Observing an Amusement Ride Engineer at the Manitowoc County Fair

We headed out to the fair last Saturday evening. We chose to go after dinner – avoiding the humidity. I’m always amazed at the decent parking we get whenever we go to an event that pulls so many people. The fair, fireworks and parades, we are always lucky in parking.

I love going to events in Manitowoc, because frankly, I know my kids are going to have an opportunity to enjoy the rides. There wasn’t a very long line for any of the rides the girls wanted to go on. They are younger so we didn’t have to worry about some of the more popular rides. We had enough time to watch the wood carvers (amazing stuff) and enjoy a few treats and really get our $10 worth. Compared to the Disney trip last June, I’d gladly pay the $10 for the fair.

All in all the fair was as good as expected and then factor in the above and I am more than satisfied as a parent and a patron. Oh and can’t forget that it’s not a far walk to indoor plumbing! Bonus!

The story I want to share with you is actually just an observation. Don’t really have any reason other than I found it amusing. My oldest daughter wanted to go into the fun house. My youngest did not, at least not at first. So as I was waiting for my dear daughter to go through. While waiting, I watched the “amusement ride engineer” or “carnie” for those not requiring political correctness.

The guy was clean, but gruff. He had sandy hair, a hard face, no smile. I’ve decided to name him Jack for our story. He wore khaki jeans, a nice shirt and really nice shoes. They were the suede slip ons, tan with a comfortable looking sole. They looked practically new. He was sitting in a folding chair perched up on the platform. The platform to his right was the entrance to the house, the one on the left was the exit. To get to the platform, you had to walk up two steps. The steps had a chain that divided the in and out. Jack was sitting in his folding chair with one elbow resting on his knee holding a cup of coffee. His body was more forward than sitting in the chair. He was totally oblivious to his surroundings and just looking like he was serving his time. I found his lack of enthusiasm amusing. While watching him, I could feel my lips kind of curl, in a smirk because I could just imagine the amount of will it takes to be around kids – assuming he wasn’t much of a kid person.

The kids were rapidly going in and out of the fun house, many were going in right away upon exiting, since there was no line. Instead of walking down the steps and then right back up, they would squeeze in front of Jack – while he was still bent over on his folding chair. He was looking at the ground, almost mesmerized with his shoes. He didn’t flinch, move, make a notion, or even seem to think anything about “not moving” as kids jetted past him to get their next thrill. I thought for sure the coffee was going to spill, since he wasn’t even moving his hand back. Jack studied his feet, he must have seen a bit of dirt, because he began brushing off his shoes. Totally fixated on those beautiful shoes.

I wonder what he would have done if coffee was spilled…on those beautiful shoes.

Not much else to the story, I share this with you because I was amused. I can’t imagine how many children run past him in all the towns and all the fairs. I almost wanted to give him a hug – and say, it’s all going to be just fine.