Date: Saturday, April 13, 2013; 5:00-10:30 pm
I am always on the lookout for
Make-A-Wish events since there are so few opportunities for general
volunteering with them, most of their volunteers being ‘Wish Granters’. This was a
fund raiser that included a ‘Bags
Tournament’. This is also known as ‘Corn Hole ‘in some circles and having
seen lunch time competitions of the same in my previous job, I knew that people
took this seriously. The previous day
the organizers sent out assignments and against my name I saw ‘Hot Dog Cart’. There were the usual roles assigned to other
volunteers, but I felt that mine was the coolest assignment and I replied back
to the group saying that while I didn't know about the rest of them, I for one
was extremely excited about my role. I
heard back from one of the other volunteers, Michelle, who agreed with me. I mean seriously, a ‘Hot Dog Vendor’! I even told everyone at my office.
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| The MINI showroom service area |
Although my shift was supposed to
start at 7:30 pm, they has asked us to come by 5 pm, having done my best to remove all traces of blue from my hands. The address looked as if it would be easy to
get to and I followed the map on my phone and ended up in…a MINI showroom. Even with my record of getting lost, this was
a first. However, to my surprise I was
in the right place after all. The event
was going to be held after closing, in the service area at the back. As I walked in, I saw some of the usual tools
and equipment that one see’s in a garage, except that being a MINI showroom,
this was much more cleaner. I saw that
some of the volunteers were blowing balloons and I joined them. Michelle was in that group as were Andy,
Hilary, Sara, Monica and Jared. I have
never been good at blowing balloons - never ever, since childhood. My issue had always been tying that knot at
the end and more often than not, the air in the balloon would come out while I
made a feeble attempt to secure the knot.
Today, I had a different problem.
I could not muster enough lung capacity to fill a balloon; much to the
amusement of Michelle and the others. “I do not even smoke”, I said though
they may have had doubts on that.
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| Aesthetically designed MAW banners |
I saw that Hilary was trying to
tape some MAW signs around some tables and I went over to check if she needed
any assistance. With some manipulation
of the long sign and tape, we managed to get that done. I chatted with Michelle, who is a ‘Wish Granter’ about what that entails
as well as her job and some of the other volunteer work that she does, including
what it takes to do fund raising at a large scale for hospitals and
non-profits. Andy, who was leading the
group, came and asked if some of us could help tape MAW banners just behind the
registration desk. There was a huge MINI
board and he wanted us to cover it with MAW signs. Hilary, Sara, Monica and I went to handle
that and some of the girls were being every precise and wanted to aesthetically
improve the presentation by ensuring that the banner below was just offset from
the one above. For me it did not matter
since the message was more important, but then I am by no means a designer. Once the banners had been done, I helped tape
some signs to the showroom windows and we were ready for the guests.
The guests started arriving at 6 pm and while the actual tournament was not starting till 8 pm, that gave them
enough time to practice and get lubricated – if you pardon the pun, considering
this was a car service area. I saw
people practice and the place was slowly starting to resemble a party. I saw that the food area was being
prepared and I took to my station. It
was a buffet style arrangement and there were some usual things like wings and
tortilla chips with dip. Then at the end there
was a small cart with hot dogs and alongside it were rolls and other
condiments. Strictly speaking they did
not require a person to be there, but I think having a MAW volunteer at that
station was a good idea. My job was to
put the hot dog into the bun and hand it to the guests on a plate. Then they could add the condiments of their
choice and it seemed simple enough. That was before I realized how seriously the
Chicagoans take their condiments.
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| Where's the mustard? |
While there was ketchup in the
condiments section, there was no mustard.
Apparently, it is a sacrilege to put ketchup in a hot dog in Chicago and
even a bigger sin if there is no mustard!
I heard about it from several people and in fact had to ask in the catering area if they could get me some mustard.
They were able to find me some bottles and that seemed to appease the
crowd, who by this time had consumed a fair amount of alcohol. For the next three hours I handed the guests
several hot dogs and each and every one of them was excited to get one. The tournament had begun and it would take
a lot of time to crown the winners, there being 101 teams that had
entered. People would go down the buffet
line and as they approached me, some would be unsure, while the rest would be
positively beaming at the prospect of a hot dog. For the unsure ones I would say “Come on, you know you want one” and
that would usually do the trick. I was
going through a lot of rolls and a lot of hot dogs, but the catering staff kept replenishing
the cart. Win or lose, drunk or sober,
people came time and again. One guy came
five times and each time he would nod toward his partner and say to me, “You haven’t seen me right, this is my first
time”. Soon it became a running joke
where whenever I saw him, I would point towards the hot dog and say, “You must have at least one before you leave”.
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| Your friendly neighborhood Hot Dog Man |
I saw all sorts of people, in
fact one guy came and it was obvious that he had been drinking for some
time. He delivered a long soliloquy and I
did not understand a word of it. Finally
he said, “You want to punch me now, don’t
you?” What? I had no idea what he had been saying and I
just smiled. He moved aside and stared
into space for the rest of the time that he was there. I saw Alisa, who is the leader for Chicago
Cares’ ‘Get Crafty’ program and she
was participating in the tournament.
Having been eliminated in the first round, she came and blamed it all on
her partner. Then she told me that she
was going to drink and I was not to judge her.
I laughed and said that I won’t as long as she kept coming for the hot
dogs. One of the guests, Hannah, came
and asked me about volunteering and I told her as much as I could in the
cacophony. Michelle came and I had promised
her the best hot dog that I could deliver. Well, there wasn't much that I could do, but I did remind her of
that.
Towards the end I was getting
tired, since it was a solo job and I was on my feet all the time. Although my shift was only till 9:30 pm, people were
still coming and I stayed at my post till 10:30 pm. But at that point I was completely exhausted,
having left my place at 7:45 am this morning.
I told Adam that I was leaving and he thanked me for my help. I do not know how much money MAW had raised,
but I was glad to have been there.
However, my fondest memory is seeing people’s delighted faces as they
approached the hot dog stand. Having a
hot dog is somewhat akin to being a kid again, out in the ball park with your family. No matter how old one gets, they
always enjoy moments like these when they get to remember their childhood
again. Just as I had suspected the
previous day, I did have the coolest job that evening; for I had helped make people
smile.
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