Hot Dog anyone ?

It was the summer of 1995. I had finally made up my mind that after school I really wanted to travel and experience new culture. With my passion for travel awoken, I wanted to join some of my friends on a three day vacation to one of the lakes in Coronthia in Austria but also at the same time wanted to remain a cool kid at school riding my own Vespa. So how could I do that? The upbringing of my parents was great but strict in the way telling me if I really wanted something I needed to earn it. So earning was the answer to travel and to remain cool. But how?

My Vespa I “earned” in 1995

I was proud

The answer was a summer job! As I live in one of the tourist regions of Austria where thermal water is being used for swimming pools and water parks, I decided to apply for a job for a month in a thermal spa near me. Check out Therme Loipersdorf, it’s an absolutely gorgeous place to relax and unwind. Also the reason I really wanted to work there was that it was full of tourists, mainly Austrians but also international clientele. And as I was studying English and French, and I really developed that passion of service and people after my first flight with 11 years as you can see in my previous post, I was able to convince my dad to allow me to work there. However the problem was; how I would I get there each day for my shifts as it was 20 minutes driving away?

Generously enough, my dad came up with a plan. He would buy me the Vespa and I would repay from my earnings, and to be honest he never let me repay, I guess he just wanted to teach me to be responsible.

So I applied for the summer job after I got my Vespa and was accepted successfully. I was ready to serve food in the restaurant, or clean locker rooms or put out fresh towels. But no, management had something else in mind. A new trial for the summer, a Hot Dog stand next to the water slide.

My proud Hot Dog stand

And there was me, with my first ever job standing behind my own counter waiting each day for hungry water park tourists to come and be fed. I didn’t expect much business as the area had a variety of restaurants and snack bars. And I clearly remember on my first day I brought a magazine to read as management told me to do so but little did I know and they know what would happen next.

People were queuing at my stand to get a good old Hot Dog! But not only because of the delicious Hot Dogs served with a smile. There was a group of French tourists as well in the park and no one in the park spoke French. And as I did, word of mouth got around that the little guy selling Hot Dogs speaks their language. It was awesome to hear their stories, to help them and to connect with them, and above all to help them get around.

Each day I had so much fun, meeting people from all over the world, hearing their stories, them being interested in mine but above all breaking record after record each day. Management was a little concerned as sales went back in the restaurants and snack bars as my Hot Dogs were booming. For the whole summer and the summer after my record of making 257 Hot Dogs in one day stood. And probably still stands.

I was lucky that summer. Not only did I get my Vespa and did make a little holiday with my friends but I also got exposed to foreign cultures, their lives and their stories and needless to say, my language skills really improved and until now I have no issues at all understanding or learning foreign languages quickly.

I guess thinking back to this time now meeting all those different people from all over the world, it shaped my future what was yet to come. My dream to become a flight attendant remained, to travel and experience other cultures but I then realised there were other opportunities I could explore to do all that. I was just not sure what yet, but selling Hot Dogs for the rest of my life, that wasn’t my opportunity. There must be more! And I will soon find which one. I was sure and determined that the world will open up to this little village boy!