So as the season starts to come to a close some perks and annoyances about working in a seasonal ski rental shop have made themselves apparent. First of all, my views on tourism in general have become affirmed. I know that the basic purpose of tourism is to let working class people have a recreational outlet to go to so they can forget about their normal stressed lives for a while, be it a day, a long weekend or an extended holiday.  And I'm all for that, for letting people relax and put their energies into something that promotes the natural human spirit, but it becomes a problem when their good time comes at others expense. 

Like when people come in to rent equipment and drop double my daily salary on one saturday of fun and then expect me to wax their shitty rental skis that have numerous core shots in them anyway, and do it quickly with a big beaming smile on my face. Yeah, of course I'll buckle up your sweaty smelly boots over and over again for $8.50 an hour. Your foot fungus and nasty sweat is problem good for my skin anyways, no no sir I'm happy to do it, no problem, have a good one! I find myself repeating certain enthusiastic phrases all day long, becoming more cynical by the minute. Helping people who couldn't figure out how to get out of their rental skis before coming all the way back into the carpeted inside rental shop. One ski on one sitting on the counter, it's amazing what people can accomplish when they put their minds to it, it'd never seen anyway slide across cement through double doors and then proceed to ski/skate all the way inside the shop just to get someone to help their poor stuck foot off the one awkward ski. Then there was the guy who claimed that he had returned one ski with two poles and when I asked him where the other one was, he replied, "one ski, two poles, three people. " The statement completely baffled me so I casually took the partially returned equipment and chuckled with the rest of the staff in the back of the room, what else can you do in a situation like that? 

But please don't think that they aren't perks to working a job in tourism during a year as economically unstable as an alcoholic woman going through a nasty divorce. Because those epic midweek powder days seem to make all the bullshit worth while. Hiking to the top of a peak gleaming at the snowy mountain peaks towering over the shimmering vast blue lake gives me an ear to ear grin that will last for days as I magically float down indescribable powder lines taking snow shots over and over again in the face, giggling and shouting like a little girl the entire way down. While standing at the top of a mountain minutes before I make my decent down I always try to tune into the massiveness of the enormous rock formation that my feet are making contact with. I realize that everything is alive and that I am a part of this massive creation, about ready to ride down this natural wonder, with it's grand old trees, covered in neon green lichen and birds chirping their beautiful songs into the never ending blue skies.  Being able to be a part of this amazing natural blessing makes the 8.50 an hour for a free pass and not being able to pay my bills seem completely worth it. And I'm not ready for summer I wish it could be winter again and that every day was a perfect blue bird powder day.