thunderstorm WARNING

[thehippie777]

So a major front passed over our fair city this evening. It happens, it's that time of year. There were thunderstorm warnings every half an hour tonight, I swear. This of course caused some concern for guests.

I get a guest from inside a room call down.

SC: oh the hail! run!
Me: It's going to be okay! (inside my little brains)

Me: Front Desk
SC: Hi I am calling about these warnings on the tv. I am not sure what county we are in...
Me: okay... We are in Yellowstone, which yes, is having a severe thunderstorm warning currently. It's not unsual for this time of year.
SC: Okay. Are we really going to get baseball-sized hail???? (call the national weather service, not me)
Me: Um...that is a good question. I am not sure. I am not a weatherman. (I didn't want to inform him that it's happened before. I had also not seen a warning for hail.) I am sure sorry.
SC: ...okay...
Me: Sure, sorry.
*click*

Honestly, why call me? It disturbs me that people who barely have a high school education can work a front desk and yet the front desk is apparently expected to know...um everything??? We are also expected to never make mistakes...hmph

[StormCMage]

that's weird, still I don't understand how anyone could be freaked by a thunderstorm, unless they are outside during said storm, personally I find them quite soothing

then again even as a little kid I didn't mind them so maybe I am missing something here?

[One-Fang]

I'm not sure the national weather service would appreciate a call from a random guest from some hotel asking what county they're in.

If I were unsure, I would go to front desk first for both those questions. Probably not so much "are we going to get" as "is it possible to get"... just checking that the TV isn't exaggerating and this sort of thing has actually happened in this district before.

[marasbaras]

We call the front desk about things like that because, um, you live there. You should have a clue about what weather might be like in your part of the world.

[crazylegs]

We call the front desk about things like that because, um, you live there. You should have a clue about what weather might be like in your part of the world.

I'd imagine this is true in most instances but I'd also imagine that most hotel rooms have a TV with a news and/or weather channel. I can see why you'd want to know which county you're in however the front desk probably doesn't have a TV so the guest is more likely to have access to more information that the staff.

[thehippie777]

We call the front desk about things like that because, um, you live there. You should have a clue about what weather might be like in your part of the world.

I don't have a problem with the county question nor the weather question, the guest wanted to know if it was actually gonna hail. To which...uh...it could hail or it couldn't. I don't have the answer to that for sure. And he wanted to know if it was actually gonna be baseball-sized. We've had it before, awhile ago. IF it does hail here, it's more like marble sized. It hails RARELY. I felt like the guest wanted me to tell him if it was for sure.

[edible_hat]

Apparently I'm supposed to know where the fish are biting even though my work is 20 minutes from the ocean, so you must at least have a degree in meteorology!

[jerkface11]

We all know you havea synthetic aperture pulse doppler radar "in the back".

[smileyeagle1021]

I'd imagine this is true in most instances but I'd also imagine that most hotel rooms have a TV with a news and/or weather channel. I can see why you'd want to know which county you're in however the front desk probably doesn't have a TV so the guest is more likely to have access to more information that the staff.

yeah at the call center I have people who are upset because I don't know what the weather is like at the hotel... it's like come on, the people at the desk probably don't know what the weather is... I've before done my grave shift where I've gone out in the morning and found puddles everywhere, big puddles, and I didn't even know it was raining, when I went into work it was partly cloudy and there aren't any windows close enough to the desk to see out of.

[Librarybabe]

Oh the other hand...

I was in another county for a conference a couple weeks ago. A sever thunderstorm warning was broadcast for several counties, one of which was where I was staying. "Quarter-size" hail was possible. I called the hotel desk to inquire about the nearest covered parking...turns out it was miles away, so moving my car wasn't an option...and no hail fell.
If I heard "baseball-size" hail in the forcast, I'd be looking for a garage bay to put my car in.

[donruss]

that's weird, still I don't understand how anyone could be freaked by a thunderstorm, unless they are outside during said storm, personally I find them quite soothing

then again even as a little kid I didn't mind them so maybe I am missing something here?

I like thunderstorms as well but I live in the lightning capital of the world so it can be a concern.

[ebonyknight]

that's weird, still I don't understand how anyone could be freaked by a thunderstorm, unless they are outside during said storm, personally I find them quite soothing

then again even as a little kid I didn't mind them so maybe I am missing something here?

They are most likely worried about hail damage to their car.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

that's weird, still I don't understand how anyone could be freaked by a thunderstorm, unless they are outside during said storm, personally I find them quite soothing

then again even as a little kid I didn't mind them so maybe I am missing something here?

Ask the folks around here who went through the Uber-Thunderstorm of 2001.

Softball-sized hail blown around by 80 mph winds or so. Every car that wasn't in a covered space got battered. The dents on my mom's car were too numerous to count and we had to wait months to get it into a body shop.

99% of the time, when a severe thunderstorm warning is issued for my area, it doesn't amount to much. A couple nice gusts of wind, maybe some small hail, but generally not all that destructive.

That being said, that was a stupidly-phrased question. Nobody can say for certain whether hail is going to occur in a particular area, they just mention it's a possibility. A better way to communicate your concern might be "I just saw on the TV we may get quarter-size hail, is there a covered area where I could park my car until the storm blows over?"

[angelicafire]

We all know you havea synthetic aperture pulse doppler radar "in the back".

BWAH HA HA!

Ok, that made my day, thanks!

But I agree with the suckiness of the customer. It wasn't that they wanted to know the county, the question was phrased as if the front desk knew the future of the weather. I used to work front desk myself, and I was pretty good, but I was never even close to being the psychic weathergirl.

[Alexandra]

Back in November 2003 we had a tornado warning, a tornado had been spotted about 7 miles from where I live.

Come to find out the tornado had touched down IN TOWN, literally missed us by a mile--our power never even flickered! It flattened a few buildings right next to where my husband works and tore up a park. No one was hurt, though.

But it's like severe t-storm warnings...you get them so much here in Ohio...I just turn it on the Weather Channel and chill.