What industry am I in again?

[4thecatylist]

Me=overworked rental clerk
SC= lady with way too high of an opinion of herself

Me: *Basic company spiel*, can I help you?
SC: Yes, I need to know if you have canopies.
Me: Yes we do. A 20x20 tent is $250 and a 20x40 tent is $350 plus delivery.
SC: (Heavy sigh, transmission shifts into sucky gear). I don't need walls. I just need the top. Do you rent canopies?
Me: ...
Me: Well, our tents don't come with walls. They are only available separately.
SC: No, I just need the canopy. Do you have a small one?
Me: Well, what we rent are pole tents and our smallest one is 10x10. It is seventy five dollars. If you are looking for a pop-up tent I am afraid I don't have any of those available to buy or rent.
SC: Nevermind. *click*


Hmm. Let me think about this. One of us is mentally deficient in our refusal to recognize the meanings of the words of the American English language. Oh wait, I have right here in front of me the instruction manual for this piece of vinyl fabric erected over a series of poles. It says right here on the front "10x10 pole tent". Produced by Warner Shelter. This woman is up against the entire temporary shelter industry.


Also on a related note we had a rough few weeks here. There was one tent we had set up on campus that we did not take down in time for a sudden storm and it went tumbling across the parking lot into some poor guys car.

The very next week I get a phone call at 1:30 from a group who had a 3pm delivery scheduled. I mention that I was just about to call them to see if the event was going to be called off due to the weather that was rolling in. Apparently they had taken the rain into consideration. They had decided that due to the storm they could not have their event in the muddy field and instead should move it to the parking lot. Where of course it would be our responsibility to protect their lot by holding the tent with water barrels instead of staking.

Now, allow me to explain something to everybody listening: water barrels are evil. Go up to a three foot long stake driven halfway into the ground at an angle, chain it to your truck and try to drag it. Not good results, right? It might move, but it is going to take a lot of force. Now try the same thing with a plastic barrel on a smooth parking lot. That thing is going to go flying along behind you. Water barreling is a practice used by a small number of tent rental companies that are bending over backward to please people. They do it in fair weather and they lose the protection of their insurance companies if something goes wrong. Somehow it has become public perception that they are somehow equal but that idea doesn't stand up to a two-minute mental exercise.

Fortunately wisdom prevailed and the event was canceled before I had time to wonder if a collapsed corner bracket would have enough force to crack a skull.

[fireheart]

It took me a while to realise that she would've wanted what we refer to as a gazebo down here, instead of a marquee (the former has no walls, the latter does).

And in our case, my dad believed in using bricks rather than water barrels.

[SuperDan]

And if the parking lot was asphalt rather than concrete, you can actually stake through asphalt too, with not much more difficulty than staking in clay soil.

[Mr Hero]

I read this thinking she needed a tarp.

[Aisling]

I was wondering if she wanted an awning? Although why anyone would rent something that's usually attached to a building, I have no idea...

[Caractacus_Potts]

to me a tent is one of those things you take camping to sleep in at night and to store your gear in, and it automatically comes with walls.

I can certainly see where some people would not know that a tent is a temporary portable shelter that comes in a wide variety of forms for many uses and may only be familiar with a "camping" style of tent.

Let me ask you this though, after the OP explained that the tents they rent do not come with walls unless you pay extra for them wouldn't you have been able to get over notion that tent=walls?

And in our case, my dad believed in using bricks rather than water barrels.

Water barrels, bricks, rocks; basically anything heavy will work in good calm weather. None of those is going to keep a tent from collapsing and flying away in a storm (and it sounds like these people were expecting to hold their event in a storm).

[Skeksin]

It took me a while to realise that she would've wanted what we refer to as a gazebo down here

Would this be the regular, dire or legendary dread variety?

[Ironclad Alibi]

Would this be the regular, dire or legendary dread variety?

For those not familiar with it, here is The Tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo

[Yarnil]

For those not familiar with it, here is The Tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo

OT:

[PatchO'Black]

For those not familiar with it, here is The Tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo

And here is an animated version of The Knights of The Dinner Table's retelling of the tale

[Andara Bledin]

Sometimes it's just easier to not "be right" and go with whatever they want it to be called then have to put up with them showing an inability to grasp unfamiliar terminology.

I'd hazard that the vast majority of people, when the hear the word "tent" will first think of camping and have a hard time with the idea of a canopy, which could be considered a specific sub-type.

Actually, unless the manufacturer is after confused customers, I'm not sure why they wouldn't have used the term canopy for their canopies, which have just about one function and basic form as opposed to the term tent, which could describe literally dozens of different types of constructions.

^-.-^