SFMM may be a lost cause!
I'm glad you had a laugh. Krax - dishoveling is not a word. Perhaps you meant disheveling? Perhaps you should familiarize yourself with its meaning, as well. "Denigrating" may have been the world you're looking for.
The point? I take the time to think through what I write -- something that you seem to have forgotten to do this time around. If you take the time to read and consider what I've written, I'm confident you wouldn't find it so offensive or baseless. It makes sense. I'll go so far as to say it's common sense.
Soggy - Whatever. You can go on believing whatever you want to believe and my world will keep on turning. My view is that you're entirely too forgiving.
Raptor - Problem #1 is the biggest problem of all, and it's exactly because people such as yourself don't care anything about it that it goes unchallenged and unchecked.
Whereever I have worked, I made it a point to be aware of everything that was happening at a given time. In retail, this meant being aware of sales, inventory, orders, our product, and our other nearby stores. In the library, it meant being aware of programs, classes, procedures, and problem patrons in all departments.
I've worked in an FEC as everything from a ride operator to a supervisor, and I made it my business to know everything that was going on the building and everything that had happened since I was last at work. Why? So when customers would ask me what was going on, why a certain ride wasn't working, why a game ate their token, or how to play Laser Tag, I knew the answer. Did I care a bit for the FEC? Not really. It was an awful job that paid me far less than I deserved. Oddly, it's people with your attitude that perpetuate low salaries, I think. People that work their behind off get screwed over because your camp doesn't want to be bothered. If I had my way, employees who weren't aware of what was happening around them would be fired. I don't accept ignorance or laziness from the people who do work for me.
In the end, though, y'know what? Looking like an ignorant fool, whether it was my job or not, made me look far worse and I have more pride in myself and my work than that. Six Flags, as large as they are, should hire some folks who show a little pride in their work and the corporate entity should put a system in place that facilitates informing their employees of what the Hell is going on.
I can't believe that I'm seeing that you think it's not important for a customer service representative to have instant access to honest, accurate information about the park. That's ridiculous.
Go on laughing.
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--Maddie--
What do I Listen-To?
May the Schwarz be with you.
*** This post was edited by Chernabog 7/28/2003 6:41:26 PM ***
"Focus on the positaves, you may well find yourself actually having fun, instead of looking like a crybaby"
Soggy also said:
"If that isn't a juvanile knee-jerk reaction to an hour or so of bad luck, I don't know what is."
I've concluded that Soggy likes to call names. He certainly does not let facts get in the way of his rants!
This is the first line of my post:
I made the trip on Friday am! I've had numerous bad experiences at this park, and SF in general, but this day takes the cake!
Apparently Soggy has interpreted numerous bad experiences to mean "an hour or so of bad luck"?
Maybe Soggy just has an interpretation problem. Or maybe he just ignored it when I wrote:
This particular day was just one of many bad experiences at SFMM!
Soggy has also said:
"Coasrerr: did you read his post? There was not a single good word about SFMM in his whole report. The only thing he didn't outright complain about was Goliath, and that was a nuetral statement at best."
Does anybody else see the comical value of Soggy's analysis? Here is the description of my visit to SFMM taken from my original post:
I get to the park to see a list of 6-10 rides that will NOT be running on this mid-season Friday! X, Scream, and Collosus are not on the list. Gate opens at 10:00 and I make my way to X! X is not even testing. One teenager is by the bridge with a rope! He can't provide any information. Wait 30 minutes with no action. Call guest services with the cell phone and she puts me on hold. She assures me it is a minor sensor problem and that X will start in 2 minutes. Ten minutes later a crew of happy teenagers come out to tell us that X is down. They have no other information to report. We go to Goliath and get on after 20 minutes without too much difficulty. We head to Collosus to catch a ride and are told it is broken down. They have no clue when it will open. We walk to scream and wait 20 minutes until it too breaks down. Once again, they have no clue when it will open.
Soggy is upset that I did not post one positive word about SFMM? Would Soggy or anyone for that matter like to explain to me what the positives were based upon my day at SFMM! I never even got a chance to be upset about the 6-10 rides they were not planning on running that day. They had 3 breakdowns on the rides that were running? These were just the coasters at the front of the park. I'm laughing out loud that Soggy actually thinks I should have had something positive to say! I'm so sorry Soggy that I did not "focus on the positives"!
I refuse to believe that Soggy is being intellectually honest with his responses. There are only so many explanations that could explain his personal insults and willingness to defend SFMM at all costs! Here are a few that I have come up with off of the top of my head!
1. Soggy works for SFMM and is a good company man?
2. Soggy loves SFMM so much that he is willing, as a patron, to let them deficate in his soup, if they so desire, and he will slurp away?
3. Soggy's IQ is comparable to whoever is in charge of SFMM's ride maintenance operations?
These are just three that I have come up with. If anybody else can think of any other reasons Soggy is so quick to insult me, the messenger, rather than address the real problems at SFMM, please let me know!
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Give me wood! :-)
328 and counting!
While it is sad that there were so many rides down, things do happen. One word of advice to those who call parks in advance to ask about attractions, find out which department you are talking to. Most parks have a "general operator" that can answer most questions and pass on the others. In many cases, this person has no idea what is really happening in the park on a daily basis. If a ride is down for a prolonged period they will know that. Unfortunatley many do not get a daily update, let alone hourly or half hourly update of operating attractions. The fact that she told him 2 minutes is proof she had absolutley no clue as to the actual status. They are nowhere near the ride, and in most cases not even in the operations department which would have a better knowledge of the status.
I'm not excusing SFMM, as I personally feel if you don't know an answer, don't give one, it will only cause more issues if you are wrong. As for the (specific) ride op's, many of them do know what's going on as they work the ride every day and get to understand the workings. They are trained to not tell you specifics. If a wheel fell off, would they tell a guest? Of course not, even though in some cases (Mamba) it is a common occurance. "Mechanical Difficulties" should be all you get. Of course you then have the other spectrum of ride ops that think they know what the next big attraction is...but we all know the truth about that.
For the staffing, it is common for rides to be shut down due to lack of staff, however they will hardly ever shut a coaster for that. They can close a few flats or reduce to minimum staffing on others to provide staff to the coaster. Supervisors and workers from other departments can sometimes assist as well. For the three coasters mentioned in this thread, I cannot believe any of them would closed due to staff (except maybe one side of Collosus).
I understand it ruined your day, but don't let that keep you from the other SF parks. Each one is run a little differently and offers rides that should not be avoided simply because they are in a SF park.
I can tell you are bitter about not riding X, but since you will never be going back, I guess we never have to hear such reports again.
If you wish to continue this dialogue, please do so by way of e-mail. I wish not to use up more of Jeff's bandwidth on you.
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SCREAM with me... in 2003!
"This particular day was just one of many bad experiences at SFMM!"
Sounds to me like you were destined to have a bad day regardless of how the park performed. You let your past experiences cloud your outlook of the park. There could have been plenty of good happening but you choose to ignore it. Your self-fulfilling prophecy came true.
If you ever visit a SF park again I suggest taking that chip off your shoulder and leaving it at home.
mOOSH
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A random Mooshter's Dawntionary listing: Foreploy [n.] - misrepresentation in an effort to get laid, e.g. "I'm a pilot..."
However X, Psyclone, and Collosus would open up later in the day. I got to ride everything and did end up having a fun time. I have lost confidence in the park though because it is mid season and they had tons of major rides down and when they open them back up they only have 1 train going.
Overall I see how this guy can be upset, but I did stick around and got the chance to ride everything and enjoy myself.
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SFWoA Ride Op!
Mamoosh said:
Sounds to me like you were destined to have a bad day regardless of how the park performed. You let your past experiences cloud your outlook of the park. There could have been plenty of good happening but you choose to ignore it. Your self-fulfilling prophecy came true.If you ever visit a SF park again I suggest taking that chip off your shoulder and leaving it at home.
mOOSH
Hey Moosh! What chip on my shoulder? Here is my nice review of SFFT from a few weeks ago!
http://www.coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=32935
I try be objective in my reports. What I wrote happened is what happened. Many have tried to justify SFMM's product that day. They can try all day long, but they cannot defend SFMM's product. You tell me what good was happening that day for me or any guest for that matter? Does SFMM (an amusement park) have any responsibilties to amuse its guests? How many rides could mysteriously be down for maintenance troubles before you would get upset? If all 16 coasters were down at once, I'm sure that the Six Flags defenders (Soggy for example) would find a way to discredit somebody like me that would have the nerve to report this absurdity on a rollercoaster message board! How dare I get upset that beyond the 6-10 rides (3 coasters among them) that were listed as being closed that day, there were another 3 coasters----their best ride X, their new ride Scream, and their best wooden coaster Collosus that were experiencing unexplained mechanical difficulties. I guess I'm just too tough on the poor park! Sorry guys! My bad! Only 37% of their coasters were down on this mid summer day at one time! What was I thinking! Go ahead and try to defend those numbers! Whatever preconceived notion many of you may have about SFMM, the park is not delivering in the guest services, maintenance, and clean-up department. They have some good coasters that make many willing to overlook the obvious deficit areas. I know this because I have been doing it for years. I've finally reached the point at which enough is enough! It is not worth the frustration for me anymore! If the frustration is worth it to you---by all means frequent SFMM or any of the other SF parks! I'll be at Knotts, Knobels, Holiday World, etc...... These parks treat their guests with some respect and demand a lot more loyalty than the SF chain!
Chip? I have no chip! It is those who are trying to accomodate SFMM's terrible customer service and poor ride maintenance who have a chip! Rather than discuss the problems and solutions it is more fun to discredit the messenger I guess!
Six Flags has a problem! Their consistent stock decline and recent bond rating decrease (I think the bond rating was changed...not 100% sure) indicate that the whole company is heading in the wrong direction.
That crap that happened to me last Friday will do nothing to help their cause. I did nothing wrong. I was a paying customer looking for a good time. Their product failed to deliver. It is not my responsibility to stick around for the rest of the day and see if they can fix their incompetence. It was their responsibility to make sure I had a good time and would be willing to spend my hard earned cash on their product. They failed me as a customer. My guests were more than ready to leave that place and they had never been to SFMM. They got one ride on Goliath and took away memories of a lousy day. Lets just say that they will not be scattering to visit any SF parks anytime soon. Others may choose to ignore the obvious and continue to support SF and SFMM. I've reached the level of frustration with their poor operations that can no longer be overcome by their rides (I love Goliath by the way)! Apparently, many other customers have reached the same conclusion as their stock continues to tumble and their attendance numbers continue to decrease!
I pray for the day management changes hands so I can go try some of my old favorites without the frustrations involved with their terrible operations! Maybe this will never happen! However, they need to do something to get the stock price back up! We'll see........................
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Give me wood! :-)
328 and counting!
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A random Mooshter's Dawntionary listing: Foreploy [n.] - misrepresentation in an effort to get laid, e.g. "I'm a pilot..."
Fixing SF? Starts with making sure that employees are *invested*....in themselves, and in their company!
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your company's name and logo HERE...effective advertising at great rates!
After working in a multi-billion dollar auto supplier for a few years, you realize its impossible to know everything that goes on. The politics alone would take several years to figure out. Working on tubing and such for fuel delivery is a huge job in itself, now ask me to learn the gas tank and A/C stuff and you have a lifetime of work ahead of you. I am not saying don't attempt to learn everything but have pity for people who don't. There is so much to learn in any job so back off when people say you don't have to know everything. Its not laziness, its people trying to do the job they signed up for and are qualified to do.
And don't assume anything about how I work or what I am like. Assuming is one of the worst things you can do in life.
Mamoosh said:
Sounds to me like you were destined to have a bad day regardless of how the park performed.
Of course he was. He was at SFMM, for God's sake!. ;)
*** This post was edited by chris 7/29/2003 9:56:41 AM ***
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A random Mooshter's Dawntionary listing: Foreploy [n.] - misrepresentation in an effort to get laid, e.g. "I'm a pilot..."
It just really does seem like the park is out to make your day suck sometimes: Rides closed, poor operations, 'people-mover' systems all closed and torn up, etc., etc.
I'm sure I'll be back in February or March, though. :)
mOOSH
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A random Mooshter's Dawntionary listing: Dopeler Effect [n.] - the tendancy of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Most folks on these boards have seen the numerous SF knocking threads popping up. After reading them, why would you expect great service? I could understand being pissed after going to Holiday World and having a ride operator spit on you because you were sitting on the hand rails. But Chris is right, it's SFMM for goodness sake.
If you are angry, all you can do is tell them about it. If the powers that be don't get the message or don't understand, then what the hell else can anyone do about it? Too bad for them. Knott's already takes most of my business away from them.
Untill I hear or experience otherwise...
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"SOME people have NO class!" - Mom from the Whizzer queue
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A random Mooshter's Dawntionary listing: Dopeler Effect [n.] - the tendancy of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
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"SOME people have NO class!" - Mom from the Whizzer queue
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your company's name and logo HERE...effective advertising at great rates!
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"She had 'man hands'"
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