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wherein there's no actual suckage (except feeling sorry for the guy)
ok, so the campground where i am has these cute little cabins. there was a big bike race in town this past weekend, so every single cabin was reserved. oddly, one was only reserved for one day... but the reservation had been made via the automated online reservation system... so there was nothing that we could have screwed up, and we didn't think about it. there was, of course, another reservation made for the same cabin for the second day.
guest arrives late... after office hours, so all they got was a map to their site and the key... no interaction with an employee... and of course they went to the race bright and early the next day. checkout time (11:30) rolls around... they're not there.... an hour passes.... two... the other reservation calls to verify they will be arriving at 4.. we're like "oooo-kay.....
" we leave a note on the door something to the effect of "please stop by the office, checkout time was 11:30, there is another reservation for your site tonight."
finally, at 5 minutes to 4, the guy comes in the office, note in hand, and opens with "please tell me this is a joke." we go back and forth briefly, with him getting visibly more agitated with each volley "no, it's not a joke. i'm sorry sir but your reservation was for only one day." "i made it here last year for 2 days!" "sir, according to the computer it was made over the internet just under a year ago, with a confirmation re-mailed a month later... no other alterations have been made to this reservation." "well, i brought my whole family, what do i tell them." "Again, i'm sorry sir. i wish there was something i could do, but now there is another guy bringing in his family..."
at that point he walked out, obviously frustrated. i preemptively called the boss, because i figured this guy *might* raise all kinds of holy hell and the boss might need to handle the situation to calm them down/get them out/whatever... boss shows up to the office just as the guy comes back in... to ask for a list of local hotels!
he didn't give us any crap at all, and even tho he was still obviously upset and frustrated, was thankful for the info one of my co-workers gave him about one of the local hotel's she'd stayed in earlier in the season. left with no further comment and had all his stuff cleaned from his site within 5-10 minutes and left, presumably for somewhere in town. i must say, i am impressed. so far, that's the first time in 6 years something like that's happened that the person HASN'T pitched a wall-eyed fit.
the minor rant
the front desk is this huge wrap-around affair with 3 computer stations... 2 of which are used all the time, the last is only used when it gets truely busy. station 1 is near the door, station 2 in the middle, and station 3 (the least used one) is all the way over in the corner. the counter is tall, and station 1 also has a small side-desk that is very low (hip height). INVARIABLY.... people will walk up to whichever line they d*** well feel and set their crap down, like regardless of which computer i'm actually working on. station 1 ends up with 2 lines, because some people come to the counter, some to the low desk... station 2 ends up with 2 lines (or worse) sometimes because some come to the open bit of counter to the left of the computer, some to the right, and some people will set their stuff down to buy at computer 1, even if no one is there, forcing whoever is on 2 to walk over and pick everything up and move it (it's only a couple steps, but it gets REAL old when its all day every day and you have a sore ankle because you've sprained it several times over the last few years)... and station 3 when it's being used the worker has to call people over because being back in the corner guests/customers can't even see them over there.. and little kids always ALWAYS ALWAYS go to the low counter even if i'm alone (because the others are on break) all the way across on station 3... and giving them the "i'm not working over there... bring it over here, kid" look has no impact (again with the walking back and forth...
)
ok, so the campground where i am has these cute little cabins. there was a big bike race in town this past weekend, so every single cabin was reserved. oddly, one was only reserved for one day... but the reservation had been made via the automated online reservation system... so there was nothing that we could have screwed up, and we didn't think about it. there was, of course, another reservation made for the same cabin for the second day.
guest arrives late... after office hours, so all they got was a map to their site and the key... no interaction with an employee... and of course they went to the race bright and early the next day. checkout time (11:30) rolls around... they're not there.... an hour passes.... two... the other reservation calls to verify they will be arriving at 4.. we're like "oooo-kay.....
" we leave a note on the door something to the effect of "please stop by the office, checkout time was 11:30, there is another reservation for your site tonight."finally, at 5 minutes to 4, the guy comes in the office, note in hand, and opens with "please tell me this is a joke." we go back and forth briefly, with him getting visibly more agitated with each volley "no, it's not a joke. i'm sorry sir but your reservation was for only one day." "i made it here last year for 2 days!" "sir, according to the computer it was made over the internet just under a year ago, with a confirmation re-mailed a month later... no other alterations have been made to this reservation." "well, i brought my whole family, what do i tell them." "Again, i'm sorry sir. i wish there was something i could do, but now there is another guy bringing in his family..."
at that point he walked out, obviously frustrated. i preemptively called the boss, because i figured this guy *might* raise all kinds of holy hell and the boss might need to handle the situation to calm them down/get them out/whatever... boss shows up to the office just as the guy comes back in... to ask for a list of local hotels!
he didn't give us any crap at all, and even tho he was still obviously upset and frustrated, was thankful for the info one of my co-workers gave him about one of the local hotel's she'd stayed in earlier in the season. left with no further comment and had all his stuff cleaned from his site within 5-10 minutes and left, presumably for somewhere in town. i must say, i am impressed. so far, that's the first time in 6 years something like that's happened that the person HASN'T pitched a wall-eyed fit.the minor rant
the front desk is this huge wrap-around affair with 3 computer stations... 2 of which are used all the time, the last is only used when it gets truely busy. station 1 is near the door, station 2 in the middle, and station 3 (the least used one) is all the way over in the corner. the counter is tall, and station 1 also has a small side-desk that is very low (hip height). INVARIABLY.... people will walk up to whichever line they d*** well feel and set their crap down, like regardless of which computer i'm actually working on. station 1 ends up with 2 lines, because some people come to the counter, some to the low desk... station 2 ends up with 2 lines (or worse) sometimes because some come to the open bit of counter to the left of the computer, some to the right, and some people will set their stuff down to buy at computer 1, even if no one is there, forcing whoever is on 2 to walk over and pick everything up and move it (it's only a couple steps, but it gets REAL old when its all day every day and you have a sore ankle because you've sprained it several times over the last few years)... and station 3 when it's being used the worker has to call people over because being back in the corner guests/customers can't even see them over there.. and little kids always ALWAYS ALWAYS go to the low counter even if i'm alone (because the others are on break) all the way across on station 3... and giving them the "i'm not working over there... bring it over here, kid" look has no impact (again with the walking back and forth...
)