Mrs. Hillbilly Mom has not always been the suave world-traveler that she is now. At one time, while pursuing her valedictorianship, she was downright backwards! But so were her classmates. Some never having left the safety of the county, not even to travel to the city an hour away.
You can imagine the excitement that ramped up over the course of four years, for the SENIOR TRIP to Daytona, Florida. We sold magazines to raise money. Chartered THREE buses! And left Hillmomba at 5:30 a.m., armed with playing cards (to pass the time) and shaving cream (to slather on the faces of sleepers).
Of course such a trip had to have some educational value. Our school principal was a history aficionado, so the SENIOR TRIP took a route to make stops at assorted historic battlefields, forts, the Cyclorama, and the Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Let the record show that we were a bunch of rubes. Rubes who were 17 and 18 years old, and knew it all, while knowing very little. For example, I was AMAZED by the vending machine at our motel that sold tiny cans of fruit juice! That's all I babbled about to my dad, on a call home. He was kind enough not to tease me about it, what with him being a frequent traveler for training with Southwestern Bell, and knowing the ropes of motel vending machines.
You can't drive through for fast food with three Greyhound buses. I'm not even sure if drive-thru was a thing back then. We didn't have fast food in Hillmomba. Only a Sonic. So on this trip, we'd stop to eat at cafeterias. Oh my gosh! And I thought the VENDING MACHINE was something!
This sure wasn't like our school cafeteria! Imagine 150-something of us rubes pouring off those buses, road-weary and starving, heading into unknown territory. We each had whatever spending money we had earned through part-time jobs, or what our parents could afford to send with us. The fundraisers had paid for the buses and lodging and entrance to attractions. But we were on our own for meals and souvenirs.
It must have been somewhere in Mississippi where we encountered our first cafeteria. We lined up and pushed our trays along the metal bars, marveling at the selection, choosing foods we recognized. Without fail, as we reached the end, a courteous young man would appear and offer to carry our tray to a table.
Well! We were able-bodied country kids. Taken aback by such an act of generosity. Yet seeing no need to have somebody else carry a tray that we were perfectly capable of handling. So, without fail, each of us said, "No thanks. I've got it." And walked away clutching our food.
Some of those courteous young men followed us to our tables. Where one was heard to mutter under his breath: "Cheap-a$$ Hillmomba!"
I don't know how many cafeterias we patronized before one of our teacher sponsors on one of the buses explained that those courteous young men were working for tips. Which resulted in some of us remaining on the bus at cafeterias, choosing instead to eat crackers and chips and candy bars out of the magnificent food vending machines at our motels.
Well, today I was the student and you were the teacher. I'd never heard of the Cyclorama... so I had to look it up.
ReplyDeleteDid that huge painting impress the students? (I imagine not.)
So sad that those young men had to work for tips, and sad that you youngsters didn't know that at the time. Then again, how much would a person expect to be paid for carrying a tray to a table? Surely not enough to get by on, although 150 youngsters all at once might have made a difference for one day. I truly wish your country would pay decent, liveable wages.
ReplyDeleteSioux,
ReplyDeleteI was impressed by the magnitude of it, and the painting itself. Not so much by the history. Shh... not sure if anyone knows this, but I'm not a lover of history OR geography. I think some of my classmates looked at it like Chevy Chase as Clark Griswald, bobbing his head at the Grand Canyon in "National Lampoon's Vacation."
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River,
I don't know why it's sad that they "had" to work for tips. They had a job, and most likely made half the minimum wage like any waitress would, with the rest supposedly coming from tips. If they didn't like it, they could have quit, or not taken the job to begin with. Farmer H has worked three jobs at a time, to have the things he wanted to have. Some of the young men might have been doing the same.
It is unfortunate that as kids we didn't know the system. But it's not like we were making them carry our tray, and giving them nothing. They were available to carry other people's trays, adults who knew the set-up.
Sad because they most likely made half the minimum wage? Why only half? If they are working surely they get the minimum wage? I don't understand your country's system. Junior workers here age 15, get the minimum wage with a yearly increase until adult wage at 21, or maybe it's 18 now, but I think still 21.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteThe lower than minimum wage is common in the restaurant business for waitresses. Who can make great pay if it's a restaurant with generous tippers. I only know this from working at the unemployment office. No matter what age, this is pretty standard practice here. Because people know the wage when hired, and can choose to take the job or not, I don't think it's sad.