'Can I help you find something maa'm?'

I heard myelf repeating these words for the millionth time.

'No....I am just browsing'.

Came a terse reply from a middle age woman. Who would have thought a genteel female in her forties with a Louis Vutton purse and prada shoes would actually sound so acrid. But then it is how it always is in Ocean city Maryland. Salesperson never give up and customers never give in.

I did not know what took me there during one of the past summers. My tuition was waived, I was living modestly and was quite successful in making both ends meet....but perhaps I wanted a fine toyota and get rid of my rickety chevy or wanted to wear armani colognes and sport a nautica polo....reasons were plenty...I can see it now. I sometimes hate myself of being so materialistic.

I worked on a store which sold almost everything....from diapers to dentures.It overlooked the azure atlantic...each morning me and my boss used to gape at the blue water....eyes half closed....trying to find a dolphion or two...as if they would make or day. My boss was a funny little jewish man who never got tired of his libidinous jokes...and thought it exhibited his good sense of humor.

Ocean city becomes more secular than the city of Baltimore during summer.Nepalese people dominate the working crowd along with Russians, pro-russians, Irish, Israelis, Bulgarian, Romanian and few other east european countries which you thought never existed.Shrewed jewish businessmen hire and sack them more often than a six month old peeing in his pants. I still wonder how they try to make a better salesperson out of people who never spoke english before.

I lived in an apartment with seven others. Soon there would be four more.I worked like a zombie and devoured my food as if I were dungeoned hungry for years. I had tried to keep the apartment clean .... I succeeded for few days. There were some bravehearts who tried to cook too...but failed miserably. There were differnces in opinion all the time...but then there was one thing in common.....drinking together....thanks to heineken....it bonded all of us together.

We had a few females working in our stores...one of them was Jana, a Bulgarian belle who never understood what customers spoke and vice-versa. Needless to say, she was in awe of my immaculate English ( at least she thinks so).

'Jaownhy, let's go see spiderman',

She used to ask me out....our relationship was simply platonic...don't get any ideas....she was a vulnerably innocent girl who wanted to learn american slangs and some swear words too. Good for both of us that our day day offs did not match....I prevented her from profanity and myself from felony. We never saw a movie together....later I discovered that she thought leonardo di caprio was playing spiderman and couldn't help smiling. She was a good friend...and I had hard time protecting her from my fellow nepalese people.

By the time summer was over I realized nepalese people came to ocean city to two major motifs....earn money and get laid. Some people get both....people like me only earn...and some unlucky fews end up getting none. I can still remember some angry faces.

I loved visiting Maryland, it is a beautiful state. But for some reason, while crossing cheasapeake bay...I vowed never to return back again. I would visit Baltimore, Annapolis, Bel-air, Hagerstown, even blairwich (????) but not Ocean city. All I earned was a few thousand dollars at a cost of bristling feet, sore back and tanned skin. I care least about my back or skin, but I love my feet (hehe), always kicked butts. Can't afford to ruin it.

dai,

thanks for the info....but I do not see myself cheating others or robbing whatever...I seriously thought some guys worked as construction workers and got paid 15 dollars an hour.

JG,
Iam not suggesting you to rob a bank or store...but Iam saying it in reality how people make money in OC. There is no construction jobs in OC but if you have been to OC every year you will get a raise but there is no way you can make 15 bucks an hour.

Peace

Lambu Dai,

what happen to the New year's gathering at Mt Everest..?? All of sudden you vanished.. anyway Happy New Year 2062.

Wiz kids,
I went to that festival and end up in baltimore...Iam sorry ....Anyway are you folks going to baltimore for that cultural program...?
Let me know if you guys are coming that way.

Peace

Happy New Year for you too...

I am probably going to the Baltimore along with my room mates ... so hopefully see you there at the programme Lambu dai

Baltimore????incredible.....I shall be there too...can at least see some good orioles game....and I shall think about going back to OC if they really are paying 15 dollars an hour.

Lol@Chatmandude,
Who led you to a wrong conclusion?
May be $5000 saving working @ 80 hrs per week. Remove 1 from your figurem Mr. Chat....
Obviously, i had heard there were 2 or 3 lucky nepalese who were able to rob Jolly Rogers........but one became a murga later on

Guys, better to look for internship (though might be hard to find) than going there and being exploited.
That's what i did last summer ..........he he he

Or better to go there as a visitor, chill out on atlantic............have some thrasher's fries or boardwalk fries......look at sexy sweety girls at the beach............have fun on boardwalk......visit Jolly Rogers (get ride for free, if u know nepali guys working there) and have fun................

I wonder who discover Ocean city for the first time anyway? Does anyone have any answer to this?

I mean job wise....

Interesting question dai....even I want to find it out.

Good story man, but mine was kinda different..
i Worked there for 4 years and i know most of the shop owners there. I still feels like home when i go there. Thats how i paid my tuition fees. That's where i learned what it feels like to Work HARD. That 's where i had the best time of my life. So, i still have been goin there every year for vacations. I remember when there were only about 20 Nepalese including only 2 girl in OC. Unlike 1000's nowadays. Anyways, for some it was a horrible experience but some it can be a life changing experience.

jolly rogers free ride...wow.....wonder why I didn't think about it before.....could have spent a day in the park for free.

i went to a ride in the boardwalk....one of then scared the hell outta me....I am still green. cannot do roller coaster....can fight sharks in the ocean but never the roller coaster...that ride was kinda shaky...even though it was pretty small as compared to six flags....the tremor shook me to death.

Ubiquitous,
Are you sure you know most of the Shop owners from 0 street all the way to 142 (Delaware State line) in OC. If so you must be preety desperate looking for owners instead of jobs. I went there for 5 summers back in my days. I loved it .Even back then we had guys from all over the state which counted more than 150. I wonder which year was it when you had 20 guys including 2 girls...Oh my mistake you might be talking about your roommate ( 20 guys including 2 girls).


Peace..

dai,

don't be so sarcastic.....he must have been the one who discovered OC as you mentioned earlier in this thread.

JG,
I doubt about that coz when I started going to OC, there were no Nepalese girls. So I bet you I was there b4 him....No need to be proud of it but I am with him about making money and paying tution fees and making my summer days wonderful on my days off from work...
So Ubiquitos Iam with you on that brother

Peace folks

i've never been to oc, but i really appreciated your story. thanks, jg....

and ubiquitous, man, your post just hit me hard! i'm not sure what it is, but it just has this strong feeling of nostalgia to it or something....i mean, reading that little blurb, that one sentence actually- "That's where i learned what it feels like to Work HARD. That 's where i had the best time of my life." that makes me feel like even i have memories of a life which i never lived in a place i've never been....it kind of reminds me of that line in "american beauty" when kevin spacey says something about "flipping burgers all summer just to be able to afford an 8-track" and then, when his neighbor says, "that sucks", he just says, "no....it was great. i had my whole life ahead of me...." maybe i'm just getting old....

what year was it ubiquitous bro? When i was there during summer of 93, there were already 100s of nepali students from Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska.