The bison are mating, it’s time to complain
With all the testosterone in the air from the Bison, I think it’s making me fiesty as well. Working for Xanterra hasn’t been the best experience ever, but I’ve stayed positive because there are awesome people here and I get to live in a National Park. But, when you work in a national park, which brings in over 3 million visitors per year, you are serving people that are sometimes just unbelievable. Last night, my tables were happy. I never had my tables waiting for absurd amounts of time, and I was full of smiles and all that shit. I went home feeling good about the night, having gotten reasonable tips and no complaints.
This morning, after a terrible breakfast shift, I got called in to the office for my third “discussion record.” A discussion record is Xanterra’s way of telling you you suck and having it on paper. The other two I got were for not declaring cash tips and for calling the pubtender a dick (he was being a dick). Anyways, apparently some table was unhappy with me last night, unbeknownst to me. Judging by the last name, an Indian name, it was my last table. They were totally happy the whole night!! Or so I thought! They wrote a comment card saying I was “barely seen” and didn’t talk to them much. What?! This job just makes me really dislike people that think their shit doesn’t stink. I’m sorry, but they had a 45 minute ticket time, which is SUPER fast service, and they didn’t seem like the talkative type of table, so I didn’t chat them up with the usual story. It just sucks sometimes to deal with people like this. And unfortunately, Xanterra takes this kind of stuff seriously; even though the customers were ridiculous, whatever they say is what they care about.
SO, if you ever want to be a terrible customer at the Lake Hotel, here are some tips:
Order hot water (why people drink hot water is beyond me)
Complain about your entree after you’ve eaten the entire thing; the managers will comp anything if you complain
Insist on sitting at a window table, even though doing so often double seats your server
Pay cash and ask for change
Order off the menu at breakfast
Order OATMEAL at breakfast
Flag your waitress down when he/she is at another table as if you’re trying to land an airplane
Fill out a nasty comment card
Tell your server she’s the worst server you’ve ever had because your food is taking too long (something that has nothing to do with the server, and which happened to me, resulting in me crying in the walk-in for 10 minutes)
Pretend that you’re European and don’t know that you should tip more than $2 on a $300 check
Working here has been fun, except for the company and the clientele. After getting home last night, I came into my room and my roommate had done an amazingly artistic art installation in our room. He put up a curtain around our light, going down into a big metal trash can that we acquired, and covered the sheet in glow in the dark stars. So it was like a light tube coming down from the ceiling. Within 10 minutes the RC came and wrote us up for talking (which is standard), and told us we had to take it down. Come on! We are adults! We pay for these rooms. Xanterra is the worst. And I’m not the only one who thinks so:
http://xanterrible.blogspot.com/2005/06/please-write-to-this-site.html
People are getting fired or quitting every other day, and the plethora of stories I have about ridiculous firings is too much to even begin.
Anyways, Xanterra sucks, and the Bison are mating.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Last night, someone came up to me at the end of the dinner shift and asked if I had driven to work. I always drive at night because I’m scared of wildlife, and so I said yes. They asked for a ride because apparently there were hoards of Bison coming towards the hotel. It was true: when I got off last night, the basketball court, which is sort of like the Quad in front of the dorms, was covered with snorting bison. This morning, as I walked out to my car to go to work, there were at least 20 on the courts, just waking up. I hopped in my car and zoomed away. I’m not trying to piss off some horny horned animals. Not today!
