ADMIT IT, if you're like most folks, you probably have little respect for people who work the carnival. You know … "carnies." The ticket takers, ride operators, game jockeys, deep-fried food slingers you see every year at the Spokane Interstate Fair – those perceived as rude, hygienically challenged know-nothings who would like nothing more than to rob you blind or leer at your children unimpeded. But like many, you probably don't know anything about "carnies." Right up there along with U.S. Postal Service workers, carnival employees remain some of society's supposedly least reputable, most misunderstood workers. So-called "carnies" often are cast as modern day lowlifes – by reputation, they are transients with few friends, fewer family and possessing future paths that top out somewhere around whacked-out speed dealing.
