Location: Lincoln Park Zoo
Date: Sunday, August 03, 2014; 1:00-5:00 pm
Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo.
I do believe it, I do believe it's true.
 |
| Whose eyes? |
I had requested my release from
the ‘GRV’ commitment and thinking
that last week was my final shift, I had signed up a ‘Make-A-Wish’ project. But
they requested that I come one final time and so I found myself on the bus back
to the zoo. A couple of gents, looking
at my uniform, asked if they could follow me and I said sure. I guess this will stop soon. I arrived in the volunteer room and Jeremy,
who was present today, said that it was sad that I was leaving and thanked me
for coming in today. There were the new
volunteers from last week, as well as some of the regulars like Judy, as well as
Jim, who has been with the zoo for a year.
We started by reviewing the shift sheet and I was happy to see that the
ATM had finally been fixed! They were
still promoting the “Bowling for Rhinos”
event and despite the best hopes of the Snow Owls and the rest of us, there would be no Owlets
this year. We then played “name the eyes game” where we saw a
group of animal eyes and had to guess whom they belonged to. Finally, Jeremy told us about the Shrimp
Mantis - spotlight of the week - and which appears to be one badass creature.
Now it was time for my final session.
My first stop was at ‘Gateway’ with Jim and I stayed behind
the desk while he handed out maps outside.
The phone was ringing off the hook and I was able to answer most of the
questions, which either dealt with the price of admission – free – or the zoo
closing time. One senior gentleman came inside and he wanted to call a
pick-up service using our phone. We
started chatting as he waited for his pick-up to arrive. He told me that he wanted to get a special
needs person to come visit the zoo. He
said that it was either this or the ‘Cubs’
game and I said that there was definitely more excitement over here. As he waited, he told me about his father,
who had said to him that he had "not need for him as a son". I asked what his age was when he was told
this and he said that he heard it all the way from 6 to 16 years of age. Wow, that was an unpleasant person for
sure. I had other customers to handle,
those wanting a map or directions and soon we were full since it had started
raining and everyone had stepped inside for shelter.
It's a light and tumble journey
From the East side to the park.
Fortunately for me it was just a
passing shower since my next stop was at the ‘West Gate’. I found a place
to stand so as to greet the visitors and noticed that there was one more person
there with a camera. She was stopping
people as they came in and asking if they wanted to take a picture. If they chose to do so, they could then pick
up those pictures after an hour at the booth next to ‘Gateway’. She had a lot to
say in a short time when people came in and it was made difficult by the fact
that she was suffering from a bout of hiccups.
I tried my best to recommend some home remedies ranging from bending
down to drinking water.
As the people came in she would say, “Hello,
welcome to Lincoln Park zoo. Would you
want to squeeze together and take a photo”.
Some said yes while many did not.
She said that grandparents with little kids are the best customers since
they rarely turn this down. She was
doing a good job since she was making sure she got the family pictures as well
as kids in close-up. After she had left
at 3 pm to upload pictures – why isn’t there a Wifi on cameras – I continued
greeting people and handing out maps. One
lady came with kids and said that they were visiting the city. They wanted to know if there were any special
demonstrations and I said there was “Cow
milking” in ‘Farm-at-the Zoo’ in
10 minutes, meaning they had better get down there fast. It was about to start raining around 3:30 pm,
which coincided with the end of my stay here and I rushed to my final stop at
the ‘Gateway’.
Jim was still there along with
Andrew, who was in his 2nd week as a ‘GRV’. As soon as it stopped
raining, Jim went outside again to hand out maps, which was excellent since he
was intercepting a lot of traffic that would have typically come in. A mom came in with couple of kids and said
that her son needed an eye patch. I wanted to make some ‘Pirates’ related
joke, but she then went on to say that he had lost his contact lens and since the
prescription was strong, he was getting dizzy by just seeing clearly through
one eye. That made sense. The paramedic put gauze on his eye and taped
it up. I did wonder why he didn't just remove
the other lens, but that would perhaps have led to him being unable to
see. Some of the other happenings for
this afternoon entailed a lost credit card being turned in and a woman who came
in to report a lost ‘iphone’. She said that it was pink and with
sparkles. I asked where was the last
place that she had seen it and she said that she had put it on the toilet roll
in the ladies bathroom and had forgotten it there. Well then.
I guess there are ways of losing stuff and this was as good as any!
Just a fine and fancy ramble to the zoo.
But you can take the cross-town bus
At least two families came
because the “moldarama” had given
them faulty “pigs”. We did not have any similar models and so one
of them took a “gorilla” and the
other a “monkey”. One person came and complained about the vending
machine that had taken their money and this is a common complaint. Finally, it wasn’t all just issues, as one
woman came and inquired about renting out a place in the zoo for a kids party
and we gave her the email address and asked her to contact us with
details.
It was 5 pm
and I left ‘Gateway’ for the final
time and went back to the volunteer office to hand in my ID and name tag. I told Jeremy that I was sorry that this had
not worked out. I had met some really
nice people during my stay here over the past 5 weeks and I will miss them. But it was time to move on. Though I will
always remember with fondness the summer that I spent at the zoo.
If it's raining or it's cold.
And the animals will love it if you do.
-
Written by
Paul Simon
“The views expressed on this weblog are mine alone and do not
necessarily reflect the views of my employer.”
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