[honeychile]

ACK - NO!!!

I was a tour hostess in school. We were taught how to ever so gracefully gesture towards artifacts without pointing, how to handle all sorts of crowds, etc. Each tour was roughly an hour long, and I was a "preferred hostess" - which meant that I got first dibs on the better tours, and the celebrities & such.

I was working three jobs one summer, waitressing the breakfast shift, then hostessing, then helping the bf park cars, and within a month, I started to squeak. I went to the doctor, and he gave me a spray, telling me to use it if I felt a tickle in my throat. I had 8 tours the next day. The doctor did NOT tell me the high alcohol content!

First tour, just a spray afterwards. Second tour, I needed a spray midway, too. Third tour, I needed one every other room (20 rooms). Fourth tour, every room. Fifth room, sprayed prior to talking each time. I vaguely remember the sixth tour, including flopping my hand towards the ceiling (instead of the Emily Post-esque gesture) and having to sit down for a moment in a few rooms. I have no memory of the last two tours!

Somehow, I got home (my roomie & I were staying in one of the fraternity houses which rented out during the summer), and passing out. My roomie came in, and said, "Shouldn't you be parking cars?" I mumbled something like, "oh, I don't think I should drive..." as she looked at the empty spray bottle.

The best part is that I got more tips that day than any other day I had worked (I kept pulling dollar bills out of my skirt & cardigan pockets!), and FOUR people wrote to my boss, telling me how much fun they had during my tour, and set up another tour with me!