Tweet
From December 31, 2006
They stuck me at the lodge today (*grumbles*) instead of my favorite place, the lumber house. Anyway, I'm really glad I don't work at this place full time because the rest of the lodge staff tends to kiss the asses of all who come stay here. I do not kiss ass... Period. If people want something done they can do it themselves.
Case in point: Dining reservations. I do not make them. Period. But I can, however, direct you to somebody who can make them or where you can call. But don't bitch at me that I can't look up your reservation in the computer. That is a completely different system from the one I work on. Don't like that answer. Tough cookies. I always call up and find everything out on my own. It's not really that difficult and I know they tell you how to call when you check in.
Second... Why is everybody getting pissy that their tickets were dated wrong when they got here? Did the front desk or the person who was here before not mention that it was due to a glitch in the computer and it only takes a minute to swap out your tickets? I know I was explaining that to everybody and they were more than cool with that.
Did I mention that they renovated the lodge reception area to look just like the Titanic? Where's my life jacket for when the iceberg hits.
Personally, today is my last day and I just don't care. If the people are nice, I help them. If they're not, then that's their own problem. I might punch up an MST3K episode on YouTube after lunch and watch that.
More from December 31st
Ok, as some of you know I work ticket sales for a tourist trap living history museum (sorry, but it really is turning into a tourist trap these days), and today, for my last day, they decided to put me at a new location that I had never been to before to cover for somebody who called out.
Anyway, this ticket counter is in one of the newly renovated, higher end hotels here. My sole purpose is to provide tickets and general information about what is going on in the area and that is it. As much as they would like to think so, I am not a concierge, so I do not deal with dining and I do not deal with lodging at all. Need a dinner reservation? Call from your room phone or go talk with the front desk agents. After all, that's what they are there for. Don't try and pull the, "Well, they sent me over here." crap either because I will send you right back to where you came from. It is the front desk person's job to take care of you, always have been and always will be. As I've said before, I only sell tickets and give general information.
Now 99% of the time I sit at this desk and do nothing but surf the net. Literally, I might have one customer every hour... Maybe... If they customer is nice, I go out of my way to help some of these people, since I feel that politeness should be rewarded. If they're rude, however, they get what they paid for and that is it. Here are some examples of the people I've had to deal with today.
*I've had a few people who got mad that their tickets weren't dated out past the first of the year when their length of stay is until the second or third of January (if they stay on property they get a discount length of stay admission pass). Now, I made a point to explain this to customers at other locations that this was due to a computer glitch (which has now been resolved) and all they have to do is stop by any ticket location at some other point during their stay with the old tickets and their room card with their checkout date on it and we would swap out the tickets. This process takes two minutes maximum (we just return and resell the tickets to cash) and everybody I told to do this was cool with it. Apparently they didn't explain this to the people staying at this particular property, since both of the people I've had to swap tickets for today were pissed and kept saying that they should have dated it out properly when they first got here. When they got angry, I'd just explain about the computer glitch and that the programmer wasn't here that particular day to fix the error, so we've asked the guests staying at all five of our properties to swap out their tickets. Oh well, if they have a rotten attitude about it, then it's their problem.
*First thing this morning I had these people come up to me saying that they were supposed to have complementary tickets waiting for them. They also said (key word) they had a letter stating this fact. So I asked them for the letter as proof (to see if I could fix it right away for them) and they said the front desk took it. That made absolutely no sense, since the front desk doesn't take those things. I called the supervisor and asked her, and she just said to comp out the tickets to a special account but even she couldn't locate their tickets. They actually got mad at me because I couldn't look up their letter. If you're supposed to be getting something from us, and you have a letter to prove it, then hang on to the darn letter! It's not my problem that you chose not to hang on to the paper you needed.
*A while ago I had somebody coming up and said (before I could get a word in), "I assume you're the concierge so I need some safety pins." He was really snooty in his tone, too. Again, I =/= concierge and I explained this to him. I also asked if he was referring to a ticket clip by chance (since some people give ticket clips funny names and have referred to them as safety pins in the past). So he said, "Uh, no. You know, a safety pin that you can pin things together with? You do know what a safety pin is don't you? They said you had them." First of all, who said I had them? I most certainly do not. Second, I know perfectly well what a safety pin is. Third, I am not a store. I just directed him back to the front desk to check with them. Now the proper way to ask was just now when a gentleman said, "I know you probably don't have any safety pins back there, but do you have a couple of paper clips I could have by chance?" I got him his paper clips and gave him a few extras if he needed them. See, he was rewarded for being nice. Apparently he has a couple of cuff links that need pinning but doesn't have any safety pins to use. Hey, can't fault him for being resourceful now, can we?
*This is a moment right out of Clerks. This guy comes up to me and wants to know if there was a bus that went around and where it picked up. This was as a shuttle bus was pulling in right behind me clearly visible through the glass door behind me, labeled with the place I work in big letters. The sad thing is he'd been staying for a few days already and still hadn't figured that one out yet. Going back to Clerks, that reminds me of the time where the girl said, "How much are these?" with the sign saying, "ALL ITEMS $.99" right above it.
*This woman came up to me and demanded to know where the nearest place to get a cookie for her kid was, since her kid was really hungry. I told her, and she didn't believe me when I told her that the nearest place was about 3/4 of a mile down the road. Now, while this is a museum, we do not restrict you on bringing your own food into the area. We are not an amusement park and we are not looking to make lots of money off of overpriced food by forcing you to buy in the area. If you would like to bring a full on picnic lunch, that is more than fine with us. Again, this person had been staying here for a few days, so you would've thought by now she would have possibly gone to get a few snacks for night time when the restaurants were closed, especially since she had a small child with her. I was nice, and she still got mad and wanted to know of a place closer. So she goes and asked somebody else working here and they told her the exact same thing. Can't please everybody I guess.
*I've had so many people ask where some gala is tonight. Again, I have no clue, especially since I haven't heard of any galas happening here. I just sell tickets and anything hotel related is what the front desk is for. Don't get mad at me when I can't just magically answer that via mind reading and send you over to the desk. I'm trying my best to accommodate you, and that also means I'll try and point you in the proper direction for information.
In the end, I guess I'm not used to working what could almost be referred to as "kiss-ass customer service" kinds of places, much like the place I work for now. While I will miss all of my co-workers dearly, and the job itself isn't necessarily bad, but the people who come here to visit leave a whole lot to be desired attitude-wise.
They stuck me at the lodge today (*grumbles*) instead of my favorite place, the lumber house. Anyway, I'm really glad I don't work at this place full time because the rest of the lodge staff tends to kiss the asses of all who come stay here. I do not kiss ass... Period. If people want something done they can do it themselves.
Case in point: Dining reservations. I do not make them. Period. But I can, however, direct you to somebody who can make them or where you can call. But don't bitch at me that I can't look up your reservation in the computer. That is a completely different system from the one I work on. Don't like that answer. Tough cookies. I always call up and find everything out on my own. It's not really that difficult and I know they tell you how to call when you check in.
Second... Why is everybody getting pissy that their tickets were dated wrong when they got here? Did the front desk or the person who was here before not mention that it was due to a glitch in the computer and it only takes a minute to swap out your tickets? I know I was explaining that to everybody and they were more than cool with that.
Did I mention that they renovated the lodge reception area to look just like the Titanic? Where's my life jacket for when the iceberg hits.
Personally, today is my last day and I just don't care. If the people are nice, I help them. If they're not, then that's their own problem. I might punch up an MST3K episode on YouTube after lunch and watch that.
More from December 31st
Ok, as some of you know I work ticket sales for a tourist trap living history museum (sorry, but it really is turning into a tourist trap these days), and today, for my last day, they decided to put me at a new location that I had never been to before to cover for somebody who called out.
Anyway, this ticket counter is in one of the newly renovated, higher end hotels here. My sole purpose is to provide tickets and general information about what is going on in the area and that is it. As much as they would like to think so, I am not a concierge, so I do not deal with dining and I do not deal with lodging at all. Need a dinner reservation? Call from your room phone or go talk with the front desk agents. After all, that's what they are there for. Don't try and pull the, "Well, they sent me over here." crap either because I will send you right back to where you came from. It is the front desk person's job to take care of you, always have been and always will be. As I've said before, I only sell tickets and give general information.
Now 99% of the time I sit at this desk and do nothing but surf the net. Literally, I might have one customer every hour... Maybe... If they customer is nice, I go out of my way to help some of these people, since I feel that politeness should be rewarded. If they're rude, however, they get what they paid for and that is it. Here are some examples of the people I've had to deal with today.
*I've had a few people who got mad that their tickets weren't dated out past the first of the year when their length of stay is until the second or third of January (if they stay on property they get a discount length of stay admission pass). Now, I made a point to explain this to customers at other locations that this was due to a computer glitch (which has now been resolved) and all they have to do is stop by any ticket location at some other point during their stay with the old tickets and their room card with their checkout date on it and we would swap out the tickets. This process takes two minutes maximum (we just return and resell the tickets to cash) and everybody I told to do this was cool with it. Apparently they didn't explain this to the people staying at this particular property, since both of the people I've had to swap tickets for today were pissed and kept saying that they should have dated it out properly when they first got here. When they got angry, I'd just explain about the computer glitch and that the programmer wasn't here that particular day to fix the error, so we've asked the guests staying at all five of our properties to swap out their tickets. Oh well, if they have a rotten attitude about it, then it's their problem.
*First thing this morning I had these people come up to me saying that they were supposed to have complementary tickets waiting for them. They also said (key word) they had a letter stating this fact. So I asked them for the letter as proof (to see if I could fix it right away for them) and they said the front desk took it. That made absolutely no sense, since the front desk doesn't take those things. I called the supervisor and asked her, and she just said to comp out the tickets to a special account but even she couldn't locate their tickets. They actually got mad at me because I couldn't look up their letter. If you're supposed to be getting something from us, and you have a letter to prove it, then hang on to the darn letter! It's not my problem that you chose not to hang on to the paper you needed.
*A while ago I had somebody coming up and said (before I could get a word in), "I assume you're the concierge so I need some safety pins." He was really snooty in his tone, too. Again, I =/= concierge and I explained this to him. I also asked if he was referring to a ticket clip by chance (since some people give ticket clips funny names and have referred to them as safety pins in the past). So he said, "Uh, no. You know, a safety pin that you can pin things together with? You do know what a safety pin is don't you? They said you had them." First of all, who said I had them? I most certainly do not. Second, I know perfectly well what a safety pin is. Third, I am not a store. I just directed him back to the front desk to check with them. Now the proper way to ask was just now when a gentleman said, "I know you probably don't have any safety pins back there, but do you have a couple of paper clips I could have by chance?" I got him his paper clips and gave him a few extras if he needed them. See, he was rewarded for being nice. Apparently he has a couple of cuff links that need pinning but doesn't have any safety pins to use. Hey, can't fault him for being resourceful now, can we?
*This is a moment right out of Clerks. This guy comes up to me and wants to know if there was a bus that went around and where it picked up. This was as a shuttle bus was pulling in right behind me clearly visible through the glass door behind me, labeled with the place I work in big letters. The sad thing is he'd been staying for a few days already and still hadn't figured that one out yet. Going back to Clerks, that reminds me of the time where the girl said, "How much are these?" with the sign saying, "ALL ITEMS $.99" right above it.
*This woman came up to me and demanded to know where the nearest place to get a cookie for her kid was, since her kid was really hungry. I told her, and she didn't believe me when I told her that the nearest place was about 3/4 of a mile down the road. Now, while this is a museum, we do not restrict you on bringing your own food into the area. We are not an amusement park and we are not looking to make lots of money off of overpriced food by forcing you to buy in the area. If you would like to bring a full on picnic lunch, that is more than fine with us. Again, this person had been staying here for a few days, so you would've thought by now she would have possibly gone to get a few snacks for night time when the restaurants were closed, especially since she had a small child with her. I was nice, and she still got mad and wanted to know of a place closer. So she goes and asked somebody else working here and they told her the exact same thing. Can't please everybody I guess.
*I've had so many people ask where some gala is tonight. Again, I have no clue, especially since I haven't heard of any galas happening here. I just sell tickets and anything hotel related is what the front desk is for. Don't get mad at me when I can't just magically answer that via mind reading and send you over to the desk. I'm trying my best to accommodate you, and that also means I'll try and point you in the proper direction for information.
In the end, I guess I'm not used to working what could almost be referred to as "kiss-ass customer service" kinds of places, much like the place I work for now. While I will miss all of my co-workers dearly, and the job itself isn't necessarily bad, but the people who come here to visit leave a whole lot to be desired attitude-wise.
