My Up and Down Weekend

This weekend I was scheduled to work. Saturday I had two parties to work and Sunday I had one. The Saturday parties were a good time. My first party was a scavenger hunt. The kids had a lot of fun finding everything. I had to help 2 boys with it who seemed to have a lot of trouble understanding the questions. But even though I basically walked them through it and showed them each answer they still had a lot of fun. My second party was a party which is essentially like a room rental. Different families do different things with these parties, some stay in the room the whole time, others ask us to take them through the building as part of their party time, but this one was my favorite types of party. The family asked me to sit in the room and as guests showed up I told them to head up into the building and come back down at 3:00 to eat. The party began at 2:00 so for the first hour I sat alone in a nice quiet room instructing guests to go upstairs and play for an hour and then come back. The second hour of the party went pretty quick, I had all the food ready for them when they came down so they could eat right away. They ate, we did cake, opened presents, and everyone happily went on their way. The father of the birthday boy was very pleased with my work and gave me my biggest tip ever!

Sunday was a completely different story. In the morning I was the "Floater" which means I did not host a party. As Floater, I took guests to the room their party was in, and also act as a gofer for the Party Pals hosting parties. This part of the day went really easy. No problems at all, I had a ton of extra time to prep for my party in the afternoon, get my thank you card for the day done, and sit and eat lunch. My afternoon party is what turned my weekend from an UP to a DOWN. Actually it turned it to a WAY DOWN. The boss had told me that she already had a few problems with the party mom while booking the party. I was also informed this party mom has a very interesting look, and to expect something out of the ordinary (pictured left is my rough drawing of what was described to me) She said to expect to have a few problems. There are some parties when you look at the name you can tell that they will be late. This was one of those parties. The party was scheduled to begin at 2:30. The party family arrived at 3:00 (pictured right is my rough drawing of what actually showed up). They had a lot of decorations and things they wanted to put up in the room also. I helped them get the room together while explaining to the party mom that we would have to change our normal schedule because the party began half an hour late. I asked her if she would like to move the time up in the building to the end of the party so we could get everything done downstairs first and then they would be free to play in the building until it closes. She did not want to do that, she said she wanted the kids to go upstairs in the middle of the party and come back down later. So I asked her if we could eat and do the craft at the same time in order to save time, she said that would be great. I announced that the guests could help themselves to the food on the table and I began working on the crafts with the kids. This was a party that has two different crafts. I explained the first craft which was designing and decorating a visor; two kids decided they would do it. Nobody went to the table for food While they were working on that craft, the boss and I blew up the 9 balloons they brought in and asked if I could blow up for them (after she told me she only had 3 or 4).

We blew them up and I went back in the room and told them it was time to go play upstairs. The kids followed me upstairs along with 2 of the 10 adults who were at the party. The kids who went upstairs were very poorly behaved. I had to repeatedly remind them not to run and to stop splashing each other. They were throwing toys across the room which sometimes ended in other guests getting splashed. The adults who came upstairs with us did not care that I had to repeatedly correct the children, nor did they care to say anything to them themselves. We went back downstairs at about 3:50 and the party was scheduled to end at 4:30. I showed them how to do the second craft and they finally began to eat. At 4:00 I asked the party mom if she would like me to begin with the cake because they only had the room for another half hour. She explained to me that the person with the cake hadn't arrived yet. I repeated that they only had the room until 4:30 and she said she understood.. The party dad came up and told me the cake would be there very soon the person bringing it had just called and was on their way. At 4:15 there was still no cake, I asked the mom if she wanted to sing "Happy Birthday" without the cake because we were running out of time. She then said "My mom is bringing the cake, her car broke down can't you help out a little and just wait." I found it funny that all of the sudden the person who I heard was on their way suddenly was in a broken down car. I informed her that there is a late fee of $50 for every 15 minutes the part is late and still in that room. She said she o.k. and that the cake would be there soon and they would be out, maybe just a few minutes late. At 4:20 I was called out into the hall by the party parents and they asked me about the late fee again. I explained it again and the dad said "so if we stay an extra half hour it is $100(pictured below)." I said yes and explained that we had cleaning crews who had to come in and the party staying late basically throws off that schedule and the schedule of staff trying to close the building at 5:00. Well 4:30 rolls around and the cake shows up. I once again explain the late fees and I'm told they will be out quickly. Eventually they finish partying, the party mom decides she wants to keep her Walmart clearance decorations and they ask for garbage bags to collect all the paper decorations and balloons around the room. Another employee, the boss, and I help them collect their $4.78 worth of decorations from around the room. By them time everything is all ready for them to leave it is 5:00, which is half an hour after the party ended, which they asked me about and understood would cost $100. I went out in the hall with the party parents and explained to them the cost of the party and the $100 late fee. The father gave me enough money to cover the party but said "I'm not paying no late fee. I wanna talk to your supervisor." The boss came out and he said "I'm not paying a late fee, that's ridiculous." The boss explained that the contract for the party states they have the room for a party 2:30-4:30 and that they were permitted to arrive a half hour early to set up. As she was explaining this the other guests from the party all came out and stood around us and began complaining about our late fees. The grandfather or uncle or some older man at the party said he would like to see the contract so the boss left to get a copy of it. I was left surrounded by a crowd of angry guests and I explained to them that they showed up a half an hour late and didn't really work with me to change the schedule even when I tried to hurry things up. I was accused of not helping them clean up and preventing them from getting out any earlier. I then explained that I did help clean up and picked up all their balloons, untied decorations from the lights, and threw away all their plates of food. The grandmother looked at me and said "Sir, I'm a Christian!" She then handed me $100 and said "everyone let's go it's over!" I thanked her, handed her the bill as a receipt and waited for them to leave.
After some time of figuring out the bill we realized they over paid the bill by $12 which became my tip. This was definitely the most trouble I had ever had with a party, I hope nobody ever has a party like that. So after receiving my best tip ever for a very easy party on Saturday, I had my worst party ever on Sunday. Luckily the weekend ended with a STEELERS VICTORY which helped my Up and Down Weekend end on an Up!! (Pictured above is a rough drawing of the party mom celebrating the Steelers win!)