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Beach Parking attendants offer friendly, familiar faces
Thursday, September 30, 2021
The following appeared in the fall 2021 issue of the Ocean Pines Quarterly Report:
Since the very beginning, the Ocean Pines Beach Club and Beach Club Parking have been unique and essential selling points for the community.
Just ask the people who work there.
“I think the Beach Club is probably one of the most underrated amenities that we have,” longtime Beach Parking manager Dan Batt said. “A lot of people don’t realize how nice the place is, until they come there and they see it for themselves. Many are really taken aback.”
The combination of the Beach Club Pool, the bar and restaurant, the picturesque stretch of beach along the Atlantic Ocean, and the private parking lot make it truly one of a kind, Batt said.
“You’ve got everything right there, and it’s so close to Ocean Pines,” he said. “I’ve gotten a lot of positive comments over the years.”
For the last several years Batt has led a trio of attendants who help answer questions, check in guests, and guide them to parking spaces by the ocean.
Dan Batt
Batt grew up in Montgomery County, Maryland and worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 37 years. Upon retirement, he took a position at the Ocean City Inlet working for the Town of Ocean City, and then inquired about working for Ocean Pines, with Beach Parking.
Batt helped manage pool operators for Ocean Pines Aquatics for several years, during the winter, and for the last 14 summers he has managed Beach Parking.
He said the Beach Parking lot has been basically the same since it was originally developed by Boise Cascade in the late 1960s, with some small improvements. The wall around the Beach Club Pool was a later addition and, three years ago, the Association added a small “welcome hut” for the Beach Parking attendants.
What has been consistent each summer are the interesting sights, sounds, and stories of thousands of beachgoers – many coming from out of town.
“You’ve got all these people and, of course, they’re on vacation. Sometimes the questions can be redundant, because each week you’re dealing with a different group of people, and sometimes they can leave their common sense at home,” he said with a laugh. “For the most part, I’ve met a lot of very, very nice people, and we try to make it very friendly for them and try to make their experience a good one.”
Batt said many guests from New York and New Jersey are surprised that “the beach is free.”
“Up where they are, they have to pay. So, when you tell them they don’t have to here, they’re like, ‘Really?’ They just can’t believe it!” he said.
One of his favorite parts of the job, Batt said, is watching the children grow up with each new season.
“You’ve got these little guys running around, and the next thing you know they’re pulling into the parking lot with a driver’s license and getting ready to go to college. You just think, ‘Wow, the time has really gone by!’” he said.
Batt started the tradition of having attendants wear Hawaiian shirts to greet customers – a universal symbol that one has arrived at the beach, ready for sunshine and fun.
“I said to my wife, ‘We need something recreational and beachy.’ Of course, Seacrets has their little beach theme over there, so through the years I’ve tried out little ideas that I’ve had,” he said.
When the Matt Ortt Companies took over Beach Club management several years ago, Batt said they went about cleaning out the stockrooms, which happened to include a large order of Hawaiian shirts.
“The next thing I know, the shirts are over at the Yacht Club and Ron Fisher (who runs the Ocean Pines Marina) apparently saw them. So, I go over to get the shirts and he had already beat me to it – and they were all wearing our shirts!” Batt said.
“I went over to get some Marina gas one day, and it was so comical because when I walked up the lady said, ‘Why are you wearing our shirts?’ I said, ‘No, no, no – you're wearing our shirts!’” Batt said with a laugh. “It was a pretty funny moment.”
Although they temporarily moved his shirts, Batt said he was grateful to the Ortt Companies for bringing back former Beach Club Manager Lynda Huettner.
“She was my original boss and I worked for her for many years. She’s awesome,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of good times and worked with a lot of great, great people.”
In prior years, Batt said he enjoyed working with J-1 students, who traveled here thanks to the federal Exchange Visitor visa program. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program hasn’t operated normally during the last two years.
On the bright side, Batt said he’s gotten to know the two newer Beach Parking attendants: Keith Thomas and Tom Possident. Both have been with Ocean Pines for the last two seasons.
“They really are awesome, awesome guys and they’ve been really great to work with,” Batt said. “It’s always been like a family here. You get to enjoy folks’ company and everybody pitches in.
“We just try to make everyone’s experience as pleasant as possible, and we’re there for any questions that people may have,” he added.
Tom Possident
Possident grew up in the Baltimore area and worked for the Worcester County Health Department before retiring two years ago. Shortly after, he took a job at Beach Parking.
“I was looking for something to do, and this sounded like something I would be interested in, to keep myself occupied and keep my wife from doing me in,” he said with a laugh.
Possident said most of the day is spent checking people in, answering questions, and “trying to be as friendly as you can.”
He said business this year picked up after a slight dip in 2020 because of the pandemic.
“It was definitely more crowded than it was last year, and it seemed like a lot more people were coming from further distances,” he said. “We saw a lot more from Florida, and of course from New York and New Jersey.”
Possident said the workdays are mostly steady, with a small break generally between the morning and afternoon crowds.
“For the most part you’re pretty busy,” he said. “You get your morning people that come in, and they’ll start rolling out usually about 1:30 or 2 p.m., and then you have the afternoon people who come in to replace them,” he said.
That’s not to say everything goes smoothly all of the time. He remembers one family frantically using a fork to fish out their Beach Parking pass after it got stuck in their car.
“The pass had fallen and gotten stuck between the dashboard and the front windshield, and they were renters and were worried about having to get it out of there, so they wouldn’t have to pay a fee to their landlord,” he said.
There are also plenty of questions to answer throughout the day.
“We get a lot of people who come up off the street that want to know if you have to pay to park on the street. We’re constantly answering that question, and things like where does the boardwalk start, and even ‘Where is Ocean Pines?’” he said.
“But I think we all get along and work well together. It’s a good retirement job to keep me occupied,” he added.
Keith Thomas
Thomas is originally from Chester County, Pennsylvania. Like Batt, he worked for the Postal Service before retiring several years ago.
“Most of the people here are pretty nice and it’s been a great experience,” he said. “You see a lot of families, and it’s generally people who love the beach and the pool.”
Thomas said Beach Parking is successful because it offers a solution to a common problem for vacationers – where do you park at the beach?
“There’s a lot of tight parking, so this is just a great place to park where you can go to the beach and use the pool. That’s kind of a rare bird in Ocean City,” he said.
A year ago, Thomas said many of the Beach Parking visitors were people who “just wanted to get outside” because of the pandemic.
“With COVID last year, I’d say we had less cars and less people. We had a little more cars this year,” he said.
Aside from their normal duties, Thomas said the parking attendants can be something of a “lost and found” for the hundreds of customers who pass through.
“There’s always stuff getting lost. We get a lot of car fobs and driver’s licenses and IDs. We’re always glad to get that stuff to people, when we find it,” he said.
There are also some funny questions and encounters.
“I had two guys who came up to me because we had to scan their permits, and they were going to walk over to Seacrets and asked me if I had to stamp them so they could come back, like we were in a bar,” he said with a laugh. “I said, ‘No, you guys are free to go!’”
All three attendants said they genuinely enjoy the work. It helps keep them busy, and the usually sunny disposition of the clientele makes for a positive atmosphere.
“We’re all retired, so we’re not under the gun and it’s a pretty loose environment,” Thomas said. “And it’s great to see all the people having fun. They’re happy to get there, and most of them are in a really good mood and enjoying their vacation or their time at the beach.
“That’s why I like the job – it's pretty stress free and we’re just moving people along, so they can go about having fun and having a good time,” he added.
The Ocean Pines Beach Club and Beach Parking are open each Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. Membership passes are available to homeowners, renters, and the general public.
For more information, visit
www.oceanpines.org/web/pages/beach-club
.