Welcome Busy Season

“BAHH!” The scream interrupts my daily trudge into the work locker room. “I am nothing but a massaging machine!”

I give the poor woman a sympathetic smile, “I hear you,” I tell her. I myself have become a cookie baking, apple chopping, cake decorating robot. At a certain point in the midst of a fifteen consecutive day work stretch I lost all concept of the day of the week as well as the date.

What, it's Christmas? Why didn't you send out an announcement or something?

I'm not the only one.

The haggard look. The frayed nerves surfacing along the lines of the eyes. The occasional shout of frustration given with minimal provocation...the signs are everywhere. Hop on the bus and take a glance at the person next to you. Look at the face of your server next time you order a drink.

We the people who cater to the needs of the snow tourists, are tired.

Granted, the following is what I heard most of the off season, “Ugh, I am so broke I am scared to look at my bank account. There's no work in this entire town and soon I will be forced to eat my toenails.”

But...have you heard the saying “Too much of a good thing???”

We have limits.

On top of too many work hours, we are battling all the funky germs the influx of people have brought with them. I am currently drinking four cups of orange juice a day in an effort to stave off the flemy cough I hear across the village and eating several different types of multivitamins with every meal so that if I get the flu from my coworkers I will recover quickly enough to make it back to work the next day. 

To the tourists: We are so glad you are here, but don't forget we are people too.

To the diner who yelled at your server: You made her cry. I saw her in the kitchen and it was not pretty.

To the folks who don't get to live here: On days that I work a 12 hour shift, I still have time to go to a yoga class and then take a few runs on the best ski resort in the country with some of my best friends in the world. When it comes down to it, the odds are, despite a little busy season burnout, my life is better than your vacation.