TIME: 9:19 PM
PLACE: Pantry
SUBJECT: Locker Basket
Fun Fact #077 about me.
The summer I was 15, I had a part-time job working for our local Parks and Recreation Department at our city’s public swimming pool.
I was assigned to the bathhouse where I had the glorious position of sitting behind a tall counter and handing out baskets to folks so they could store their stuff while swimming.
Each basket was numbered and had a pin with the corresponding number stamped on it. This pin was given to the member, who clipped it on their swimsuit or towel. They would hand me their full basket, which I would then shelve in numerical order.
The shelves that held the baskets were metal, stood about 5 baskets high and stretched about half the length of the bathhouse. Maybe 20 or 30 feet? There were 4 or 5 rows of shelves.
The further back you went, the rustier the baskets became. It was kind of creepy back there as well. That didn’t prevent us from chasing our co-workers up and down the rows and trying to scare each other when times were slow.
When people wanted their stuff, they would hand back the pin and I would locate the basket.
It definitely wasn’t rocket science.
However, I did learn to dislike the public at an early age.
Our city had to close the pool due to its age and budgeting concerns a few years ago. Apparently, they had an auction and sold much of the inventory of items at the pool including all of the wire baskets – I was not aware of this and wished I had known because I would have bid on them.
In 2013, I was at our monthly flea market and came upon a vendor who was selling some of the very same swimming pool baskets.
She had one left.
I didn’t even haggle.
I bought it.
I bet that I handed this basket out to someone at one time.
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