Admission's Dynamic Dual...IRON CLAW & Diaper Drawers

Share your memories of working at Marriott's GREAT AMERICA in Gurnee
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MGA1
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Admission's Dynamic Dual...IRON CLAW & Diaper Drawers

Post by MGA1 »

If any '80-'82 Gurnee employees remember IRON CLAW and DiaperDrawers from Admission Services, send me a private message. GOTR (Good Old Times Remember...hahaha).
"...and enjoy the rest of your day here at Marriott's GRRRREAT America"
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HoneyBunny
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Post by HoneyBunny »

MGA1 - This story sounds like it would be a hoot, can you tell it anyway? Pretty please? :)
"How much money you got left?"
"$2.50, why?"
"Buy me a twicket!"
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MGA1
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Post by MGA1 »

Well, I can fill you in on the story but it really will only bring back memories to those who worked in Admission Services in '80-'82. IRON CLAW and Diaper Drawers were nicknames (unwelcomed) of two managers.

IRON CLAW was the seasonal Admissions Area Supervisor. She was a Pi Phi at Northwestern who always complained (at work) about the men she had dated and wondered why she didn't have a boyfriend. The nickname was a reference to those mechanical claw arcade games where you drop the three-pronged claw into a pile of stuffed animals. She got that nickname because of her overbearing supervisory style. One day, a supervisor was talking with several Admissions Leads and said "Whenever she's working, I feel like she's constantly standing behind me with an iron claw on my shoulder." Apparently, the leads also felt the same way and she was nicknamed "Iron Claw." Initially, it was done behind her back, but she eventually found out about her nickname...and she did not laugh about it. She actually got meaner!

Another time that summer, she was the supervisor on duty for the parking lot, although she didn't really know much about how the parking lot operated. Her management decisions really ticked off two of the experienced parking lot leads. The parking lot leads came up to her holding one of those orange parking lot cones and said "Here, this is for you." She asked why they were giving her a parking lot cone and one of the leads replied "just sit on it and spin" and they both turned and walked away from her.

Those parking lot leads also published a personal ad in the Great Ameri-Gram that said "G.O.T.R. Iron Claw." She tried to get those leads fired because she knew her nickname was Iron Claw (which she didn't appreciate) and she wanted to know what G.O.T.R. meant. The leads told Human Resources it meant "Good Old Times Remember" and referred to a night when the leads had gone out drinking with her at Poor Richard's and she drank too much. The story about her drinking binge was true, but that's not what the ad meant. The ad really meant "Get Off The Rag, Iron Claw." She knew it and so did the leads, but no one was fired and Iron Claw just became meaner that ever.

Diaper Drawers was the nickname for the Admission Services Manager. He was a transfer from the Santa Clara park so he had previous experience with the Marriott theme parks. Nobody really knew much about him other than that he was transferred from Santa Clara and that he was married. He was a mathematical whiz...he could take huge spreadsheets that Admissions kept with attendance and sales information on them and he could add all the numbers in a column in his head faster than any of our Auditors could do it using a calculator....and he was always correct!

His wife didn't work at the park but I had met her a couple times. She was super nice, outgoing, and very attractive. He, on the other hand, had the personality of a dead fish. He was 25 but looked more like 35, he rarely smiled, rarely talked to the hourly Admissions employees, and spent most of his time in his office in Park Operations (above the Hometown Trolley Barn). He also always wore dress pants that were two sizes too big for him so it looked like he was wearing a diaper under his pants. So the Leads nicknamed him Diaper Drawers. I personally thought it was funny at that time, now I feel bad about it. He may have had a medical condition (Chrone's or IBS) where he needed to wear Depends. That would have explained why he kept to himself, spent most of his time in his office, and never seemed very excited or energetic about anything.

After Six Flags purchased the park, Diaper Drawers was fired from Great America in '83 or '84. For a long time, I never knew what happened to him. Then, in 1999, one of my friends from Disney accepted a merchandise manager position at Carowinds in Charlotte, NC. My friend was telling me about how he had a weird odd boss at Carowinds who wore oversized pants and looked like he had diapers on. You guessed it...it turned out to be the same person.

Anyway, that's the story behind IRON CLAW and Diaper Drawers.
"...and enjoy the rest of your day here at Marriott's GRRRREAT America"
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Post by PGA ROCKS »

MGA1, your stories are both funny and insightful. I love to read all the memories you have of working at Great America. I work at the Santa Clara park, and I hope I will have lots of memories like this.
I miss Tidal Wave
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HoneyBunny
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Post by HoneyBunny »

haha! thanks MGA1, that was a great story, even for us who didn't know them. :) Sounds like you guys always had a blast at work, and isn't that what it's all about? Thanks again for sharing.
"How much money you got left?"
"$2.50, why?"
"Buy me a twicket!"
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