Page 53 - Philly Girl

Philly Girl 37

Hyannis: Summer 1969

I’d saved money working at Friends Hospital and used it to
join my camp/college friend Ellen, who had rented a huge
house in Hyannis for the summer. After taking my first air-
plane on Eastern Airlines to Boston, then Hyannis, I started
my first day of work at Howard Johnson’s.
We had to buy nurses shoes to go along with the stupid
uniform. We didn’t get paid for a week, while we trained to
make “frappes” and hot fudge sundaes, carry all-you-can-eat
fried clams on a tray with one hand, and figure out tax and
totals. I was definitely out of my league, especially in the
tray-carrying and bill-figuring-out department. I was defi-
nitely the worst waitress ever.
It only took me two weeks to get fired. My colleagues
were really nice, friendly girls from Smith, Wellesley, and
Mount Holyoke, and they said Cape Cod was the summer
destination their entire lives. Working at this Howard John-
son while their parents lolled around Wellfleet or Truro in
their expensive summer legacy homes was a typical New
England, Seven Sisters type of summer. Their boyfriends all
worked there too. Unfortunately, I gave one a free hot fudge
sundae while off duty and I was immediately sacked. There
went my first months’ tuition at Temple for the fall.
Fear not: I was intrepid, and landed a job at The Cran-
berry House as a cashier. Still, my math skills haunted me
and I was short at the register every single day. That lasted
another week.