There are many different types of ‘Englishes’ a person uses. There is job lingo, friend lingo, parent/family lingo, and boyfriend/girlfriend lingo. However, I feel as if the hardest lingo is work lingo. There are many new terms that you have never heard before because you are not usually around the people that work there, and if you have never been to the place where you work then you may have no idea what they are talking about. That was me when I first started working last summer.
The summer before I began college I started working at Scales Lake Park. It is a local park where kids in the summer come to swim, and through-out the entire year people come and camp on the campgrounds. It took me a long time to finally understand what everyone was talking about when they said ‘vehicle pass’, 50/30 Amp, water and electric, and primitive. After a couple of weeks I finally got the hang of it. However, if anyone who has never camped before walked into the gate house where I work, they would be lost. Vehicle pass is a slip of usually brightly colored paper we hand to just about everyone that drives through the gate house and pays. If someone is only coming for the day we write that date on it, hand it to them and they set it on their dashboard of their car. The pass gets them in and out of the park for the rest of the day. It also lets the workers know if they have already paid their two dollars and they will not have to pay again. If someone comes through the gate and is camping the procedure is different. First, we write the date that they are scheduled to leave on the pass instead of just that day. This means that they have already paid the gate-fee once and will not have to pay it for the rest of their stay. Also, on the back of the pass we write the gate combination. There is a gate that is at the entrance to the park that is locked at night, though the people who stay overnight may need to get in and out of the gate for emergencies or work, so we give them the combination. They also set the pass on their dashboard and are free to enter in and out of the park as they please without having to pay again.
The next thing you would need to learn is all of the different camping sites are. 50 amp and 30 amp are what most people who have an RV use. This is so they can hook up to the water, the electricity, and the sewage system. It is a little more expensive because you get to hook up everything, but for most people who camp in RV’s it is exactly what they want and are use too. The people who stay on these types of sites are usually people who spend either weeks or months at our site, or are planning to spend multiple nights somewhere else and are just passing through the town.
Then there are just water and electric sites. These sites are for the people who have pop-up campers and are usually only staying at the campground for a day or two. They are only allowed to hook up to the water and electricity and do not have access to the sewage system at the park.
The last type of campsite is called primitive, or tent camping. This type of site is usually the least expensive and most of the time people only stay there for a night or so. People that usually stay there are having a birthday party, a get-together, or people who just like to sleep outside in tents. The people that stay are not allowed to hook up to any water, electricity, or sewage. They basically have only what they brought with them, that is why we call it primitive.
The next thing I had to learn was all of the different buildings and places people could go in the park. There are multiple places people can hold receptions, birthday parties, reunions, and have multiple family members stay with them. The three main ones are the Pavilion, the Old Shelter House, and the cabins.
The Pavilion is an enclosed building with restrooms, closets, tables, chairs, and air conditioning. This is where most people have wedding receptions, graduation parties, and other parties where they want an enclosed space for multiple people. It is the most expensive place to hold receptions and other parties, but it is the nicest place in the park to do so. The other place people can have receptions or parties is at the old shelter house. I am honestly not sure why we call it the ‘old’ shelter house, but that is what everyone calls it and that is what I call it now as well. The old shelter house is exactly what it sounds like, a shelter house. Concrete floor, tin roof, and picnic tables are all that are there. It is not enclosed and people are not always happy to use that during the scorching summer months. However, it is less expensive than the Pavilion and usually works just as well for parties. And last but not least are the cabins. There are four cabins in the park all next to each other. They are somewhat secluded from the rest of the campers and are right on the lake. Sometimes it is individual families in each cabin, but sometimes families rent out all four cabins for weddings, reunions, or just as weekend get-a-ways.
The Pavilion is an enclosed building with restrooms, closets, tables, chairs, and air conditioning. This is where most people have wedding receptions, graduation parties, and other parties where they want an enclosed space for multiple people. It is the most expensive place to hold receptions and other parties, but it is the nicest place in the park to do so. The other place people can have receptions or parties is at the old shelter house. I am honestly not sure why we call it the ‘old’ shelter house, but that is what everyone calls it and that is what I call it now as well. The old shelter house is exactly what it sounds like, a shelter house. Concrete floor, tin roof, and picnic tables are all that are there. It is not enclosed and people are not always happy to use that during the scorching summer months. However, it is less expensive than the Pavilion and usually works just as well for parties. And last but not least are the cabins. There are four cabins in the park all next to each other. They are somewhat secluded from the rest of the campers and are right on the lake. Sometimes it is individual families in each cabin, but sometimes families rent out all four cabins for weddings, reunions, or just as weekend get-a-ways.
The first couple of weeks working out at Scales was difficult because I was not familiar with the terminology. After a few weeks of repeating the words I got the hang of it and am now very good with the terms and use them quite a bit. However, whenever I talk to my roommates or anyone else they do not know what I am talking about. But, after a while it gets easier to know what everything is and it becomes almost natural to talk about work without explaining what I mean.
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