Kremer’s Stuff

Summer Jobs - Shark! Shark!

School is letting out for the summer vacation all around the US. Back in the late 90’s I wrote a series of articles on JokeWallpaper about my old summer jobs.  Here’s one of the more popular stories….this is a true story:
 

The next summer I finally landed an inside job, working as a busboy at a fancy restaurant: the Fogcutter. The restaurant was in Port Huron, Michigan on the shores of the second largest of the great lakes, Lake Huron. In the summer the tourists would flock to Port Huron to enjoy the lake. They often would swim at the public beach called Lakeside.

This was the summer that a new movie had everybody talking sharks. Steven Spielberg’s JAWS was the hit of the summer. The restaurant owner had decided to capitalize on the frenzy by offering a new menu item. The owner had made arrangements to get shark meat from Florida.

Everyday you could hear the reactions of the customers when they came across the listing on the menu “Fillet of Young Great White Shark $7.95.” They’d asked their waitress about it and occasionally ask me if I was nearby.

I would explain “Yes, it really is shark meat. A very mild tasting fillet broiled in butter and lemon, served with red potatoes and green beans.” I would continue “It really is very tasty and very fresh. It is caught here locally in Lake Huron, right off Lakeside Park.” The gasps often could be heard a couple of tables over.

If the customer balked at the idea of sharks in a fresh water lake I would tell them the story known only to the locals. The story of a couple of marine biologists whose experiments went terribly wrong. Their experiments mutated a Great White Shark that then thrived in fresh water and they accidentally released it into the great lakes.

After one customer commented to the owner about the “story telling busboy”, I found myself spending a lot of time at Lakeside soaking up the sun and looking for another job.

You can read the whole series on Summer jobs by clicking here.