Blogfinger

Aubrie the badge checker. Ocean Grove beachfront. She is an out-of-towner new to the thrills of working in OG.   Click to make her smile bigger.  June 16, 2018.

Paul Goldfinger, Editor and beach comber  @Blogfinger.net

Actually, that’s a joke, fake news,  based on the fact that we often interview one badge checker each season.  That’s because they have to sit outside at beach entrances all day long to check credentials for admission.  It can be a challenging job because so many pretenders give them a song and dance peppered with excuses as to why they don’t have a badge.  The most common, based upon my observations for about 5 minutes, is that they left the badge at the blanket while they ran some errand.

Aubrie  (yes, it’s with an ie at the end—I’m a bit of a spelling and “what’s on your birth certificate” fanatic. )  As some of you know, I love making up nicknames and choosing pseudonyms for anyone who comments on BF as “Anonymous.”  My favorite so far this year is “Pumper Nichol.”

So this is Aubrie’s first summer doing this gig in the Grove.  I noticed that she has a forgiving personality tinged with a lovely sense of humor.  She doesn’t actually laugh out loud; she mostly smiles in a wonderful way that will calm any grandma with a problem.  One of of her techniques is to defuse any dispute by merely waving the culprit on, following the Wegman security secret which is not to stop someone engaged in a petty crime like grabbing a donut and eating it on the spot.

It also should be noted that these checkers must be careful to not be distracted.  A clever ruse is to get her attention while your pal walks right through.    It is a job where the checker will become more effective as the summer wears on.

So we left Aubrie at her station, still in a good mood, even though the end of Saturday beach time was approaching.

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