Cameras

 Each summer, we would have youth camps at White Oak.  Those weeks were the busiest of the whole year.  There were always more to do.  As one of the jobs I had was washing dishes, it became increasingly challenging to separate the trays from the dishes, cups and silverware, especially if all 250 kids decided to return their trays all at once.  It took a real skill.  There was also a lot of bad words said under one's breath.  You had to put yourself in a zone and not think about the gross stuff you saw on their trays, but one guy left his retainer.  We had to clean it and return it to the owner.  That was pretty gross.
 Another job I had was running the canteen.  Usually, I had two or three helping me.  I shudder to think how many kids got sodas that sprayed in their faces, when they opened the cans.  Things moved pretty fast in there during youth weeks.
 During one week, John and I were asked to build a bonfire near the lake.  John was the Eagle Scout, so he knew more than I did about how to build a good fire.  We also had these large water containers that we carried on our backs to put the fire out, once the kids finished their fun.  So, we built the fire and were ready for the kids.  We waited quite a while.  The camp's director came down to where we were and told us that the kids had decided they didn't want to the bonfire after all.  More bad words under our breaths, and we proceeded to put out the fire.  Unfortunately for us, it was burning pretty good.  Had the kids gone with the bonfire, we wouldn't have had so much fire to put out.  Our backpacks full of water were not sufficient to put out the blaze.  We had to go to the lake and fill up the tanks to continue putting out the fire.  This went on for almost an hour.  Moral of the story is don't let an Eagle Scout make your bonfire.  It was too perfect.
 One job I had was great.  I had helpers as we would change the sheets and towels during youth camp.  The kids would be in meetings, as we would go to their rooms and make everything nice for them.  A lot of the kids would bring their cameras with them to take pictures of the woods and other stuff as memories of their time there.  Their cameras were left in their rooms, while they were away.  We would go into their rooms and take pictures of our feet, the ceilings, the floor, and anything else that folks wouldn't normally take pictures of.  The reason was that when they got home, they would show their friends the pictures they took, and their friends would ask, "Why did you take a picture of the ceiling?"  I know that was rude, but we had to find fun where we could.  I am sorry if the kids didn't share in our humor.