Pushing a dolly/cart...

[goose]

I don't talk to people when I am pushing a dolly except to say "excuse us, please." This is usually because I am pushing something heavy or because I am concentrating on pushing something up a hill and or both. Anyone that has every pushed Ice Cream 16 up the Critter Country hill will tell you that stopping and having a conversation with a guest is a very bad idea. Not only do you lose your momentum and your speed, you also endanger others around you. When you are pushing something heavy, you can't be distracted by people trying to ask you where the fast pass is.

I usually do not answer questions. If a guest is lucky they will get a one or two word response. That is it. People should have enough common sense to not stop and ask someone a question when they are pushing something heavy. I'm sorry, but I don't want to stop a very heavy cart 10 different times to answer a dumb question. Those carts are heavy and I'm not the strongest person in the world.

I started this topic today because I did a push in with a girl. People kept asking us questions while we were pushing it in. She would stop and answer all these questions at length. The cart wasn't that heavy, but still. I just hope this doesn't happen when we are pushing a cart up the Critter Country hill. I will have no problem giving her my two cents if that happens.

Maybe I'm out of line. But when I see an employee pushing something heavy, I leave them the hell alone and ask the next employee standing ten feet away from them.

Thoughts?

[Ho-say]

I couldn't agree more. In the past I've picked up shifts in the parks doing PAC just to get a break my normal work location and to do something different for a change. Usually it's a good time and a break from the norm, but it too is riddled with it's share of SGTs.

Therefore, I too am baffled when people - who can clearly see you're struggling with something heavy - stop you in the midst of a task to ask you questions. I remember the first time I put out stanchions around Thanksgiving time for the first night of "Spectacle of Lights" at the Studios. Now, these each weigh approx 75 lbs and rolling them out for your first time can be a little awkward. So beside the fact that I was trying to roll them out and set them up, trying desperately with my most polite "excuse me, folks" to get past a long lingering crowd of guests waiting to see Mike W. and Sully on their last set on Commissary Lane....while trying not to run over people's feet - and yet a constant stream of guests continue to ask me when/where Fantasmic! is or where the heck the closest restroom is - or better yet, where the ABC Commissary is (um, turn 180° and look right in front of you....LOL)

If I were the only CM in the area, I'd almost understand - but you can see 3 of us sweating our tails off to get these set up before nightfall, plus there were 2 character greeters in the area and at least one custodial CM sweeping just outside the ABC Commissary. Who would you pick to ask?

Looking back - it's pretty funny actually..but at the time I was fairly annoyed.

[CBeilby]

It was the same for me when I was in Custodial. I dreaded having to push the 6-liner up Critter hill only to get stopped by a guest. I can't even imagine what it must have been like back when all the areas had the 8-liners...

[VICisGOOFY]

I would of just said one short statement: "ASK ANOTHER CAST MEMBER". I could not agree any more with you guys. Try that statement more often.

[leftcoaster]

I remember the first time I put out stanchions around Thanksgiving time for the first night of "Spectacle of Lights" at the Studios. Now, these each weigh approx 75 lbs and rolling them out for your first time can be a little awkward. So beside the fact that I was trying to roll them out and set them up, trying desperately with my most polite "excuse me, folks" to get past a long lingering crowd of guests waiting to see Mike W. and Sully on their last set on Commissary Lane... while trying not to run over people's feet - and yet a constant stream of guests continue to ask me when/where Fantasmic! is or where the heck the closest restroom is - or better yet, where the ABC Commissary is (um, turn 180° and look right in front of you... LOL)

If I were the only CM in the area, I'd almost understand - but you can see 3 of us sweating our tails off to get these set up before nightfall, plus there were 2 character greeters in the area and at least one custodial CM sweeping just outside the ABC Commissary. Who would you pick to ask?

Maybe rolling one over a SGT's foot would get the point across. :twisted:

I agree as well. Defintiely no need to bother the CM working his/her butt off.

[Main Streeter]

I started this topic today because I did a push in with a girl. People kept asking us questions while we were pushing it in. She would stop and answer all these questions at length. The cart wasn't that heavy, but still. I just hope this doesn't happen when we are pushing a cart up the Critter Country hill. I will have no problem giving her my two cents if that happens.

Maybe I'm out of line. But when I see an employee pushing something heavy, I leave them the hell alone and ask the next employee standing ten feet away from them.

Thoughts?

When pushing or tugging all you ODV CMs have to think abt is safety! Yours as well as the guests'!! Talking to guests, SG or not, could cause a disaster. Forget they exist & tend to your wagon or cart. As for your CM who stopped to answer guests....she'll not last in ODV long. If she does stay with ODV the CMs will set her straight in a short time - without even going through leads or managers. ODV CMs take care of each other in the most creative ways ]

[IndyandMarion]

75 pounds? That's it? Whoa. I thought those things were heavier than that. And the managers suggested I rolled them instead of carrying them. Screw that, give me like three of them and I'll carry them to the location.

Yeah at coaster when I'm out in the courtyard in the first 30 minutes of the morning (Which is rare now adays) and the line is like OUT THE DOOR to Epic (so to speak), then I'll run backstage and grab the cart with the rope que (Notice: We use a hard que, or a chain que for another way of describing it, for the main que but we still need to more than that sometimes..but what can you expect from the #1 attraction on property, seriously).

Anyway, I'll blast my way from backstage and to the location where the poles need to be set up (At this point, if the line is passed the stand by entrance, it's a race against the guests and the finish line is twenty feet in front of you) and when I'm movin, guests know it but they still look at me and the cart like a monkey doing a math problem.

Just remember though, while "Ask another cast member" as you go by the guest will normally result in a "I'm going to report him/her for bad guest service" (Trust me, I've had this happen a few times at coaster, once to me, but then again, I really didn't have my hands full of poles for the que at that moment, least not to the guest anyway).

[Alyssa3467]

My interactions with Cast Members pushing heavy objects is usually limited to getting the hell out of the way, often accompanied by intentionally getting in the way of other guests who are about to walk into the path of said Cast Member. :twisted:

[IndyandMarion]

My interactions with Cast Members pushing heavy objects is usually limited to getting the hell out of the way, often accompanied by intentionally getting in the way of other guests who are about to walk into the path of said Cast Member. :twisted:

Right. But sometimes it can also affect the fate of the world if you step in front of them to head them off. Let em get hit, maybe it will raise the IQ of the world a point or two if some of these people are taken out. Not that I aim at guests with a cart or anything...ok so maybe just that one time. Ok fine, twice. Alright Alright. Everytime. Happy now?

[Main Streeter]

Let em get hit, maybe it will raise the IQ of the world a point or two if some of these people are taken out. Not that I aim at guests with a cart or anything...ok so maybe just that one time. Ok fine, twice. Alright Alright. Everytime. Happy now?

:D: :) :D: Funny post IndyandMarion! Like the way you think ]