Last week The Smart Set published my newest feature, "Small Town Cinderella." It's about my hot-and-sweaty, ballgown-wearing summers as an amusement-park employee in northern New Hampshire. Working at an amusement park in high school was awesome. Working as Cinderella sucked.
The top story on Reddit this morning, meanwhile, was the somewhat-similar "Pirate's Booty," a tale about a guy who played Jack Sparrow at one of the Disney parks. I've heard a lot of horror stories about working at Disney, and the article does a nice job at highlighting some of the ridiculous goings-on. Even though the park I worked at was tiny, it's interesting to see the parallels. Like annual/season pass holders—those people are terrifying. I mean, amusement park characters are built around the idea that guests see them once a year. But when guests keep coming back, they expect to see something new from the characters, and there's only so much a character can keep in her bag of tricks.
Anyway, watch out for more former-amusement-park-employee articles soon. I think if it reaches three, it's officially a trend.