Day 55 - Worst Best Day Ever!

I wish I could tell you that I make half of this crap up...but it's all true...it's honestly way to crazy to make up....the reason I titled this blog "Worst Best Day Ever!" is because of the events that took place. I had an amazing day in sales, but felt awful for an incident that occurred...read on and you'll understand what I mean.

Yesterday's day game was by far one of the most eventful games I've had in a long time.

I was running late...Since it was a day game, parking was going to be more expensive in the garage I normally park in...have to pay the "day rate" of $10 instead of the $4 for the night price during games....So after trying to figure out where I was going to park and make it into the stadium in time...I parked in the "special" parking lot that employees of Sports Services can park in for a discounted price of something around $6. It is the lot to the southwest of the stadium. We have been told before that if we park there, we can enter the stadium on that street side entrance for employees near gate 3 and walk through the stadium to change/clock-in in the Sports Services lobby.

I walk up to the entrance way and the Busch Stadium employee tells me I can't enter through this door. I explain that I was told at the beginning of the year that we were able to and he just replied back with saying, "yeah, well there's been a problem with that, you need to walk up to that green awning area past gate 3."

So I walk to that entrance he pointed to and the older gentleman behind the door that was shut just looked at me. I showed him my badge and he just motioned for me to keep walking. I tried to tell him through the glass door that I was an employee, showing him my badge again and he just shook his head 'no' and told me to keep walking.

I finally make it around to the other side of the stadium where we I normally enter the stadium...I was a bit ticked at the fact that I was told one thing and was now being told another thing by a different person...it was my own fault for running late...but it wouldn't have been my fault if I wasn't able to clock in because I was late when I was at an entrance I was told I could enter through...frustrating way to start my day off..... I still made it there in time...just a bit frustrated...

With it being a day game, my commissary was closed due to our supervisor having to work at her other job as a school teacher. So the guys that did show up from commissary 240 were split up between commissary 168 & 134. I was assigned to 134 with 2 other guys from 240. We had discussed that since our commissary (240) was closed, there wouldn't be any beer men up on that level in the sections we normally sell in. So we decided that the 3 of us would go up there and rake in the sales!

Before I even got out of the commissary, some of the regular beer men down there were harassing us (240 beer men) as if they were superior beer men for working down there. They were telling us that if we were going to stick around in their sections they would cut down into our sections and take as many sales away from us as possible...most of those guys were just a bunch of barbaric fools if you ask me...I'll explain more later...

Thank God for escalators...this made the trip up to the second level of the stadium much easier...going down, well, we had to take the steps since the escalators closest to us don't go down till the 7th inning.

I had already sold about half of my first case before the game started...I told myself that this was going to be a great day of making some sales since there were only a few of us guys working 25 sections compared to nearly 20 guys working in the 25 sections...

***Before I share this next story...do this: yell the word "peanuts" really loud! If you can't do that right now, do it in your head. Do you hear what that sounded like?***

I was making my way down into a section as people were still coming into the stadium...trying to make a few more sales before the games started...I was yelling out my beer man hawk, "ICE COLD BEER! ICE COLD BUD, BUD LIGHT, BUD SELECT! ICE COLD BEER! PEANUTS!" I had a guy motion for me to come down to him and his buddies...all of them wearing business attire...I thought the guy was asked me for peanuts. He kept looking at me and back to the guy sitting next to him, then back at me with a childish grin...He said, "penis! this guys a penis. you said you have penis? this guy needs one.... I didn't want to buy anything, just wanted to share that with you." I shook my head and walked away. I realized that I need to be sure I enunciate a bit more...or else full grown business men will act like a jr. highers...

*I really struggled with deciding if I was going to share this next story...but here it goes...
Have you ever been so thirsty that you choke when you take a drink of something? Have you had your throat so dry, you want to chug any liquid as fast as you can and as soon as that liquid comes into contact with your throat, you instantly choke or cough?

I was busting my butt off during the heat of the day game when I sat my tub down behind section 251 to quench my thirst. My throat and mouth was so dry from being so hot as well as yelling out my beer call. I twisted off the cap of my Gatorade bottle filled with ice cold water. I noticed that Holliday was up to bat. I paused to watch him hit. I then lifted my Gatorade bottle to my lips and got a huge mouthful of water when at the exact same moment as Holliday hit his homerun, I choked on that ice cold water the moment it came into contact with my throat. I tried to turn my head towards my arm to cover the cough that was coming on. That big gulp of water just became a projectile.

The sold out crowd was on their feet cheering for the solo shot out into left field while I gave the couple sitting in the last row of section 251 a shower. I can only describe it as what it would be like to take a ride on the Maid of The Mist at Niagara Falls. I have never in my entire life felt so bad for what had just happened. I just spit water onto these 2 fans. I immediately apologized. The could see that I was embarrassed, but I don't think they knew how bad I truly felt. The fans were still on their feet and this couple who just had a quick cool-down were still half unsure of what to do. I apologized again and they just said it was okay and then the guy walked off...I didn't know what was gonna happen, I didn't know where he went to...I saw that he came back with some napkins to clean him and his wife off a bit. I apologized again and the lady said it was okay.

Again, I have never felt so bad in my entire life. I could have just caused this couple to never want to come back to a baseball game at Busch Stadium their entire life in fear of getting spit on! I had already made my way into a few sections over, still feeling awful when I decided that I would go back and give them a free beer (even though, I'd be paying for it, it was the least I could do in hopes of kindling our relationship). They were gone. I don't know if they left, if they moved into another section or what, but they weren't back there for the remainder of the game...

*While walking through the amazing air-conditioned Red Bird Club to get to the next section over, I hear someone yell my name. Not just my first name, cause it's not like I don't share a common name or anything...but first and last name. A girl I graduated high school, Jane, with was there with a few of her coworkers. She came over and gave me what was like a semi-side hug...which I personally was thinking to myself, 'I'm fricken drenched in sweat and smelly and she's huggin me?...who wants to hug a beer man?' Then it hit me...'WHO WOULDN'T WANT TO HUG THE BEER MAN!??!?!'

*I was in a section making a few sales when I had a guy in a business suite motion for one beer. He was sitting on the end of the row. He asked for a Bud and then leaned forward to get his wallet out of his pocket. Then there was a loud 'snap'! It sounded like a gun went off right under his seat.... Nope...not a gun, but the sound did come from his seat. He broke his seat. The bottom of the seat catches on the back so it wont' fold down any farther...well this guy (yeah he was an easy 300+ lbs.) snapped the chair past the part that keeps the seat level. He couldn't sit back, cause the bottom of the seat was sloped down and I did everything inside of me from not bursting into laughter from this site. He stood up and snapped the seat back down. He sat back down and looked at me and said, 'let's make that a Bud Light'. I wonder if him switching from Bud to Bud Light will create a flow of events that will inevitably lead him to become the "Jared" of Budweiser?

I've witnessed some amazing things in my days while working at Busch Stadium, but this day game really just topped it off. Sales were amazing! The crowd of business folk were amazing...and some were childish.

As I was going through check-out in 134, the other beer men were acting a bit more childish than that businessman did while asking for a penis for his friend. The beer men were cutting ahead of each other in line, yelling at each other, complaining about how hot it was, trying to cut in front of each other again in the line...they were acting barbaric in the ways they were treating each other. Myself and the other 2 beer men from 240 just kept to ourselves and ended up at the end of the line...I didn't care where I ended up, I had a crazy day.

After waiting in the long line to check-out and after clocking out, I was able to make my way back to my car and head home (hopefully before rush hour traffic hit). Then about half-way back towards the usual parking garage I park in, I realize I parked next to the stadium. Awesome! Well, it wasn't awesome till sitting in traffic for nearly 45 minutes just to get onto the interstate, which took another 45 minutes just to get home...who cares...I witnessed a man break a seat and accidentally gave a couple a shower (which even as I type this, I still feel bad).

Totals thus far:
73 Bags of Cracker Jacks
135 Bottles of Water
227 Bags of Peanuts
3365 Bottles of Beer