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| Hotel Breakers - June 2017 |
Today, the hotel has more than a thousand rooms. Back in the summer of 1961 when this adventure occurred it had over 800. Most of the summer workers there were young foreigners on a (lowly paid) American adventure.
1961 was also the year a couple of enterprising young Huron High School sophomores applied to work somewhere in the park. One was 17 years old and the other (yours truly) was 15. The park only hired people age 17 or over and the younger one had to get a Social Security card so he lied about his age when signing up. For some reason back then, the Social Security folks never questioned his age.
They both were hired and set to work in the hotel's Breakers Cafe, at that time seating around 400. It was a busy, noisy place but that didn't bother the two at all. The older one had a main job working on the cafe clipper (dishwasher), rinsing off dirty dishes before running them through. The younger one was assigned to bus tables. His bussing equipment...a large 30" or so diameter tray he soon learned to haul one-handed and loaded through the packed restaurant. He had fun learning that maneuver.
Occasionally, the young one would be moved into the cavernous hotel kitchen to assist with simple food preparation. Once, his job was to make coleslaw. Crazy thing was... he made it in an average size outdoor garbage can, around 30+ gallons. He'd load the can with chopped cabbage, then dump in an entire restaurant sized (gallon) jug of mayonnaise along with vinegar, sugar, lemon, salt and pepper. Hell, it may have been two gallon jugs he doesn't remember. Next, he would mix it up using a giant ladle and his hands, often well up past his elbows. There wasn't any mention of sanitary standards back in those days either. At least the garbage cans had never been used for real garbage, as far as he could tell. Anything that could be supersized back then was... all due to the high demands of the cafe patrons.
The two from Huron soon developed a side 'business of sorts. In the Breakers cafe, waitresses didn't share a portion of their tips with the other help. The younger one, the "Sinner" who was in his prime criminal days figured out a way to get a share of the tips. When the cafe tables were cleaned and reset, a paper place mat was put down before the utensils and dishes. Then, when patrons were finished with their food, all plates, utensils and place mats were removed by the bus boys. The boy from Huron was one of them.
Tips, always cash in those days, would often be left on the place mats in addition to, or rather than directly paid to waitresses. When that happened, he would often wad up the mat and place it on the tray with the tip hidden inside. Then, when he returned a loaded tray to his pal (accomplice) at the head of the clipper he would signal that there was a tip inside one or more wadded place mats. If it was just change, and he made sure it always was, his clipper partner would hold the wadded mat in one hand while hitting it with his rinsing hose. The mat would quickly rinse away leaving the change which would then find its way into his pocket. If there happened to be a rare dollar bill or more included in the table tip, he would leave the bill back on the table for the waitress. It didn't turn out to be a lot of money and most often he would leave the waitress tips alone, but it did add a little job excitement for the two.
They would use the extra change to fund their frequent breakfast and later stops for food. In the morning, at a small roadside restaurant known for its great hash browns and later at an A&W for their favorite; "Two chili dogs with an orange drink please."
That is the story of the "Sinner" and his elder accomplice working the underbelly of Cedar Point's Hotel Breakers. Just a small glimpse at life in a small town for a couple of juveniles carving out their own adventures. There would be plenty of time to 'go straight' later.
