They were even wearing little sunglasses to make it perfectly clear they were staring at me.

I hated that store.

[identity profile] samazon13.livejournal.com 2008-11-23 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
That is hilarious! And not a little bit creepy!
-Samazon

[identity profile] the-other-sandy.livejournal.com 2008-11-23 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
There's always an extra 'creepy' factor involved when you're in a place that's normally insanely crowded (like an amusement park) at a time when it's deserted. Plus, it was something like 2:00 a.m. when it happened and I was alone.

Looking back on it, I think it's hysterical, but at the time it really creeped me out, especially because I wasn't expecting it.

[identity profile] ga-unicorn.livejournal.com 2008-11-23 02:55 am (UTC)(link)
Okay. Now I'm going to have a nightmare about sunflowers invading Six Flags. Or maybe White Waters. ::head-desk:: I'll never be able to ride a roller-coaster again.

[identity profile] the-other-sandy.livejournal.com 2008-11-23 03:00 am (UTC)(link)
The only thing that really stuck with me from that job is that I can't eat the food there after having been in the kitchens. Oh, they were clean enough, but the smell in them at night was horrendous.

[identity profile] ga-unicorn.livejournal.com 2008-11-23 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
I completely understand. I worked in the prep kitchen at the college stadium one semester and I couldn't eat hot dogs for years afterward. The smell would make me gag.

[identity profile] jennetj.livejournal.com 2008-11-23 03:00 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, that's brilliant! Somehow I'm picturing it animated a la Pixar.

[identity profile] the-other-sandy.livejournal.com 2008-11-23 03:02 am (UTC)(link)
If Pixar had animated it, the sunflowers would've been cute and really funny. This was more like Nightmare Before Christmas.

[identity profile] un-conscience.livejournal.com 2008-11-23 06:14 pm (UTC)(link)
You made me laugh out loud. Dang, I want a video! Hee!