The Parking Lot Attendant
On his eighteenth birthday he began working as the parking attendant for the city zoo. The lot was a city block of white gravel that bordered the ornate iron gate of the zoo's front entrance. A white wooden booth stood at the front entrance of the lot. Inside the tiny structure was a rickety metal stool to sit on, a small cash box for the money, and a few office supplies shoved in a draw under the well-worn counter. He sat in the booth waiting for his manager to come and show him what to do. After an hour had passed, as he occupied himself with watching the leaves blow around in circle through the lot, imagining they were joyfully chasing one another, the manager did not show up.
At the end of that hour the zoo opened. Cars began to enter the lot. When the first one rolled up to the booth, he did not know what to do or say. After a long moment of uncomfortable silence, the driver asked him if he was going to take his three dollars in exchange for a yellow ticket with the day's date on it? He did as he was told, put the money in the metal box and handed the man back a yellow slip which he stamped with the date. 'Simple enough', he thought after the car left, puzzled why he did not think of that himself.
An hour later he encountered a bigger problem. He over booked the lot. He refunded six fees, as instructed by all six customers. The last driver threatened to tell his boss of his incompetence because she would have to walk several blocks pushing a stroller carrying a cranky baby, who needed a diaper change, as she herded her three other children along a busy street to get to the safety of the iron gate.
When the angry mom was finished with him, he grabbed the folding sign that had FULL written on it in big red letters and quickly put it out in the drive. He then went and counted the number of cars in the lot then ran back to the booth where he scribbled the number on a bare wooden wall. The rest of his week went by with no other problems and he was glad for it.
When the last day of the month came around several expenditures had to be made. First, the yellow tickets were running low. Second, the ink pad for the stamper was almost completely dry. He thought about going over to the zoo's business office but decided not to. If a month had passed with no training or contact from his manager, how long would it take for them to get him office supplies? Besides that, he liked the fact that he was left alone to do his job the way he wanted. In the long run the expenses would come out of what he collected so why not just take cash out of the box instead? When he thought about his up-coming monthly paycheck his decision was made.
On his way home he stopped by the bank and deposited the cash for his wages, continued on to the office supply store and purchased the tickets and the ink pad. When he returned to the parking lot, he put the receipts for the office supplies in the cash box and started another day of work.
The cool weather of autumn gave way to the chill of winter, while taking money from the few visitors that came, he stamped his feet and drank hot coco from a tall thermos in a failing effort to keep warm. The little wooden booth had no insulation and no heat. On very colds days, before the sun gave some warmth to the air, his toes would go numb. He wanted to complain about it but decided not to. Instead, he resolved his inconvenience by treating it as a necessary expense like the office supplies. How could he do his job with the worry of his toes going numb? Who knew what medical crisis that could lead to? He heard dire stories from a cousin that was a boy scout and knew about things like that.
Before he caught the bus home after the zoo closed, he stopped at the hardware store and bought a small kerosene heater. When he returned to work the next day he put the receipt in the cash box with the others, lit the heater, and waited for cars to pull in.
To be continued.
Prairie Beacon 