Stupid Guest Tricks

The other night I was working DTD. It's about 12:30am and I pickup at PI for Port Orleans. Now at DTD we have shared loadzones as Big Wallaby described in an earlier post. SG's just assume that a bus is going to all the resorts listed on the sign. A bus that does multiple resorts states this on the marquee (if one reads it). Of course, the first thing that I had to do was explain to the masses waiting for Old Key West was that I'm not going to OKW but to PO. It seems that guests can't read the marquee that says Port Orleans.

So I get ready to leave when a family asks if I'm going to Port Orleans (no, I'm going to Miami). I say yes and welcome aboard. I then ask them which stop are they going to as I only have a couple of families, not picking up for DTD due to the hour, and I'm only going to go to the necessary stops to get the guests home quicker. I get one group going to French Quarter, one group for North Depot and one group going to the west depot at Riverside. The father of the family only says Port Orleans. I ask OK are you going to French Quarter or Riverside? He thinks about it and says Riverside I think. One of the others said, yes Riverside. I go OK, which stop, there are 4 at Riverside? He now pulls out his room key and says we are going here. I now think, "Oh lord, what have I gotten myself into". I know explain the stops to them and finally get out of them that they think they want the main checkin stop (south depot). I tell them, OK it is our 4th stop. I'll announce it as the main building / South Depot.

Off we go.

First stop for DTD is the West Depot as DTD acts as the internal shuttle for PO. All other parks start at the South Depot.

I stop at West, the family that needs to go there gets off and guess what, so does this family. They look around and get right back on the bus, come up to me and accuse me of not knowing where I'm going. He says that "This is not Port Orleans, you take us there now!" I go "Sir, this IS Port Orleans, Riverside. It's the West Depot, you need the South Depot. Please sit down and I'll tell you when we get there. It's the third stop from here." Now wife is getting edgy but doesn't say anything, yet. Stop at the North Depot, They get up and I say "Not yet". Bypass east as I have no guests there and wife wants to know why I did not stop. I tell her that no one is getting off here, your stop is next. As I'm turning onto the road to go to the South Depot, she gets up and says "You don't know where you are going" and how she wants a manager to come out and tell me how to get to the resort.

Now I'm pissed. I stop the bus (I was at a stop sign) turn to her and state "I'll gladly get you a manager, you do need to wait until I get to the South Depot, which happens to be your stop. Please sit down until we get there." Then I just kind of lost it. Now I'm not especially proud of this but I was civil and did not raise my voice. I then say "Maam, I have been driving here for 6 months and I'm fully trained at this resort. I DO know where I'm going and you are just going to have to trust me" I restart the bus and pull into the South Depot. They get off but look confused, I had checked the key code on the room key and determined that they really did belong at Riverside.
I tell them that if they need any help, go in and see a front desk CM.


Now the question that I ask is........ Who gets on a bus without at least reading the sign at the bus stop? I have never got on a bus or train or subway without knowing where I got on so that I could get home later.

Yes, I see many guests that don't read signs at the parks but they generally know where they need to go.

Cranbiz wrote:Now the question that I ask is........ Who gets on a bus without at least reading the sign at the bus stop? I have never got on a bus or train or subway without knowing where I got on so that I could get home later.

Yes, I see many guests that don't read signs at the parks but they generally know where they need to go.

Ah, yes, Port Orleans from Pleasure Island... I get stuff like this a lot. I would LOVE to have a guest tell me I don't know where I am going. Once you've been trained at all the hubs, it would be difficult for you to not know where you were if you were blindfolded and taken there. Well, that is if you have good equilibrium.

Had I been you, assuming the MiMs is working, I would have asked if she heard the announcements made for all the stops. When she says yes, I would then explain that if you were at all off-route, the announcements would not have been made. While not completely true, it would have been a good convincer.

About what you said to her when she said you didn't know where you were going, I won't say you did anything wrong. It's nicer than anything I would have come up with on the spot... like (and please read this dripping with sarcasm), "If you'd like, we can go back to Pleasure Island, where I will have a manager waiting for you when we arrive." With that, I would win because 1) I've just negated everything they've said by saying I don't care if I know where I am going or not, or whether they think I know where I am going; and 2) If they choose to go back with me, I've just taken up an hour of their time that they didn't need taken up. Never mind that when they get to the manager, they'll be hoarse from screaming at me the whole way.

When people ask me where their room is, and I answer that I don't know the room layouts at the resorts and get mad at me, I respond by telling them that with construction complete over at Saratoga Springs, we now have 30,000+ rooms on property, and to memorize all of them so I could recall in an instant would be simply impossible; however I would like to help, so I'll get them to the front office where they can direct them the correct direction. One of two things happens: Either they didn't hear me and they make the demand again and other guests tell them they are idiots, or their eyes glaze over at the thought of memorizing 30,000 rooms. Either way, it usually does the trick, in one way or another.

Obviously the SGs think that all of the drivers have already been replaced with the Audioanimatronics. I've heard those things have the capacity to store and instantly recall 150,000+ individual room locations.

Syndrome wrote:Obviously the SGs think that all of the drivers have already been replaced with the Audioanimatronics. I've heard those things have the capacity to store and instantly recall 150,000+ individual room locations.

It's the bus driver version of the Johnny Cab!!

But we're so much more lifelike!

Big Wallaby wrote:Had I been you, assuming the MiMs is working, I would have asked if she heard the announcements made for all the stops. When she says yes, I would then explain that if you were at all off-route, the announcements would not have been made. While not completely true, it would have been a good convincer.

That day, yes. Yesterday, No.

Did you have no MiM's yesterday too? I worked Studios and the entire hub was down. Every bus had a frozen box. Only half of the buses were able to switch the marquee's to manual.

In a way, I enjoyed it as I was able to go back to my pre MiM's spiels.

Oh come on Cranz.You should KNOW where 'they' are going.Isn't that why you get paid the BIG,BIG $$$$?

Next thing they'll be pissed you didn't drop them off at the door. "But sir, your on the 2nd floor, the stair case is not wide enough..."

I been reading up and I am positive that the bus driver is suppose do carry us up to our room, tuck us in bed, fluff our pillows and kiss us good night.

darph nader wrote:Oh come on Cranz.You should KNOW where 'they' are going.Isn't that why you get paid the BIG,BIG $$$$?

What !!!!!! Big $$$$$ Did I miss something !!! :D: