Senior Moments
By Charles P. Eberson
We were in our late teens and the end of the school year meant it was time to secure jobs for the summer. During school, I earned extra money as a lifeguard at the local JCC, so it seemed natural to pursue a similar job since I had the experience and the qualifications. My best friend, Paul and I applied and were hired as lifeguards and “cabana boys” at the Warwick Apartments in Atlantic City. The Warwick has a large saltwater swimming pool and was flanked on three sides by cabanas. Aside from lifeguarding, our pool area duties included checking the chlorine and ph level in the pool, vacuuming the bottom and scrubbing the pool deck. In the morning, we would open the cabanas, sweep them clean, stock them with towels and pull the chaise lounges out. We soon discovered this can be a tip producing opportunity and adjusted our behavior accordingly. When the call went out for “POOL BOY,” our hearing acuity depended on if the guest was a decent tipper or not. After a while, our guests understood how things worked around the pool and the summer days rolled on profitable and blissful. We returned the next summer and reacquainted ourselves with our familiar guests but with more ambition. We requested and received permission to give swimming lessons to the guest’s grandchildren for an additional revenue stream. We also had ingratiated ourselves to some of the guests’ young teen daughters. The summer went on, shall we say, swimmingly. We returned the next summer and after a couple weeks into the season and feeling pretty full of ourselves, we asked for a raise above the annual raise we were given. Getting some resistance, we boldly stated that if our demands were not met, we would leave, confident we had the winning hand. An important life lesson was learned in those youthful days as me, Paul and our more recent addition, Mike found ourselves out of a job with the whole summer ahead of us. I landed a job cleaning baked on cooking trays in the kitchen of Woolworth’s on the Atlantic City boardwalk. I only put up with that for a few days. Then, I drove a delivery truck for a restaurant supply company. There I learned another valuable lesson, this one on physics. When a movable object collides with a stationary object…well, I did some extensive body work on the truck. The truck was returned and I never showed up to work again. Paul was left slicing pickles at the Gem restaurant in Atlantic City and Mike was delivering produce. Not the summer we were looking forward to. The Plaza Apartments on Plaza Place in Atlantic City was looking for lifeguards and cabana boys and I was hired. I brought Paul and Mike aboard and the band was back together. We started up our swimming lessons, added diving lessons and dated granddaughters. The gin rummy players were supplied with cold water, warm towels and clean ash trays for their cigars all day. Rainy days were an occasional respite from the usual duties with us huddled in our cabana playing guitars, eating subs or pizza and retelling summer stories. Eventually, summer jobs gave way to permanent jobs but the summer stories have survived and continue to be shared with grown children and grand children. Now, when I ride my bike on the boardwalk and pass these high rises, I sometimes steal a glance over the fence and see the young pool boys supplying their trade. I wonder if they are going to be retelling stories about their summer job at the shore fifty years from now. I do hope so.
(In loving memory of Paul)
Charles Eberson has been in the newspaper business for over 25 years. He has worked as a writer, advertising executive, circulation manager and photographer. His photography can be viewed at charles-eberson.fineartamerica.com
