Assistant to the Assistant Manager

So when I walked into work today, I was really nervous because I had screwed up a transaction on the register on Sunday and was sure I'd get yelled at or written up. Instead, I got promoted! And now I am...

Dwight Schrute, Assistant to the Assistant Manager

       Basically, even though it's the start of my second week and I'm still learning the ropes (hence my register screw-up) the managers have caught on that I seem competent and not sketchy so I guess that the mini-promotion is their way of congratulating me for not being a pain in their ass with the assumption that I will not become a pain in the ass in the future. I'm basically the "back-up" Assistant Manager- on the real Assistant Manager's days off I'm in charge of the floor, and I'm responsible for helping her open and close the shop each day. This also entails a slight raise which means- YAY- we might not starve here!! The only draw back is that I feel I might be stepping on some toes here- I'm the newest hire at the store and am now supposed to boss around my co-workers, some of whom have been at the store for a year or two. Guess I'll just have to be firm but nice and also avoid back alleys on my walk home from work.

       In other news Matt and I actually went to a bar last night and had some drinks with Kevin, Captain Steve and his boat crew. The crew was really nice and had some awesome stories, one of which involved dealing with a grizzly bear who woke up while they were installing a tracking device up its butt. Alaska sure is fun. Tonight I'm off to another work event, a toga party at the lumberjack frat house (also known as the Jack Shack). Technically, not a work-sanctioned event but I'll be mingling with my co-workers. Heather is also coming along as she's befriended some of the 'jacks she met while instructing them at her zip-lining job. So hopefully that will be fun, but not too much fun because we have to work at 6:30am tomorrow. Woohoo!



-Bridget

Lazy Monday

The past few days have been a hectic whirlwind of labor for Matt, Kevin and I that we didn't have much of a chance to do anything else. The highlight of our Friday night was spent on Captain Steve's houseboat. Kevin came up to Alaska without a pillow, only to find that his living quarters were less of a "furnished apartment" and more "a room with a mattress and a chair." Kev's boss at work, Captain Steve (Note: from this point on, assume that every man we meet in Ketchikan over the age of forty is the captain of a boat, ship, or fleet of commercial fishing vessels) heard through the grapevine that Kevin didn't have the pillow. He called Kev and told him to come pick it up on the dock. Although their phone exchange sounded like the initiation of a drug deal that would go horribly awry, Kev was pumped to go retrieve his pillow from Captain Steve's home and convinced Matt and I to take the stroll down to the harbor with him. It was a beautiful night so we happily obliged. The only thing that prevented Captain Steve from perfectly fulfilling the stereotype of the salty dog sea captain was his lack of a pipe. He invited us aboard and we ended up sitting down with him for an hour on his boat and chatted about Ketchikan and life.

Actual picture of Captain Steve

Our crazy night at sea was basically the only thing of note that we did this weekend other than work. However, Matt and I found out that we both had off on Monday-woohoo! - and Kev found out that he didn't have to work until noon on Monday so naturally we had a wild Sunday night. By "wild Sunday night" I mean we each had three beers and stayed up until 11:30 watching Me Myself and Irene. This morning, Matt and I decided to play the tourist and went to the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center to learn a bit about Ketchikan's history. Today's weather featured the typical heavy clouds/rain shower mix that seems to be the norm for Ketchikan, so it was a perfect museum day.

Matt in front of the Alaskan forest wildlife exhibit, right before getting a migraine from all of the flash photography I insisted on taking at the museum

We learned a lot of good stuff at the museum about the ecology, fishing industry and transformation of Ketchikan from a timber town to a tourist town, most of which I will fill you all in on with special addition "History of Ketchikan" posts- these will come at a later date when we have become wizened locals. One interesting thing at the museum:

Holy crap! Look how big Alaska is!

I'm actually embarrassed to admit what size I actually thought Alaska was before Matt and I began to plan our trip here. One way you know Alaska is enormous is that all the tour guide brochures say things like "Ketchikan is so accessible, being just 300 miles away from Alaska's capital city, Juneau!" Never before have I been to a place where being 300 miles away from something was considered convenient. Seeing this map today reminded me of all the misconceptions we'd had about Alaska and particularly Ketchikan: it's 3 miles long! daylight lasts for 23 hours! groceries are $500,000 (note: groceries are more expensive here but not exorbitantly so)! Being so far south as we are (Ketchikan is the most southeast part of Alaska) we don't experience all of the oddities that inland Alaskans do, although the sun doesn't set until 11, and we like it that way.

We are enjoying our luxurious day off but will be back at work for another six days or so until our next vacation day. Since our jobs are fun, neither of us really mind. Until next time, enjoy the weather down south for us!


-Bridget

I've got friends in weird places

The past few days here in Ketchikan have been crazy busy and fun. On Wednesday, Matt started his job as a Duck Tour Dispatcher and is in the process of being trained right now. We get up around 6AM every day for our jobs- what's nice is that because all of the companies revolve around the cruise ships, Matt, Kevin and I have similar schedules. We've been so busy with work that we haven't had a whole lot of time to explore our new home, but our current strategy is coming home, chugging coffee and going out again. On Wednesday, Matt and I went with our roommate Heather to Rotary Beach Park (they use the term "beach" lightly here)- we saw some gorgeous views. Legend has it that when the weather cracks 60 degrees, people actually go in the water.

                                                                                                      Heather and I at Rotary Beach Park

I am really loving my job because everyone at work is so friendly- and they know how to have a good time. Last night, the lumberjacks hosted a bonfire at the beach so I got to get to know some of the folks from the other departments (there are lumberjacks, retail and dock representatives as well as the managers). They have a lot of bonfires because they chop up so much wood during the shows and they need to find a use for it. It's really interesting to hear the lumberjacks' stories- they get recruited to the show out of high school and college like other athletes. Most of them chose their college based off of the availability of a timber sports program. Unfortunately for me, they were superior in every beach game we played because they throw axes at bullseyes for a living.

My new lumberjack friends

I also got to meet a few other people from different companies and it was fascinating to hear the ins and outs of the different businesses in Ketchikan. The tourist industry is fascinating and it's so cool to see all the behind-the-scenes action. All in all, I'm having a great time so far. Hopefully I'll have some adventure stories to share because I think I'm getting a day off next week- woohoo!

More soon!

Bridget

Don't Alaska Me What I'm Doing After College Anymore

One of the many reasons that Matt and I decided to come to Alaska after graduation was so that we'd have something awesome to say during the agonizing period of time when everyone and their mother asked us what we were doing after college. Lucky for us, our experience so far has proved to be a lot more than a good answer and an excuse to avoid the real career hunt. We didn't really know quite what we were getting ourselves into, but we knew we were ready for an adventure. We left Matt's home in Kingston, Massachussetts and headed out on Monday 21st and made our way to Ketchikan (Special thanks to Matt's parents Nancy and Mike for waking up at 4:30am on Monday morning to get us to the airport for our flight).

Matt and Bridget at Logan International

After a gruelling day of travel (a five and a half hour flight from Boston to Seattle, a four-hour layover and a two-hour flight to Ketchikan, followed by a ferry ride to the main island and a taxi cab to our new apartment) we finally made it. We met up with our friend Kevin, who came up to live here for the summer too, and checked out each other's digs. Kevin lives just up the street from us- we live in a beautiful, two story apartment overlooking the water with a third roommate named Heather who is super sweet and works at the local ziplining tour.

The view from our kitchen window on Water Street

Today, I woke up bright and early for the first day of my new job at the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show. I was really nervous- they'd hired me on the phone. What if they didn't like me? What if they were really strange, and not in a good way? It turns out that they were awesome, my job is awesome and the people I work with seem pretty awesome too. I was thrown right in, learning to work the register, the concession stand during the three shows they have throughout the day for the tourists coming off the cruise ships, and organizing the stock room merchandise. All in all, it was a thoroughly exhausting but fantastic first day, and I can tell I'm going to love it!

First day of school! First day of school!

This afternoon, to our great delight, Matt found out he got a job with the Duck Tour company (hence the name of our blog) working as a Dispatcher and starts first thing tomorrow morning. He's not quite sure what that means yet, but he'll be performing a lot of different jobs on the dock while also getting trained for the guide position on the boat. The best part about the jobs here is the variety of activities involved in the day-to-day routine. In the late afternoon we met up with Kevin and walked around the downtown area- it was awesome to be there after the cruise ships have left because we got to explore without the hassle of crowds.

Matt and Kevin looking like they were photoshopped into a postcard

We've only been here for two days but I can already tell that I love this place and that it's going to be quite the adventure getting to live, work, and play here this summer. We are so excited to share our stories with you- more to come soon!

-Bridget