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I dealt with the same difficult customer on two different days earlier this week & a polite but persistent customer earlier this week. Long post
I work as a parking attendant inside a booth for the Visitor Parking garage at a university located in the city where I live. The department I report to, Visitor Parking/Community Relations, is responsible for reserving parking spaces for guest(s) coming to the university for business purposes only & for special events. The Visitor Parking garage is small, it only has 55 "regular" parking spots. Many people park in the garage at least 4 days a week: visitors, students since the President of the school allows students to park as long as they pay the $5.00 to exit [there are student parking lots where the student can park with a parking tag that they purchase, but since Visitor Parking is considered Visitor Parking & not student parking, students still have to pay], & guests on the event list [the Visitor Parking assistant makes the event list which I pick up at dispatch before clocking in every morning]. The spaces that are not reserved are on a first come first serve basis.
Several times this week I had to call Visitor Parking/Community Relations to have the lot open sign, which is in front of the garage, switched to full because there were only enough parking spots for everyone on the event list. This prevents anyone not on the event list from entering the garage.
Here is the difficult customer which I dealt on 2 separate occassions earlier this week:
The first incident: He drove up to park. Since he was not on the event list, & the full sign was on, I told him the garage was full. He told me a car left the garage. Since I could not tell if it left the staff parking garage, which is to the left of the booth, or behind me at Visitor Parking, I told him I had to go into the garage to count the # of spaces available. There is not a gate counter. I was facing the street in front of the booth. If I face the garage, I would not know when a customer drove up to the booth window. I went into the garage & counted the number of spaces. I noticed that a long van took up 2 spaces. There were only enough spaces for everyone on the event list. I came back to the booth, & told him that unfortunately there are only enough spaces for everyone on the event list & that there is a long van taking up 2 spaces. He told me he was convinced there was a space for him, & that he wanted to go into the garage to look. I repeated what I just told him. He told me he could not hear me. I repeated what I just told him . He told me he could not hear me. I repeated what I just told him again. Since he would not leave, I had to call the director of Visitor Parking/Community Relations to let her know I had a customer, not on the event list & the garage was reserved, who would not leave. He left when he saw me on the phone. 2 days later he came back telling me he saw a car leave. The same situation with not knowing which garage the car left from. I told him I had to reserve a certain number of spots, that if there were only that certain # of spots he could not park, but if there were extra spots available, then he could park. He told me I was not doing my job correctly since he saw me let a white van [the Aramark, the company staffing the food court, van has its own paking space in the garage; there is a sign against a wall in the garage stating "reserved for Aramark van only; enforced 24 hours a day"]. I told him "I'm so sorry, but I do know how to do my job" he said "no you don't", & I went into the garage to count the # of spaces available. Luckily, there were some spaces available.
The polite but persistent customer:
She came the same day I had to reserve parking spaces for the blood techs here to draw blood for the blood drive as well as several other spaces for other guests. Since I had already made several trips to count the # of parking spaces available, I knew when she arrived there were only enough parking spaces for everyone on the event list. She said she was here for the blood drive. Since the blood techs here to draw blood for the blood drive had already arrived, I asked her what company she was with. She said she was not with any company, she was a volunteer at the blood drive. I told her the garage was full. She told me she spoke to an employee in Student Activities who told her she could park in the garage for her 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. shift. It was after 12 p.m. when she arrived. She also told me I could call the employee working in Student Activities. According to the director of Visitor Parking/Community Relations, I can only her or her staff members when someone mentions you can call this person since I only report to her & her staff members. Unfortunately, Student Activities did not contact Visitor Parking/Community Relations to reserve a space for her. I called the director to expain the situation since I had a feeling she would not leave. She asked me how many spaces were available, & when I told her the #, she said to let her know it was reserved. I told the lady what my manager told me, & she asked me for her name. I gave her my manager's name. She then asked me if I could have my manager call the employee she spoke to who works in Student Activities because she still wants to park in the garage even though she was told it was reserved. I called the director again, explained what I told the lady, & what she told me. At this point the director was pissed. She told me she would speak to lady herself. I gave the phone to the lady, & my manager got the lady to leave in less than 2 minutes.
I work as a parking attendant inside a booth for the Visitor Parking garage at a university located in the city where I live. The department I report to, Visitor Parking/Community Relations, is responsible for reserving parking spaces for guest(s) coming to the university for business purposes only & for special events. The Visitor Parking garage is small, it only has 55 "regular" parking spots. Many people park in the garage at least 4 days a week: visitors, students since the President of the school allows students to park as long as they pay the $5.00 to exit [there are student parking lots where the student can park with a parking tag that they purchase, but since Visitor Parking is considered Visitor Parking & not student parking, students still have to pay], & guests on the event list [the Visitor Parking assistant makes the event list which I pick up at dispatch before clocking in every morning]. The spaces that are not reserved are on a first come first serve basis.
Several times this week I had to call Visitor Parking/Community Relations to have the lot open sign, which is in front of the garage, switched to full because there were only enough parking spots for everyone on the event list. This prevents anyone not on the event list from entering the garage.
Here is the difficult customer which I dealt on 2 separate occassions earlier this week:
The first incident: He drove up to park. Since he was not on the event list, & the full sign was on, I told him the garage was full. He told me a car left the garage. Since I could not tell if it left the staff parking garage, which is to the left of the booth, or behind me at Visitor Parking, I told him I had to go into the garage to count the # of spaces available. There is not a gate counter. I was facing the street in front of the booth. If I face the garage, I would not know when a customer drove up to the booth window. I went into the garage & counted the number of spaces. I noticed that a long van took up 2 spaces. There were only enough spaces for everyone on the event list. I came back to the booth, & told him that unfortunately there are only enough spaces for everyone on the event list & that there is a long van taking up 2 spaces. He told me he was convinced there was a space for him, & that he wanted to go into the garage to look. I repeated what I just told him. He told me he could not hear me. I repeated what I just told him . He told me he could not hear me. I repeated what I just told him again. Since he would not leave, I had to call the director of Visitor Parking/Community Relations to let her know I had a customer, not on the event list & the garage was reserved, who would not leave. He left when he saw me on the phone. 2 days later he came back telling me he saw a car leave. The same situation with not knowing which garage the car left from. I told him I had to reserve a certain number of spots, that if there were only that certain # of spots he could not park, but if there were extra spots available, then he could park. He told me I was not doing my job correctly since he saw me let a white van [the Aramark, the company staffing the food court, van has its own paking space in the garage; there is a sign against a wall in the garage stating "reserved for Aramark van only; enforced 24 hours a day"]. I told him "I'm so sorry, but I do know how to do my job" he said "no you don't", & I went into the garage to count the # of spaces available. Luckily, there were some spaces available.
The polite but persistent customer:
She came the same day I had to reserve parking spaces for the blood techs here to draw blood for the blood drive as well as several other spaces for other guests. Since I had already made several trips to count the # of parking spaces available, I knew when she arrived there were only enough parking spaces for everyone on the event list. She said she was here for the blood drive. Since the blood techs here to draw blood for the blood drive had already arrived, I asked her what company she was with. She said she was not with any company, she was a volunteer at the blood drive. I told her the garage was full. She told me she spoke to an employee in Student Activities who told her she could park in the garage for her 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. shift. It was after 12 p.m. when she arrived. She also told me I could call the employee working in Student Activities. According to the director of Visitor Parking/Community Relations, I can only her or her staff members when someone mentions you can call this person since I only report to her & her staff members. Unfortunately, Student Activities did not contact Visitor Parking/Community Relations to reserve a space for her. I called the director to expain the situation since I had a feeling she would not leave. She asked me how many spaces were available, & when I told her the #, she said to let her know it was reserved. I told the lady what my manager told me, & she asked me for her name. I gave her my manager's name. She then asked me if I could have my manager call the employee she spoke to who works in Student Activities because she still wants to park in the garage even though she was told it was reserved. I called the director again, explained what I told the lady, & what she told me. At this point the director was pissed. She told me she would speak to lady herself. I gave the phone to the lady, & my manager got the lady to leave in less than 2 minutes.
to your director. I'm sorry people are such brats about the parking situation.
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