Travels with Tosh — A Journal; Ep. 41

Sunday, 22 December 2024

It has been ten days since I wrote last (about the entrepreneurs operating their “small businesses” here in the BLM’s Long Term Visitor Area, and a lot has happened since then.

First, two of the volunteers quit with no notice, thus putting some (additional) strain on the camp hosts to man the office during the holiday extended hours. Because I just cannot say “no,” and because I think the two full-time camp hosts deserve far more time off than they get — they actually do not have any scheduled days off, believe it or not — I volunteered to fill in for one of the two quitters. One of my colleagues volunteered to fill in for the other, so now both of us work together two extra days a week; I work four full time days now, Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.

The other big news is that the two camp hosts have turned in their resignations.

At the end of this winter long-term season, April 15, 2025, the Yuma Field Office will have to find replacements for them. It will be difficult, and probably unlikely that the replacements will be as conscientious and competent as these two. The record keeping system they set up is rock-solid, and any bit of information about every (paid) camper can be found easily and quickly.

I put “paid” in parentheses because not all campers here pay; the BLM rangers do a very poor job of ensuring that everyone here has paid, so many don’t. The BLM has been understaffed for years, and many dishonest people have learned that they are rarely here, so many just sneak on and stay for free until they are caught…IF they are caught.

There are several people, including two of the volunteers who seem to think they have the camp host job locked up, but not one of them will get a positive recommendation from the current camp hosts. There are volunteers at the other sites managed by the BLM, but none of them meet the quality standards the camp hosts need. The problem is that the Yuma Field Office must have a pair of camp hosts before next September, so they are apt just to pick someone and hope they ‘fit’ well — the summer camp host duties are different and can be handled by the people already on staff; it is only the long-term visitors that have specific, different rules and procedures.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months. If any of the current people who think they have the job actually get it, I will not be…