Grumpy Park Employees

Sorry, that's just not how it works in the real world. Read my link, page 5 where I explain why.

It's not THAT difficult to be polite when you are getting ripped into by a guest. Which reminds me of another story:

One time, at band camp....

Seriously though, I was getting ripped by a guest whose kid was too short to ride. He was making a huge scene and all I could do was say "I'm very sorry sir, but your child doesn't meet our height requirement..."

He refused to leave the station and was screaming about sending in the marines and F-this and F-that (nice example for the kid by the way), when out of the crowd someone shouted, "SOME people have NO class!!"

Lo and behold, it was my mother who was in the park with my little brother. The man got up and walked away. :)

The moral of the story, be polite, it's bad enough being an angry person.

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"But where's the feeelth?" - Uncle Vainstein

Hehe, good story. It's always good to have back-up.

Anyways, there is a simple solution to this! Just hire robots to be ride-ops! 50 less problems right there...

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LeWiS
*** This post was edited by PLayerPunk 7/10/2003 3:23:34 PM ***

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janfrederick said:

He refused to leave the station and was screaming about sending in the marines and F-this and F-that (nice example for the kid by the way), when out of the crowd someone shouted, "SOME people have NO class!!"

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"But where's the feeelth?" - Uncle Vainstein

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By that time I would have called security. But whenever I tell somebody their kid can't ride for whatever reason, I immediatly follow it up with "you can speak to a manager if you have further questions."

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"Here's my ten cence, my two cence is free"-Eminem

Security was well on its way...but it was all over by the time they arrived. I think my Mom did a much better job than security would have anyway...it really seemed to calm him down. Kinda like, "Whoops! I'm being an ass!"

I never cared to argue too much either, but I liked to at least try to diffuse the situation as much as possible before escalating it. After all, it might take a while for security or the supervisor to show up. Just do your best to come off as sympathetic. Sure the height requirement sign is huge, but we didn't have someone out front measuring CP style and the line was really hot and long.
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"But where's the feeelth?" - Uncle Vainstein

Being in customer service and having to deal with angry and abusive college students who don't like our strict rules, I've learned that in many cases smiling and being especially polite and soft spoken helps to defuse anger...but as janfrederick pointed out, not always. It's generaly those abusive jerks who also complain the loudest to Guest Services.

I most seasonals at parks are younger who are likely in their first real jobs. They don't have the experience, nor have they built up enough thick skin, to deal with the rudeness of some of the GP, and believe me, I've seen some pretty rude GP.

I've never encountered a rude employee at any of the parks I've gone to. Some have been clueless and slow (food services mostly), but I figure those are the ones who will get with the swing of things later in the season or will be gone if park management has a clue.

I've seen some pretty stressed out and exhausted employees. THOSE are the ones I give some encouraging words to. I know what it's like to work long hours dealing with insensitive and rude people, and it always cheers me to hear words of encouragement from one of my customers. Even a pleasant "thank you!" can do wonders.

The next time you see what appears to be surly employee, try giving them a few nice words and see what happens. I'll bet that morose looking face will turn into a smiling one, even if only briefly.

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
http://www.webtechnik.com/ebony/CPLady.htm

CPLady has it right. Smiles and kind words can make a difference.
Yesterday I ran down to ride some coasters and had to fill up the gas tank on the way. While paying I noticed some lollipops by the register and decided to surprise the Ozark Wildcat crew with some candy. Really seemed to be appreciated though none of them are grumpy or cantankerous by any means.
Give it a try sometime.
Next time I am going to surprise them with canned hams ;) (just kidding as there is no good place for them to store canned hams on the dock)

Jim Wolgamuth

Amusement Park employees do sometimes have to work up 80 hours a week and they are working in a fast paced environment but thats no excuse for poor customer service. At Cedar Point at company orientation they told us flat out that a guest pays $40+ to get into the park and they should get great service not Wal-Mart service. Its a great point if you think about it. The guests had to pay to see your smiling faces and they deserve great customer service. Who cares if your having a bad day you dont have to pass that along to the guests. You can still be polite and smile it won't kill a person.

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Mike
Favorite Wood: Viper at SFGAM,Shivering Timbers
Favorite Steel: Magnum and Raging Bull

I was at SFMM waiting for Goliath on July 5th, and it was extremely crowded and very late at night (about 11PM or so) and some girl was doing the sweeping trash bit in the station, nearly getting run over by the Fastlane folks. She came by me and while trying to get some trash, a straw slipped under the gate, so I bent down to push it back to her. I don't think I've ever seen a park employee seem that grateful for such a little thing, she'd obviously just had a miserable day and anyone doing anything to make her life that much easier made her a whole lot happier.

Kinda unrelated, but just a point that it goes both ways. You can change a ride-op's or employee's day really quickly with even the tiniest of gestures...

i was at CP last week and me and my girlfriend thought we would ride Dodgem and the operator was yelling at the top of his lungs, veins poping out of his neck into his little mic. telling ppl not to lean on the hand rails. I had no idea what his problem was. Maybe he was having a little power trip. I mean after all he is the bumper car operator.

Ok I would first off like to offer to all of you 16 years or older a chance to work at SFSTL. You can be an employee for a full day (9 am till 11 pm) you would make a dollar more then the average starting SF employee. And then you would be allowed to work a lovely FS stand (or more likely cart).

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I don't buy this whiny " think of what we deal with" crap. It's your friggin' job. Suck it up, smile, be friendly. It's called guest service and as a park employee you are most guests only human interaction with the park. You had a bad day? Had a guest get cool with you? Why should my experience suffer because of it. You were hired and are paid to provide that service. If it's that hard, either find another line of work or crawl back into your hole.

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Please don’t play that card. Just because were paid to give services and provide guest with an atmosphere does not mean we have to sit there and take it when a customer treats us like were the gum on his/her shows. If I come upon a stand were a guest is complaining and i do mean really complaining. Causing the employees to be uncomfortable and disrupting other guest then I will not do anything to help them.

An example of this is one day two weeks ago I was checking on a stand. There IBM registers had gone down and we had to but cheap Sams club replacement registers in as a quick replacement. Well now the stand could no longer give any discounts, nor could it keep track of what was sold (keep this in mind).

I came upon the stand to check on them. I find that the girls there are having a problem with a customer. The customer wants his 10% discount. I told him nicely he could not get it and explained the situation. And told him of other places were he could get his discount. After about 20 mins of him getting more irate and cussing around children he gave up. Keep this in mine, I was very nice and polite and I could have giving it to him for free or even giving 10% off (even though technically we weren’t suppose to). The bottom line is if your nice or even a little mean to me I will go out of my way and go the extra mile to make them satisfied, but if you upset another guest or an employee and your in the wrong you might as well go straight to GR and complain about me.

I love making people smile and watching people smile. It’s why I try to talk to guest and greet them with a smile and/or by saying "How may I rip you off?" Or helping out customers when there a little short by taking it out of my pocket. I do agree with most of you, no worker should allow there personal life (ie bad mood) interfere with work.

And you are right people do pay to forget about there worries and forget about the real world for a day. Its what makes a theme park special and no worker should take that away from them simply because there in a bad mood. How ever I am a believer you should treat people how you want to be treated, and it goes no different for guest.

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There's a very significant difference between being human and being a lousey employee. If I think my employer is run by a bunch of morons, shall I treat the customers poorly and tell my boss off? Yeah, I wouldn't have a job very long, would I.

Whats wrong with telling your boss that he or she is doign a bad job, by telling them off. I do it all the time at work and I am still there. Not to mention it usally helps out.

Thank you and good night. I hope it made some sense if not I would be happy to explain certian confuseing aspects of it.

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Nurse - Mr. Hill I have diagnosed Bobby with ADD.
Mr. Hill - Then why has no one ever noticed this before?
Nurse - Mr. Hill very few people have access to the pamphlets I have.
Nurse - Here take one.
King of the Hill
*** This post was edited by Bossstl 7/10/2003 10:48:01 PM ***

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*** This post was edited by Bossstl 7/10/2003 10:53:15 PM ***

I have at Cedar Point, First off I have been going there as long as I can remember since I was still in a stroller and riding to kiddie rides and I don't ever remember having a problem with an employee until this year. The women I had a problem with worked at park operations, I'm not even going to get into what the exact problem was but I had emailed park op earlier in the year to ask a few questions, and didn't have any probs with park ops until like my 4th or 5th visit this year, so I got her name and when I got home I emailed the head of park ops or one of the managers and by 10am the next morn I got a reply telling my the problem has been corrected and if there is a problem in the future tell the desk clerk at park ops to check the files, this will be noted there, and on my next visit the lady I had a problem with was so nice it was sickening, I did nto intend to get anyone in trouble or fired I just wanted the problem corrected and it was. As far as CP and other parks its is expected for employees to sometimes be moody, we all get that way esp when its pushing 90 degrees plus, moody is ok but downright rude and mean is never called for I don't care what field your in.

Bossstl - true enough, that the guests don't have the right to be idiots towards you...and I'm sure some can get downright ridiculous. I'd have a hell of a time biting my tongue. Then again, I don't go looking for work where I have to deal with people - I tend to hate people in general :)

I think the point of the original post is that the employee was being an a$$ to plenty of people who didn't deserve it in any way. That was also the point of what I was trying to say with this line:

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I don't care if the last three guests you dealt with kicked you in the shins, spit on you and called you names that'd make Andrew Dice Clay blush - you still better not take it out on me as the 4th person in line.

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I'd hope as the 4th person in line that you'd take a deep breath, smile, comment on my outstanding good looks, and tell me to enjoy my ride. (consider that last line my M:TR trip report ;) ) I don't expect you to be harassed, but I do expect you to remember it wasn't me trying to harass you.

PittDesigner, errr, Impulsive, errr, Brett - You know I love debating you. It's all good fun, man.

Jeff - It still wigs me to see you using "Pat" in posts. :)

'Playa - I thought all superheroes had a theme song?

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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park Visits in 2003: 13

Well as I know where BOSSSTL is coming from because I work on rides at SFSTL. Now me, I am a pretty enthusiastic guy towards guests most of the time. Granted if I am having a lousy day or guests are just plain rude, believe me I am a lot less enthusiastic. I also feed off of guests energy too. If a guest is happy and joyful then I can have great energy with them. But yes a guest who is crabby, doesnt follow rules, or is rude to you I would be a lot less lenient to. Thats my insight on it.

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If practice makes perfect but noone is perfect, then why practice.

I just visited Hershey yesterday, and I honestly cannot remember one employee smiling. But, on the other hand, they all were really effecient at their jobs. Dispatches were really quick. I also don't remember too many ride announcements, except for prerecorded ones, and a lot of times those were hard to hear because of bad speakers.
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If you have a problem with clones, the solution is real simple—Stop traveling.