Today is Sunday March 7th 2010. Here's a story within a story. They relate but are separate. I got off work around 5:45pm and one of the other photographers told me he wanted to buy me a beer (story #1). I asked why and he said because I helped him with one of his shoots (story #2). There was a group of women from Minnesota who wanted their photos taken and I happened to be there to help the other photographer keep order with different poses and keeping other skiers/riders out of the background. And since we like to make our photo shoots personable I asked the group of women what they did for work. One replied "We are all dentists." Without a blink I asked them, "Do you know Dr. Jerry Cavanaugh" They looked at me strangely and one woman said "I worked for Dr. Cavanaugh." I then went into how I know the Cavanaugh family. Jerry's son Pat is one of my closest friends and college classmates back in Boston. Pat is very proud of his Minnesota heritage. We went on to discuss all the Cavanaugh's - Mike, Meggan, Jack and more Pat. I've gotten to know them all well over the years. What a small world. Anything I mentioned to them, such as Meggan's husband Scott, they knew. I also brought up Pat's mother Polly. She sadly passed away when we were freshmen in college. I know she remains such a big part of Pat's life. The woman who worked for Dr. Cavanaugh spoke fondly and was warm hearted in her comments about Pat's mother. It was a genuine conversation that in a strange way made me feel close to home. They were all very nice and came into the photo shop later to say hello and buy some of the pictures we took of them. That was story #2.
Here's story #1. With the other photographers friendly offer to buy me a beer we decided to go to the location in today's pictures of the day. It is called Hop Garden and it is situated in the perfect spot for refreshments after skiing (otherwise known as apres ski). After about 10 minutes of sitting at the inside bar a manager out of the blue said to the other photographer and I "I smell a pot like odor. If either of you two have it, I suggest you leave right now." I responded immediately and politely told him it was not me. Other photographer did the same. We continued with our drinks and conversation not thinking anything of what I thought was just the manager doing his job. He did approach others as well. Five minutes go by and he comes back, "Smell is in this area and I have to say to you guys again, if you have it, leave now" Alright. I'm going to break down, in bullet point fashion, where my head moved to after he said this for a second time:
- He obviously thought it was one of us. I tried to tell him the first time it was not me.
- He was doing his job the first time, but on the second time I was offended. As a manager of a restaurant unless you want to conduct a strip search, say your piece and move on unless you come along some more concrete evidence. It's customer service 101.
- There were two reasons why I did not revert back to some form of verbal Boston-like aggression. First, was that I am the new guy in town. Second, is that I don't know the other photographer from a hole in the wall. He is obviously nice with his offer to buy me a drink, but as far as his extracurricular activities, I simply do not know him.
- I've seen this manager doing his job before. He is the loud manager/bartender that yells to the entire bar "Everyone, can I have your attention. Today is Friday....and I think we all need to raise our glasses and toast to Happy Friday" I know he is engaging the customers and making them feel his excitement, but I've been to A LOT of mountain bars and the #1 thing they all have in common is that people (customers and employees) are all relaxed and happy already. It's not like we were in Coyote Ugly. Side note - He needs to come up with more creative things to yell about. What he says reminds me of the annoying woman in the movie Office Space who walked around saying "Sounds like someone has a case of the Monday's" I hope you've all seen that movie. It's hilarious.
- Basically this guy enjoys exercising his power of management (in accusatory ways) and yelling really loud. Not my type of guy.
- To be blunt, instincts tell me that this guy is a jerk. And that leads me to the quote of the day.
"Love what you do" is something I have sort of written about before (Day 41). Negative things, like what I experienced today at Hop Garden, happen. Someone can rub you the wrong way. Everyone's reaction is different, but in this situation my instincts tell me that this guy and I do not have a lot in common. Yes, this is judgmental, but I've met plenty of great people on this trip and 10 out of 10 times I know it in the first 5 minutes. So do I let this type of person bother me and interfere with all the unbelievable experiences I have had thus far? The short answer is "no" and that is where the end of the quote comes in...."you'd better be able to pick yourself up and brush yourself off every day" A person you may not agree with can make you feel "off your game". People make people feel down. It's a fact of life. If you let it get to you for too long, then it becomes stressful and you can lose sleep over it. In family or work, trying to cope with it can be tricky. I always try to be the better person and even in this situation I kept my mouth shut. There are plenty of other places I can get a drink in this town and maybe they will yell "How are you and what do you want for a drink?" That is personable and effective. Just the way I like things.
I'll still try and find the good in this manager and say everyone in Telluride is nice. He better watch his step with me though! I am kidding. I can brush off people like this and carry on my life just fine. It's too short not to.
Good night from Telluride.
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