Seriously... Chill Out.

Oh Dear, Not the EGO.

I have had many jobs over the years.  Some of them I have definitely been the grunt worker and some of them I have been on the higher end. Why am I bringing this up?  Well, I was thinking today about how in every job there are always egos that come out.  The ego has a strong roll in the ski industry.  I know this well because he has been my companion more times than I would like to admit and I thought I left him back at Sundance a few years ago. Today I found him there by my side (once again... not easy to admit).  I am not going to get too much into it, but I will say that I had a run in with some old and ornery ladies who wanted to remind me that I am the new kid in town.  I may or may not have had these comments thrown at me:

(Oh, I guess I should preface this by letting you know that at a small resort your job as a ski instructor can also include things such as shoveling snow, answering phones or just about anything else that would help make the mountain run more efficiently) 


Ornery lady #1: "Hey you, go answer the phone! My days of doing that are over."  (By the way, the sweet little dear doesn't even work there!)
Me: Ignore the mean lady and let the person sitting next to the phone answer it.

Ornery lady #2: "I am getting to old to be shoveling the snow.  This should be done before I get here."
Me: "Do you want me to shovel?"
Ornery lady #2: "No! You need to find your own job to do."

Super nice boss lady: "Wendy is gong to be in charge of our Ladies Ski Day program."
Ornery lady #3: "Well I have women that are coming just to ski with me, not Wendy."
Me: Stand there and pretend that this in not awkward.

(A few hours later. I tried to smooth things over)
Me: "There needs to be two classes, will you take the second class?"
Ornery lady #3: "I want to take the better class. I don't care if your Miss Level Three or not."
Me: (hold on because this is where it gets ugly) "Certification is not everything but it does mean something. Would you like to be a part of the program?"
Ornery lady #3: "Yes but I think that these woman want to ski with me."
Me: "Do you think they are going to have a problem with me?"
Ornery lady #3: "No, but I don't want to always have to take the beginning skiers, so I think I should have the higher skiers"
Me: "I don't know if you remember that I took 13 never-evers that were mostly kindergardeners and gave you a class that had 4 students who could all ski."
Ornery lady #3: "That's because you wanted that class, and I want this class."
Me: (dream on lady) "It sounds like we have a problem."

There were a few more today, but you get the idea. I think I almost ripped off the head of #3. It was a good thing that super nice boss lady walked in and did some empathetic listening to Ornery lady #3.  Then she stroked her ski ego and it was all resolved. Ornery lady #3 is now going to come and shadow my class, rather than teach a class. Then she wanted to hug me.  I think we need more testosterone and youth in our little ski school. I think I am going to start praying for it.

It has been a few years since I have worked full time on the mountain and gave up my position as the princess of the mountain and it is not that I want it back (although those were some great years).  I just want to ski and teach with people who love it as much as I do and want to pull their weight with a positive attitude.  Is that to much to ask for?