Beating up the Characters

[accioetoile]

I just had my interview for the College Program (I was full time at Mission:Sapce, and went seasonal to go back to school), and I want to go into Entertainment, so I was asked what I would do if a kid starting hitting me. Honestly, I had no idea what to say, other than to get the character attendant's attention if they were busy at the moment, and try to get out of the situation. But I don't understand why people think it's so funny to do something like that.

[joanna71985]

I just had my interview for the College Program (I was full time at Mission:Sapce, and went seasonal to go back to school), and I want to go into Entertainment, so I was asked what I would do if a kid starting hitting me. Honestly, I had no idea what to say, other than to get the character attendant's attention if they were busy at the moment, and try to get out of the situation. But I don't understand why people think it's so funny to do something like that.

That's just the problem though. People don't think.

[Ms. Matterhorn]

[quote="Doctor McKey"]

That is TOO funny!

[TalkingHands]

Happens outside of the parks too. I was helping the Pound Puppy at a child's birthday party one Saturday when the father comes up to me and grabs me in the privates. My clown hadn't arrived yet so I had to stay in character but believe me I avoided the guy after that. As soon as the clown arrived I let her know what happened and she spoke to the hostess. You have never seen a man sent off to the store so quickly. We finished out hour before he came back.

[felinefan]

The SGs obviously think they can get away with it, and as most of you have pointed out, most do. If we were to demand of our management that characters be protected from scummy SGs, pointing out that it is the characters that bring in the paying guests, they might see it differently. Yes, I can dream, but you gotta admit, it's a great dream. Seriously, there's no excuse for the character attendant to not step in and protect the character. What were the neglectful ones doing, checking out cute girls/guys? The attendant's primary responsibility is to the safety of the costumed character. Or should be.

I sometimes wonder if they're trying to get their tapes on "America's Funniest Videos'. I once read a newspaper article on how they select the tapes for AFV, and if actual abuse is on there, they won't use it. There was one tape they were looking at, where there was this 3 year old boy and a chicken, and off-camera the father could be heard telling his son to kick the chicken. First lesson in animal cruelty! Needless to say, they passed on the tape.

As for ships with SGs, they should put them off on a tiny, deserted island with no food or water. Tell them they're at the mercy of passing ships, but don't tell them they're nowhere near the shipping lanes. Or make them walk the plank! Make sure that there are plenty of hungry sharks in the vincinity, and dump a bucket of blood overboard to attract the sharks. Your problem will be over and theirs will have just begun! :twisted: :sharkbait

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

I'm not sure how I missed that since I tend to read over what I write at least twice.
I would go and edit it, but I guess too much time has gone by since I wrote it.

I kinda like the uncorrected version!! (hehehe)

[dancinghomer]

I kinda like the uncorrected version!! (hehehe)

I think my brain was telling me to leave it alone, so I'm gonna go with that as my excuse as to not catching it.

[hobie16]

As for ships with SGs, they should put them off on a tiny, deserted island with no food or water.

The island should have coconut palms. Lots of coconut palms loaded with lots of coconuts that are ripe and ready to fall. After a few near misses from the falling coconut our now coconut shy SG will spend most of their time in the water. :twisted:

[Theme Park Where]

I don't know what happened to the guy who attacked Shamu. I assume he paid some restitution. I know SW did take care of the performer's medical needs.

Yeah, I've been attacked at some private birthday party functions too. Had the birthday boy and his sister pull my tail off once. Unfortunately, I don't have a "clown" so I'm on my own in those situations. I'm pretty good at getting away and if the kids get destructive, I get off set, change clothes, and let the host or hostess know that I'm no longer going to appear. I usually get the money upfront too which helps! :D:

We used to get a memo or notice every time a character attack would be used in the media (a film or tv show for instance). I remember the number of attacks going up when Ace Ventura came out, for example, because the film ends with Ace tackling the mascot. I don't think the people who make these films realize that when they depict this behavior as funny, they encourage other people to mimic it in real life. Movie makers appear to be under the same false impression as everyone else that we're out there for them to have fun with, even when the "fun" they want to have is violent. Did you read the comments on that first link that was posted in this topic (the character ettiquette page)? One of the idiots commented that she thought the article was in jest because costumed characters were paid for that kind of thing and it was part of the job. They should just suck it up. Unfortunately, I think that's the attitude of a lot of people, including in some ways, the parks we work for.

[Big Wallaby]

Okay, I couldn't stand it. I had to post on that response.