Never go hungry......

Well, last night was MY night to do the dreaded 'snack shack' duty for our local Little League. In case you don't have kiddies in Little League or Pop Warner- you may not have heard of this labor gimmick. Turns out when you pay your zillion dollar sign up fee, uniform fee, party fee, trophy fee and supplemental fee (huh?)....you are also signing up for 4 hours of free labor. Yes, every parent is required to work in the Snack Shack at our sports park for one shift (football you do 2 or 3 a season) for completely free. So off I went last night in my comfortable shoes to help serve hot dogs, nachos, slushies, churros and a complete array of candies that would make any dentist cringe. Actually while working last night I realized there was not ONE single thing that would be considered 'good for you'. And it made matters worse since I had no time to eat dinner before going and I was hungry. Right away I knew this was going to be a land of temptation when I was shown the candy bar storage in the industrial refrigerator. Willy Wonka would be proud. I was also greeted by the previous shift upon arrival- and given a quick, quick primer 'cook the pretzels for 5 minutes, churros for 6, the cheese goes here, use this lemonade, coffee comes in two sizes, ice cream is in the freezer etc......it was a lot to learn in 2 minutes. But I figured- hey how hard could it be? Luckily I was not alone. My team mom (Linda) and another dad (Royce)from our team were there for the shift as well.

There is no cash register- just a cash 'drawer'. And by the grace of god no tax to calculate! Everything was in easy to add increments: $1.00, $1.50, $2.00....this was the most math without a calculator I had done all year. Early on I decided if I couldn't find the price for something on a the tiny tiny typed price list they gave us- then it was $1.00. I figure if management didn't like it-they could take it out of my pay. We all muddled thru and helped the little ones count their change, and made lots and lots of junk food. It is really amazing how many slushies you can make in one shift! But the best part of the night was getting to know my 'co-workers'. We are on the same ball team- but rarely have time to talk between the 'who is on first?' game day stress. So it was nice to get to chat to them in between the ice cream sandwiches and licorice orders. Turns out Linda is Koren, her husband works the ER and she loves to have pool parties. Royce attended my childhood church and is in a travelling singing group called the Alley Cats! I never would have guessed these things.....So all in all it was a good night. I wonder who else is so interesting that I already know? Perhaps I should do Snack Shack duty with more of my acquaintances.....I think I will wait until next season, and my next donation of mandatory free labor night. But word to the wise: never grocery shop or work a snack shack hungry. Bad idea. Trust me.