Almost Done in Salem

Whew! What a week it has been here in Salem. I am done here in Salem but Ron is busy working tear down as I write. His first job of the night was to tear down the ticket boxes. There were 7 in total. That means 18 monitors, printers, scanners need to be put away. Some go to the White Unit, some to the Blue Unit and the rest to the Red Unit. They will be tucked away till next season as we don't use these while in Puyallup. They have their own monitors, printers and scanners. I am sure he will also be doing garbage detail in those ticket boxes because the sellers just don't seem to know they can empty the garbage. After Ron is done with all the ticket boxes he will see where Brian or Kenny want him next. Ron is kinda hoping they say they don't need him for any other tear down so he can come back to the motor home and get a few hours sleep before we head to Puyallup.

I guess I should reflect on how the past 10 days have been here in Salem for the Oregon State Fair.

One change this spot was that Rob was gone to New York for a week and then Puyallup to get things ready for our arrival on Tuesday and opening day on Friday, September 10th. My boss this spot has really been 4 ~ Kevin, Rick, Ron Jr, and Mr. B. Each told me at different times that I did a good job. I was told by Rob on the phone on Saturday that our time in Eugene was the best Customer Service they have had their in a long time. Only had two nasty customers ~ I blogged about them under "Musings from the Customer Service Window."

In speaking with Rob he had had no complaints about my work here in Salem. Made me feel good as I had a few rough days. Once being accused of doing something that I had not done and the person would not listen to my side of the story and twice when an employee said something about me that was not true. Those three incidents made me ready to leave after this spot. After a lengthy discussion with Ron, many prayers sent up on my behalf, an email to Rob followed by a phone call with Rob things began to look up. Since Saturday, when things kinda came to a head, things have gone much better. I also believe it will help to be back working directly with Rob as my supervisor. I was encouraged by my conversation with Rob. One of the things Rob said on the phone was that we do a good job, we work well with the bosses and fellow employees and he did not want us to leave as he needed us in Puyallup. Just the things I needed to hear after dealing with the person causing problems.

Customer service interactions went fairly well. We did have one lady who got slightly injured who came up to the CS window. Both Ron Jr and I dealt with the situation and we thought she left with good feelings. Later we found comments from her on Facebook/Oregon State Fair page that said she was treated rudely by the person in Customer Service. I was thankful that Ron Jr was at the window when I interacted with her. He had me document what had happened and how I handled the situation just in case something further comes up with her. I had a few lost children. One little girl, about 6, made it from the Dinosaur exhibit all the way to the midway (quite the distance) and we had to call the Oregon State Police to come take her and reunite her with her parents. We also had a 9 yr old girl come from the Les Schwab area where the magic show was held make it to the midway where a customer found her crying alligator tears saying she could not find her mom & dad. After calling her parents (she knew their cell phone number) they were also happily reunited. Our last lost children were two little ones 7 & 5 who got separated from their dad. They started out in Kiddie Land and ended up at the CS window. They were happily reunited with him after about 20 minutes. For awhile there I thought maybe I was going to get me a few more grandchildren. Am very thankful that with the help of the Oregon State Police all of them were reunited back to their families.

Had a few scams tried to be pulled on me. One was someone selling used tickets as new ones ~ we are able to pull up every transaction for each ticket card sold. Found out who the person was selling the cards and they were dealt with by the supervisor. Also had a little boy, about 11 years old, who tried to tell me his wristband would not work. Funny thing, I scanned the wristband and found out it had been sold for the Tuesday night special and we were having the Wednesday night special at the time. I said to him, "I think you tried to scam me for a new ride bracelet when actually the one you have on is from last night. I think you were lying to me. Now what would your mom say if I called her on the phone and told her what you were doing?" His reply, "I don't think she would like it." At that he stepped down from the CS window and went on his merry way. We alerted the ride supervisors to make sure the ride operators were scanning the bracelets because people were trying to use the ones from last night. Also reminded them that the color of the stamp was different for Wednesday night from Tuesday nights special.

All in all, customer service went fine this week.

Ron and I did get to have an afternoon and evening off together. We walked around the fair, borrowed Wendy's car so we could go do laundry and then we went to Applebee's for dinner. It was nice to get away from the crowds of the carnival for an evening. While looking around the fair we bought a couple of Christmas presents. I told Kevin the next day, that we spent too much money and maybe it is not a good thing for us to have time off together.

Our time off was on Thursday. On Friday morning Claudia called me and asked if I wanted her to do my laundry ~ told her thanks but it was done. Maybe while we are in Puyallup she can do it for us. She only works part-time for Kevin & Johnny and since we only get one or maybe two days off in Puyallup (we have a 16 day run there) and so she said she would be happy to do our laundry when she goes to do hers, her daughter's and her boyfriends. I am so blessed by some of the friends we have made here.

One issue we had here in Salem was that we decided to upgrade our Verizon wireless card to a MiFi card. What a hassle that was for us. Bought it Thursday, tried to hook it up Thursday night. Could not get it to connect. Spent 2 hours on the phone Friday morning with Tech Support. They could not figure out what was going on. Spent another hour on the phone with them Saturday morning. Still no connection. Finally Ron got on the phone with them, spoke firmly and finally got connected to a supervisor AFTER the person speaking to him on the phone hung up on him. The supervisor told us to take the MiFi card back to the Verizon kiosk where we bought it and get another one. So on Saturday night I spent another 48 minutes on the phone with John and we were successfully able to get the wireless connected. I was never so happy as there were a few things I needed to do on the computer and needed the internet to do it.

I paid a couple of bills that needed to be paid and then I sent off our resumes (that I did up on Friday night after working 11 1/2 hours) and a letter for a position selling Christmas trees in the San Francisco Bay Area. That position would start on 11/27 and go to 12/24. We are hoping to hear from Kevin tomorrow or Wednesday. Would appreciate prayers as we search for and apply for winter work. I am also working on applications for next years holiday season with Dollywood in Tennessee. We are trusting the Lord and know he knows what we need to be doing and where we should land next. We just want to open and willing to go where He wants us to go.

All in all our time here in Salem has gone well. What would life be without a few bumps in the road. Well I just realized it is now officially Tuesday morning so I had better close this post for now. Need to ready the inside of the motor home and get a few hours of sleep so I am ready to drive to Puyallup tomorrow.

The plan for Tuesday is that we will go to Costco for gas and groceries and then head North on I5. We will be stopping in the Portland area to see Melissa, Kyle and Kambree (Brandon's friends from college days) and have lunch together. Then I will be taking the wheel and driving us to Puyallup. Ron plans on sleeping while I drive. We will then get settled into the bone yard at the fair grounds and then get ready for work on Wednesday morning. Not sure what time I have to report, will find that out tomorrow evening when I connect with Rob once we are in Puyallup.

Set up in Puyallup will be Wednesday and Thursday with opening day on Friday, September 10th.

Guess that's all for now...thanks for stopping by and reading about us. Don't forget to leave a note. We love to hear who is reading about our travels/work/life with the carnival. Will have another blog post for you in the next couple of days.

Prayer Requests ~
1. For safety on the road as we drive to Puyallup tomorrow (really today).
2. For set up in Puyallup to go well.
3. For the issues that I had last week truly to be in the past and that my attitude will continue to be one of graciousness flavored with lots of positive thoughts.

Take care.

Alice & Ron

PS...Almost forgot to mention the newest member of our family. CB Jr, joined us last Saturday. As many of you know, we had to get rid of Charlie Brown to come work for the carnival. Well, last Saturday while walking through the fairgrounds with Claudia I found the cutest little puppy just looking for a home. He looks very similar to CB (that's how come he is known as CB Jr.) I paid $10 for him. He is the cutest little thing. If you watch him long enough you can even see him breathe. CB Jr was waiting for Ron to come home from work. He slept in his little bed right on the printer near where Charlie Brown liked to perch. Ron did not notice him till Sunday morning after we played the hot/cold game. I will get a picture of him in the next couple of days and post them for you. Right now he is snuggled in his little bed on the chair behind the passenger seat. He is such a good little puppy. He never cries, whines or jump on people.

PSS ~ can you figure out what kind of puppy he is?

Am hoping to be able to post pictures Wednesday or Thursday once we are done with set up in Puyallup.

Love you all!