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The park opens at 10 but every morning around 9:30 we start letting guests in early to alleviate turnstile lines and traffic from backing up all the way to the street. Honestly speaking it's really not worth it to come that early though because guests are still restricted from most of the park. All that is open to them is a front entry plaza with a couple minor activities and some cafes/shops. 98% of the good stuff like attractions and rides are all in areas of the park that are off limits until 10.
(All sorts of maintenance work is still being done at that time so it would be a huge safety hazard with vehicles zipping about the pathways. The only vehicles ever allowed to be on the pathways when there are guests present are ambulances in cases of medical emergencies. Even then we have to block off whole sections of the park when that happens. Also, all the gates leading to the back areas are wide open and we can't have guests just strolling on through)
There are four pathways that lead out to the rest of the park and each one is staffed by an employee from a respective department. Their job is basically to stand there and stop guests from going past them. It sounds easy enough but it can be tough when you are standing in front of huge crowds of anxious people just itching to get past you. There is a secret audio cue we have to listen for that lets us know when we can officially let them through but unfortunately that is usually a few minutes late. Those few minutes can feel like an eternity when you have an angry mob shouting "COME ON IT'S 10 NOW LET US IN"
Last Saturday morning I had the pleasure of having to staff one of these pathways.
Things were actually going pretty well. Usually you'll get at least a handful of people who try to sneak past you but I lucked out and had a good crowd in front of me that day. A few people weren't paying attention and tried to go by but when I explained to them that it was closed they were nice about it and even apologized. Everybody seemed to be in good spirits and totally understood that the park technically wasn't open yet. I only had 10 minutes left until the park opened and I'd estimate maybe 150 people waiting at my pathway. I was bouncing back and forth between guests to answer their questions and offer suggestions for their visit so I thought the next 10 minutes would go by like a breeze.
Then out of nowhere one of those middle-aged suburban mothers and her teenage son pushed their way through the crowd and started to power walk right on past me. I told the crowd to stay put while I gave chase. I could tell right away that she was going to be a problem. You know that "can I speak to the manager" haircut meme? It was like she went to a salon with that picture to specifically ask for it.
(This isn't 100% verbatim but I tried to do my best to remember. She was very quick to get defensive and aggressive so there was a lot of fast talking)
Me: Excuse me! Excuse me!
(She pretended not to hear me so I had to jog past and stop right in front of them)
Me: Hi good morning. Just to let you know, this area of the park is still closed until 10.
Her: I'm just trying to get to [ride].
Me: I understand but I can't let anyone past this point, if you could ple-
Her: Why not?
Me: Because this area of the park is still closed. Just about another 10 minutes and the park will be wide open!
Her: We're just going down this way, we know where it is.
Me: Okay that's fine but I still can't let you through.
Her: ... why?
Me: ... because this area is still off limits. It is closed. There are vehicles in the pathways. It's a safety issue.
Her: We'll be careful. We want to be first in line for the ride.
Me: I'm sorry, but I just can't. I need everybody to wait back there.
Her: *deep sigh, followed by that pissed off tongue-pressed-against-inner-cheek thing and shaking her head* My son is disabled. He just wants to go on the ride.
(Which he was, but still... no.)
Me: I still can't let anyone through just yet, I'm sorry.
Her: Why can't you let just us go? We're only two people. What's the big deal? We just want to go to [ride].
(At this point I was running out of ways to tell her that the area was closed. I didn't want to seem like a jerk so I was actually considering letting her in on the secret audio cue so she could listen for it and take off as soon as she heard it)
Me: I apologize but I just need you to hang tight for about another 10 minutes. Everything past this point is cl-
When I was mid-sentence she gave up and they stomped off back to the crowd. As they were walking back I heard her say to her son something like "He's not going to let us go, we'll just go the other way" but said in a tone that was clearly trying to paint me as a bad guy. They wiggled their way back through the group presumably to try and get in through the next pathway over, unaware that they'd be met with the exact same answer from the person staffing that pathway.
I just don't understand people sometimes.
- What part about "closed" do you not understand?
- Did you think that huge crowd was just standing there all grouped together for fun?
- If I had let you through I'd have lost control of that crowd in a second. They'd all just overtake me and go on by.
- If you had gone by and possibly gotten hit by a maintenance vehicle (which is possible, those guys are speed demons and I've had way more close calls with them than I can remember) I would put money on you being on the phone with a lawyer before you even hit the ground.
- Way to use your son's disability to try and guilt me. It didn't work and just made you come off even lower than you already did.
(All sorts of maintenance work is still being done at that time so it would be a huge safety hazard with vehicles zipping about the pathways. The only vehicles ever allowed to be on the pathways when there are guests present are ambulances in cases of medical emergencies. Even then we have to block off whole sections of the park when that happens. Also, all the gates leading to the back areas are wide open and we can't have guests just strolling on through)
There are four pathways that lead out to the rest of the park and each one is staffed by an employee from a respective department. Their job is basically to stand there and stop guests from going past them. It sounds easy enough but it can be tough when you are standing in front of huge crowds of anxious people just itching to get past you. There is a secret audio cue we have to listen for that lets us know when we can officially let them through but unfortunately that is usually a few minutes late. Those few minutes can feel like an eternity when you have an angry mob shouting "COME ON IT'S 10 NOW LET US IN"
Last Saturday morning I had the pleasure of having to staff one of these pathways.
Things were actually going pretty well. Usually you'll get at least a handful of people who try to sneak past you but I lucked out and had a good crowd in front of me that day. A few people weren't paying attention and tried to go by but when I explained to them that it was closed they were nice about it and even apologized. Everybody seemed to be in good spirits and totally understood that the park technically wasn't open yet. I only had 10 minutes left until the park opened and I'd estimate maybe 150 people waiting at my pathway. I was bouncing back and forth between guests to answer their questions and offer suggestions for their visit so I thought the next 10 minutes would go by like a breeze.
Then out of nowhere one of those middle-aged suburban mothers and her teenage son pushed their way through the crowd and started to power walk right on past me. I told the crowd to stay put while I gave chase. I could tell right away that she was going to be a problem. You know that "can I speak to the manager" haircut meme? It was like she went to a salon with that picture to specifically ask for it.
(This isn't 100% verbatim but I tried to do my best to remember. She was very quick to get defensive and aggressive so there was a lot of fast talking)
Me: Excuse me! Excuse me!
(She pretended not to hear me so I had to jog past and stop right in front of them)
Me: Hi good morning. Just to let you know, this area of the park is still closed until 10.
Her: I'm just trying to get to [ride].
Me: I understand but I can't let anyone past this point, if you could ple-
Her: Why not?
Me: Because this area of the park is still closed. Just about another 10 minutes and the park will be wide open!
Her: We're just going down this way, we know where it is.
Me: Okay that's fine but I still can't let you through.
Her: ... why?
Me: ... because this area is still off limits. It is closed. There are vehicles in the pathways. It's a safety issue.
Her: We'll be careful. We want to be first in line for the ride.
Me: I'm sorry, but I just can't. I need everybody to wait back there.
Her: *deep sigh, followed by that pissed off tongue-pressed-against-inner-cheek thing and shaking her head* My son is disabled. He just wants to go on the ride.
(Which he was, but still... no.)
Me: I still can't let anyone through just yet, I'm sorry.
Her: Why can't you let just us go? We're only two people. What's the big deal? We just want to go to [ride].
(At this point I was running out of ways to tell her that the area was closed. I didn't want to seem like a jerk so I was actually considering letting her in on the secret audio cue so she could listen for it and take off as soon as she heard it)
Me: I apologize but I just need you to hang tight for about another 10 minutes. Everything past this point is cl-
When I was mid-sentence she gave up and they stomped off back to the crowd. As they were walking back I heard her say to her son something like "He's not going to let us go, we'll just go the other way" but said in a tone that was clearly trying to paint me as a bad guy. They wiggled their way back through the group presumably to try and get in through the next pathway over, unaware that they'd be met with the exact same answer from the person staffing that pathway.
I just don't understand people sometimes.
- What part about "closed" do you not understand?
- Did you think that huge crowd was just standing there all grouped together for fun?
- If I had let you through I'd have lost control of that crowd in a second. They'd all just overtake me and go on by.
- If you had gone by and possibly gotten hit by a maintenance vehicle (which is possible, those guys are speed demons and I've had way more close calls with them than I can remember) I would put money on you being on the phone with a lawyer before you even hit the ground.
- Way to use your son's disability to try and guilt me. It didn't work and just made you come off even lower than you already did.
)
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