Sail Away from Falmouth...
01/31/10 07:43 PM Filed in: Friends
If you’re a true New Englander you can’t help but finish that sentence by singing, “sail away on the Island Queen.” Some people love the jingle. Some people hate it. But all remember the song that draws thousands upon thousands of tourists every summer to Falmouth Harbor to take the ferry to the Vineyard. And isn’t that what a great commercial is supposed to do?
Living around the corner from the I.Q. (which is located on Falmouth Heights Road), I would ride my bike by hoping that someday I would work there.
My dream came true when I was 15. I was interviewed by the owner, Mr. Bardelis, a genuinely good man, and also by the affable Arthur Ratsy. They drilled me with questions and before I knew it, I was hired as a parking lot attendant.
My dream had come true.
But the first day I was given a duty that wasn’t in the job description. Arthur wheeled out a rusty, red lawn mower and instructed me to mow the overflow parking lot (behind John’s Liquors and 7-11) dubbed “Siberia”. Back then the lot wasn’t paved like it is now.
No, it was chest-high grass that hid broken bottles, baby diapers, and who knows what else. It took me eight hours to mow the lot, and at the end of the day, I was seriously considering quitting my “dream job”. That changed when Arthur pulled in and inspected my work.
He handed me a Coke, smiled and said, “Great work, kid. You passed the test. You’re an official employee. Go to Puritans tomorrow and pick up your uniform.”
Inside, I was beaming with pride but instead admitting that fact, I just grabbed the soda and drank it down in two gulps.
My plan was to work at the IQ for a couple of summers and then move onto a more lucrative summer job like bartending where the tips would help pay my college tuition big time. But as one summer lead into the next, I realized what I was receiving from the Island Queen was something much more than big money – it was laughs, life lessons, and friends who would become family to me (the Kozens brothers, Jay, Bails, Miller, Callahan, Wheeler, the Etlers, the Driscolls, Katie, Stoney, the Samples, Cam, Moore, Mansfield, Roc, Conners, Ray Paltz, Chauncy, Scotty, Rick R., T.K., Colin P., the Vallees, Lopesy, Mary, Gags, Olson, Alvesie, Jason B., Rebecca P, The Fitchs, Jessica M, Judy, M.D., Anthony, Gretchen, Hunter, and the list goes on and on.) - a dysfunctional family but it was a family hahahaha.
I ended up working at the Island Queen for 14 years because of those workers mentioned above and so many more (I didn’t even mention the regular customers who became friends).
But a working experience like the one I had happens because it starts from the top. I will always admire and be grateful to Mr. Bardelis and (now) his son, Charlie Jr. for the way they run the IQ. They gave me so many fond memories, and a few of them made it into The Running Waves, and then some are just fiction. At least, that’s what I will tell you if you ask. Haha
Want to take the family to the Vineyard…
Check out http://Islandqueen.com
Below is the McDonald’s commercial that talks about the Island Queen. What it fails to mention is when the IQ horn blows when it enters Falmouth Harbor it’s really a signal for the parking lot attendants to stop playing video games or eating that big sub (Craig) because they have about 12 minutes before the lot becomes an absolute zoo. When I heard the radio version of this commercial I almost drove off the road having flashbacks of the stampede of tourists rushing down Falmouth Heights Road for their cars.
Maybe the McDonalds’ people can have a question –
“Two brothers on the Cape who wrote a book?”
“T.M. Murphy and Seton Murphy.”
-Ted
Living around the corner from the I.Q. (which is located on Falmouth Heights Road), I would ride my bike by hoping that someday I would work there.
My dream came true when I was 15. I was interviewed by the owner, Mr. Bardelis, a genuinely good man, and also by the affable Arthur Ratsy. They drilled me with questions and before I knew it, I was hired as a parking lot attendant.
My dream had come true.
But the first day I was given a duty that wasn’t in the job description. Arthur wheeled out a rusty, red lawn mower and instructed me to mow the overflow parking lot (behind John’s Liquors and 7-11) dubbed “Siberia”. Back then the lot wasn’t paved like it is now.
No, it was chest-high grass that hid broken bottles, baby diapers, and who knows what else. It took me eight hours to mow the lot, and at the end of the day, I was seriously considering quitting my “dream job”. That changed when Arthur pulled in and inspected my work.
He handed me a Coke, smiled and said, “Great work, kid. You passed the test. You’re an official employee. Go to Puritans tomorrow and pick up your uniform.”
Inside, I was beaming with pride but instead admitting that fact, I just grabbed the soda and drank it down in two gulps.
My plan was to work at the IQ for a couple of summers and then move onto a more lucrative summer job like bartending where the tips would help pay my college tuition big time. But as one summer lead into the next, I realized what I was receiving from the Island Queen was something much more than big money – it was laughs, life lessons, and friends who would become family to me (the Kozens brothers, Jay, Bails, Miller, Callahan, Wheeler, the Etlers, the Driscolls, Katie, Stoney, the Samples, Cam, Moore, Mansfield, Roc, Conners, Ray Paltz, Chauncy, Scotty, Rick R., T.K., Colin P., the Vallees, Lopesy, Mary, Gags, Olson, Alvesie, Jason B., Rebecca P, The Fitchs, Jessica M, Judy, M.D., Anthony, Gretchen, Hunter, and the list goes on and on.) - a dysfunctional family but it was a family hahahaha.
I ended up working at the Island Queen for 14 years because of those workers mentioned above and so many more (I didn’t even mention the regular customers who became friends).
But a working experience like the one I had happens because it starts from the top. I will always admire and be grateful to Mr. Bardelis and (now) his son, Charlie Jr. for the way they run the IQ. They gave me so many fond memories, and a few of them made it into The Running Waves, and then some are just fiction. At least, that’s what I will tell you if you ask. Haha
Want to take the family to the Vineyard…
Check out http://Islandqueen.com
Below is the McDonald’s commercial that talks about the Island Queen. What it fails to mention is when the IQ horn blows when it enters Falmouth Harbor it’s really a signal for the parking lot attendants to stop playing video games or eating that big sub (Craig) because they have about 12 minutes before the lot becomes an absolute zoo. When I heard the radio version of this commercial I almost drove off the road having flashbacks of the stampede of tourists rushing down Falmouth Heights Road for their cars.
Maybe the McDonalds’ people can have a question –
“Two brothers on the Cape who wrote a book?”
“T.M. Murphy and Seton Murphy.”
-Ted
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