Omega European Open!

Earlier this summer, Danny asked all the staff members if we wanted to work at a golf open the week after camp ends. Of course, Amanda and I said yes because we wanted to make some extra money for all our traveling! Unfortunately they didn’t have enough space for everyone who applied. One of the restaurants in town was in charge of the food during the open and they needed more helpers (some people couldn’t come because of the swine flu…). All of us who didn’t get the golf gig applied to work for them and got the job. Woo! Thursday morning we all headed off to work at the golf open. We didn’t really know where to meet the man who gave us the job but eventually we found each other. He took us inside the tent and asked if we all had serving experience. Then he looked at me (Ally) and Saoirse and said that we were going to be hat girls instead of servers. This man, Charlie, took the 2 of us outside and set us up with a table and hats. Another lady asked us what size jackets we needed then came back with really nice black omega rain jackets (that have orange vests you can zip off inside), omega polos, and lanyards. We stood at the table all day passing out free red omega hats to everyone who walked by. It was quite boring, but some of the people were very entertaining. They would ask us questions and talk to us in French but we had no idea what they were saying. I would just smile and say I have no idea what you are saying to me. They would usually just smile back and keep talking. Sometimes they would ask where I’m from and when I said California they would ask why I am in Switzerland. On the first day, one of the other staff members walked by and asked if we wanted cappuccinos…of course we did! All of the attendees of the open received a voucher for one free espresso, so on the third day when Saoirse and I were wishing that the guy would bring us another drink, she decided to just ask for some vouchers. They gave her 8! We each kept 2 (one for that day and one for the 4th and final day) and shared the rest with other staff members. The days were pretty long (9am to 4pm) but we got free sandwiches and dinner at the end of the day!
Amanda’s job was actually serving. I didn’t get any cool uniform things like Ally, but each day, I would get a while polo shirt to wear while serving. At the golf tournament, there was a big tent set up that had little sections for the sponsors of the event. Each sponsor had a separate section for their guests. Each day guests would come for a lunch buffet. It was my job to serve the drinks and clear the plates. Each day, I worked for the same sponsor, Zurich, which is a Swiss insurance company. They would have between 40 and 65 guests each day. Most everyone would start speaking to me in French, and I would respond with ‘I’m really sorry, I don’t speak French” and they would usually respond with some kind of question about where I am from, or what I am doing in Crans-Montana. It was a great conversation starter! I also worked with two other people, Laurence from France and a student from a local hospitality school (there was a different student each day). So the three of us would serve drinks together and clear the tables. It was a really easy job, but my feet got tired standing all day. The lunch buffet was open until 3pm, so I worked serving from 10:30 to about 4 with my sponsor. After most everyone left and we cleaned up, we got to go eat a meal of the left over buffet food (some days were better than others), but it was great that we got a free meal - especially because we also got a sandwich before we started! Gotta love free food! So after we were done eating, I would either go back to my area and help more (because guests could come back for drinks until 7pm) or I would help with the dishes. In the back, there were probably 15 people (from camp and just other workers) who would be drying dishes. It was not the most exciting job, but we were getting paid 22 Franks an hour, so why not! Drying did get boring, so I never stayed very late. I think the latest I stayed was 7:45 one night. So for 4 days, that’s what I did. I was lucky because every day I went back to the same sponsor, some people kept switching around, but I really got to know the Zurich reprsentative which paid off because on the last day he gave me a 70 Frank tip!!!! Everyone was jealous, but I thought it was amazing! I also got a 10 Frank tip that day from one of the guests - score! Because of the tips I got, I decided to call it a day. We got paid and then Jenny (a girl from camp) and I walked around the golf course a little bit, just enough to see Alexander Noren signing autographs - he was the golfer that just won the tournament. We also got to see the closing ceremony where Buzz Aldrin spoke! How cool, a fellow American : )
So we both walked away with over 600 Franks, pretty sweet for 4 days of work! And now onto the traveling…..
XOXO,
Ally and Amanda