Thank Goodness I’m off today. My body aches and my brain doesn’t want to think about stuff. We are in the middle of the summer frenzy in our tourist beach town.
Grand Bend’s year-round population of 2,000 people swells to about 50,000 in the summer months on holiday weekends. (I copied and pasted that ’cause it was easier)
Frankly, I don’t know how we even do it but we do serve thousands of people cakes, cupcakes, buns, breads and all the countless commercial products that fly off the shelves. We do special order birthday cakes which can really pile up by the weekend and somehow make all the regular cakes as fast as they can take them.
On top of this we had two people out this week, our young people phone in regularly that they can’t come in. One is out with a bad back, another has a bad burn on her hand, both are considering workman’s compensation. Any days off I would have had were filled in with extra shifts.
Yesterday the main cake decorator and I were in together, she had a full day of cake orders, I made S’mores, Brownie Bar and Black Forest cakes. While making these as fast as we can, we also slice bread, give free cookies to obnoxious kids and answer stupid questions constantly. It really wears you down.
Since we had to share the cake counter, I used part of that counter and the other ‘bread table’ to work on. I had to tell you all of this to give you the setting: in the ceiling above my head, while working at the ‘bread table’, is the speaker where all the music and announcements come out of. Usually the sounds are muffled somewhat by the oven vent but this spot is directly under the speaker providing a cone of sound below.
Thankfully, our music is bearable; soft rock and pop hits but we hear the same songs everyday. And Sarah is back for the summer. Sarah who does the announcements really loud with a valley girl, perky chirp ending with “… and have a great day!”, again, really loud.
Then it happened, the song I hate the most; ‘Shake it Off’ by Taylor Swift. (Even writing it makes my lip curl.) I reached my breaking point, my mind screamed out in agony……”NO! I can’t take anymore………!”
My co-workers both laughed and said at the same time: “They’re playing your song!”
*********************************************************************************
But that wasn’t the ceiling story I wanted to tell you; I just wanted to complain about my job.
A few years back it seemed that ghostly orbs were popular. I watched Ghost Adventures and had seen other footage and photos of ethereal orbs.
One night I was lying in my bed and saw a small green orb on my ceiling. My eyes bugged open and my heart started beating faster. I blinked a few times, it was still there and then it started moving. I was really freaking out now. Then it blinked a couple of times but a familiar kind of blink……. it was a firefly walking on my ceiling. Because I’m short-sighted a bit of light appears round when blurry.
I did manage to get it in a jar and felt the wonder of a child in that moment; happy it wasn’t a ghost.
Right now its hot and rainy so hundreds of campers and cottagers are headed for our store to get buns and something good to eat. It’s so peaceful here; only birdies chirping. My plans for today are to wash my aprons, lie under my ceiling fan and watch TV. Tomorrow I start a full week of 7-hours shifts. It’s a work marathon. (Just in case you’re scoffing….. I’m 64½.)
Six more weeks until Labour Day; my last summer doing this.
https://lindaghill.com/2017/07/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-2217/
monicle's chronicles 