The Concession Stand Diaries

This past Fall I had the opportunity to work in the concession stand during Friday night football games in our little western PA town. My son plays on the junior high team so it is expected that they have a parent work during varsity games and varsity parents work during junior high games. That way we all get to see our own children play.

Small towns, big cities… I know they all have their own level of affinity for their high school football. When my husband and I moved here from a larger town we were surprised that the high school stadium was THE place to be on a Friday night! Where we came from it was not a real big deal so when we found ourselves with the rest of the town at games long before our own children entered school we knew. We knew we’d landed in the pages of Friday Night Lights.

So when my son moved on from Little Eagle football to the junior high school program and I was asked to work the concession stand I had an idea of what that would entail because I’ve stood in those lines waiting to order my hot dog, nachos, and soda. Now I’ve worked in concession stands from one end of this town to the other - the Little League field, check. The soccer fields, check. Heck, we even tried one season of wrestling so I worked a tournament - but nothing compares to the lines at a varsity football game.

It was fun and it was crazy. I saw neighbors and my children’s friends. And on Saturday morning, after slugging down two cups of coffee with my poor aching feet propped up, I wrote about my experiences on Facebook. To my surprise many people loved reading about my first evening in the concession stand. In what I came to dub “The Concession Stand Diaries” I chronicled my five Friday nights behind the counter.

Now there’s nothing earth-shattering about what I saw. These are just simple observations from a Mom doing her part to help the football boosters. Taken straight from my personal Facebook page, I give you my musings:

What I learned working the concession stand at the 1st home varsity football game of the season:
1. We fed every resident of Somerset last night. And all their relatives.
2. Blue Gatorade is the most popular.
3. An 8 year old with a dollar is a dangerous thing at a concession stand. Those with a $5 bill? Even worse. Sugar, sugar, sugar...
4. Once you've waited in a line 20 people deep you really should know what you want to order when it's your turn to step up to the window.
5. Raise your sons to be like #55. When we were cleaning up he saw me struggling to fold up a table. On his own he came over and said "m'am, let me try" and once folded picked it up and asked where I needed him to carry it. I need to find out who he is and then find his mother to let her know she's done a good job.
6. It was exhausting but boy was it fun!

The Concession Stand Diaries, Part 2:
1. A "flat balloon candy" is an Airhead. It took two of us to figure that out but we got it.
2. It was exciting knowing we had a bunch of homecoming signs tucked away on the shelf for after the game when the players were asking their dates. My favorite was the girl who had no idea the guy was going to ask. Her surprised expression was priceless.
3. That's all I've got... I'm taking my poor, aching feet and going to bed. Good night.

The Concession Stand Diaries, Part 3:
1. Rain.
2. When it is 50 degrees with monsoon rain swirling, no one is motivated to eat.
3. Ever see the chocolate river in the Willy Wonka movie? That's how much hot chocolate was made and served out of the concession stand last night.
4. Rain.
5. There were actually times we were standing around and could watch parts of the game.
6. One of the moms has limited mobility and drives one of those scooters to get around. We helped plot her exit from the concession stand so she didn't hydroplane on her way to the parking lot!
7. Someone commented we concession stand workers were the lucky ones last night because we were under cover. I'd say we're the lucky ones every week, getting to support our boys.
8. Rain.

The Concession Stand Diaries, Part 4:
1. Forget football camp. We need concession stand worker camp. Move us in to the field house for a week each August and work on conditioning. Stretch, reach, twist, and walk 75 miles in a small circle. Our hand-off of sodas should rival the baton passing skills of an Olympic relay team. Wake us at 3:00am and in our sleep deprived stupor make us add large lists of numbers less than $2 but be sure at least 3 of them end in 50 cents. As soon as we have a total remove an item from the list and replace it with an item of a different cost.
2. Word got out in the 8 & under set that for $1 you can get 4 Blow Pops instead of just 1 candy bar. And of course, getting 4 things is much better than just 1 so guess what a hot seller was last night? Um-hmm. You're welcome Somerset dentists.
3. I felt like an employee of a 5-star restaurant. Highlights of visiting parents raving about our hamburgers:
•"This is an award winning burger."
•"I've craved your burgers since my 21 year old grandson played a game here." I invited him back any Friday night to dine with us.
4. Another told me regardless of which sport, he never eats as well as he does at a Somerset concession stand. To that I say, "Way to go Somerset parents!"
5. True exchange: "Do you have plain cheese pizza?" "No, I'm sorry, we only have pepperoni." "Well we can't eat that, we're vegetarians so please don't tell me we can just pull them off. I guess I'll take a hot dog, a burger, and nachos grande." Hmm. (The person was ordering for several people so with that request I'm thinking they're not all vegetarians. At least I hope not, if that’s what they’re eating.)
6. #3 & #4 have me thinking... if Guy Fierri can have Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, I think I could host a show visiting various concession stands across the country, showcasing their good eats. Apparently some are far better than others. I will definitely need #1 after that road trip...

The Concession Stand Diaries, Part 5 (the season finale):
1. Senior Night. My rough calculations tell me that until last night those boys have had 95 games in their careers. It is only fitting that the 96th (and for many their final) time they stepped on a playing field they did so with their parents by their sides. Since Little Eagle games in 1st grade their parents have played every single down with them from the bleachers. 95 uniforms scrubbed clean, dinners eaten on the fly, mounds of disgusting smelly laundry washed, an accumulation of many miles in the car going to & from practice, the hundreds of conversations during those rides - the excited chatter after a good practice & the venting after a bad practice, thousands of passes thrown in the backyard, the bandaged knees & elbows & fingers & ankles, the lessons learned in the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. All that rolled into presenting their moms with flowers and having their future plans read for all to hear. Senior night.
2. You can guess a kid's age based on their cold weather gear. Elementary kids are decked out from snookie cap to snow boots and high school kids will wear an unzipped coat. But junior high kids? They're the ones in just a sweatshirt.
3. When it's bitter cold no one wants to wait for their change. I bet the boosters made an extra $15 from my line alone. "Keep the change" was the catchphrase of the evening.
4. After a game the 1st room you enter in the field house looks like a triage scene from M*A*S*H. Boys being taped up, others being untaped. I almost giggled out loud as I heard Radar's voice in my head announcing incoming choppers.
5. I was in that room because we take the unsold, prepared food for the team to eat. If you're ever feeling unloved or unappreciated I suggest you deliver loads of food to high school boys after 4 quarters of football.
6. While we were cleaning up a senior came in still wearing his uniform. Someone half-joked that he wasn't ready to take it off yet. With a sheepish grin he said he was going to savor it for a few more minutes. I hope he wore it til midnight.

Cinderella! Cinderella!

I decided to do something radical this summer. I created a chore list for my children.

They're 11 and almost 10, and this is something I probably should have done a long time ago but I didn't. We're a busy family and I always felt guilty asking them to pitch in when they had homework and practice and lessons to focus on. One day I started making a list of everything I did around the house and realized some of the stuff that was taking me a few minutes here and a few minutes there (adding up to many minutes of my day) could easily and quickly be done by them.

I contemplated hiring a security team for when I announced there would be a chore list. Shockingly, I was only met with one eye roll and some glares. Not bad.

June 1st the list went up on the refrigerator. We try not to work on Sundays so this gave everyone a day to ponder their fate. My calendar is color-coded for each family member (that's a whole other story) so I stuck with the same method for the chore list. Over breakfast I saw them flick their eyes towards the list but no one made an effort to really take a look - ignoring-it-and-it'll-go-away is not a valid strategy, dear family.

Monday after school was go time. After they had a snack I was very accommodating and read the list to them as they lounged in front of the tv. About the time I was ready to resort to threats they both got up and got started. I had to show Abby how to use the dust pan after she swept and Eli had an issue getting the bathroom trash bag all the way outside to the garbage can, but they were able to cross their items off the list.

By day three they came straight in the door from the school bus and got started on their tasks so they could "relax without worrying about it." I'm thinking our house won't pass a white glove inspection, but so far, they're proud of what they're accomplishing and the quality of the work they're doing. That lesson is worth more to me than the extra help I'm getting with the housework.

Thinking of starting a chore list for your household? I thought it would keep their attention more if I mixed it up, and these things take no more than 20 minutes of their time. Here are some ideas from mine:
*Odd numbered days - Abby will fill the dogs' dishes with water, while Eli sweeps
*Even numbered days - Eli will fill the dogs' dishes, while Abby sweeps
*I alternate each week who will dust the living room and who will dust the den, and who will scrub the bathroom sink with who takes out the trash
*Each child keeps their room tidy and clean, and changes their own sheets each week

She swings and she......

So I’m going to give this blog thing a whirl. I get compliments and “you should write a book” encouragements from time to time on an occasional Facebook post that makes my friends laugh. Combine that with a lot of other factors – I’m antsy to do something creative with my life, I have a secret hankering to be a writer, I live with excellent material for those funny posts – and, well, I’ve decided this might just be the outlet for me. Deciding is one thing – doing is another. I’ve thought about this for the better part of year and talked myself out of it for the same amount of time. I had no clear theme for my writings so why bother? I have nothing of interest others will want to read so why bother? I’m just a mom like thousands of others who have funny life stories so why bother? But then I had a mothering moment and decided to just jump in. I’ll either get a hit or I’ll strike out trying, but at least I will have tried. I use the baseball analogy because it is my son’s Little League career that pushed me to try this. He’s a nine year old, machine pitch division veteran who’s moved up to a 9-12 year old league this summer and hitting off other kid pitchers isn’t coming as easily to him as he would like. Like any 21st century Mom armed with a Smartphone, I decided to Google ways to encourage him. Article after article all boiled down to the same thing – you can’t hit the ball if you don’t swing the bat. Hmmm… So here I am writing my first entry. Please be kind to me. And if you’re able to take a smile or a new tidbit of information with you, then my turn at the plate was worth it.