Notes on the Stanley Characters, summer 2009

Just as Phil D said, everyone in Stanley has a story. “We’re all broken toys,” he mysteriously explains. Amidst the backdrop of a beautiful, touristy mountain town, there are only about 40-60 people that winter over or live year-round. It would absolutely suck to winter here, and so it only makes sense that the people that do are either a little bit crazy, or running from something.

Big Phil is so named because there's another, smaller Phil that works as a cook at MV as well. More than anything, I feel deep sadness for this man. Phil’s dark story begins with his profession as a town sheriff and ends with a semi-scandalous affair/relationship with a girl here in Stanley. I don’t know all the details, but according to the Stanley rumor mill, one right there was a scuffle involving his girlfriend and the girl’s husband (or ex-husband, I don’t know exactly).

 Phil somehow showed up at the girl’s house in full sheriff uniform (off-duty) and pulled a gun on the guy. This may not have been as big a deal, but Phil was off-duty and dressed up in a uniform and went to a house with no probable cause, without the police being called. So, he was fired from that job, and apparently his demeanor is such that he has been kicked out of every other job besides MV.

Toward the end of my job contract (early August), Phil inexplicably somehow got a bit nicer. I'm not sure how much of it was me getting used to him and how much of it was the fact that a cute 20-year-old Mountain Village hostess from Turkey had a fatty crush on him. Not sure if he figured out or not, but I'm really hoping his sufferable demeanor wasn't because he was getting some. Ewww.