Take a read at what a customer had to say about their ‘experience’ at my place of business, calling me out in particular………
To Whom It May Concern:
At a recent event to expose Charlotte P&R facilities to the hospitality business community, I was given a “Gold Card” to experience the facilities. I chose to use the card to take my daughter to RSP. This proved an unfortunate decision.
We arrived at the facility this afternoon at 3:15 PM. It was very busy, so I overlooked the unpleasant greeting we received by the “gentleman” working at the counter. He grumbled some instructions and pointed us toward a very nice young man who showed us to the locker room. We were in the water exactly 15 minutes when whistles blew and everyone was forced out of the pool. There was no announcement, no information, just bewildered, wet people. Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes passed with no information. I overheard a lifeguard tell someone that it would be at least another thirty minutes, and that the pool might not reopen at all today. I returned to the counter to find out information. I waited patiently while the young men at the counter discussed their lunch plans. I was ignored for at least five minutes before I interrupted them to ask the status of the pool. The same unpleasant “gentleman” who greeted us initially did not hide his displeasure in my interruption.
Needless to say, at this point, I was completely fed up with my “RSP” experience. I asked if I could have my Gold Card back to fulfill at another Parks and Recreation facility, since we were only in the pool for fifteen minutes. He abruptly said no, and that I needed to just wait until the pool reopened. At this point he turned from me to return to making lunch plans. I think he chose Bojangles.
Since it is my plan to never return and never refer this facility to guests staying at my hotel, I am writing this email because I would certainly want to know if my staff were treating my guests this way.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Kindest Regards,
Rhonda Murat
I changed the references to my facility to RSP in this email so as to keep the ‘rats’ here on LJ at bay.
Take note of all the bolded areas of the email. They are all bold-faced lies. Also take note that there was a follow-up email with specific questions attempting to engage her vague ‘accusations’, to which a one sentence response was given with no answer to any of the questions.
Let me take this email to task:
1) First and foremost I greet every single person the exact same way, so her “unpleasant greeting” double-speak, is pure ominous bullshit. This same person, whom supposedly runs a (rat) motel somewherez, came to me and first began arguing with me about signing in. Now why would someone who ‘runs’ a motel argue about my request for them to sign in, first and foremost?? I politely told her that we ask for this information for demographic purposes and so that we can keep track of who is coming into our facility. After she gave me the Gold Card and completed her transaction, I politely told her to come over and see my coworker who would show them where to go. To be completely honest with you, I gathered that this person did not particularly like ‘white people’. (A gut feeling that has never been lost on me in the past. You know the feeling when someone doesn’t particular like ‘your race’. ) Now I know that this is a bit of a subjective observation, but let me finish. When she approached the other two guys (that were my darker ‘brothers in arms’), after passing me, she showered them with absolute respect and genuine kindness. I was bewildered why she gave me such a hard time, yet at the same time treated them with respect. This suspicion is somewhat confirmed in this email and the followup email (that I unfortunately may have accidentally deleted) where she directly singles me out as the bad guy (“….a nice young man who showed us the locker room“) even after she mentioned her dissatisfaction about OUR supposed discussion of OUR lunch plans. When asked in an email what exactly was unpleasant about my greeting and about what I ‘grumbled’, she choked up and didn’t answer. When she was also asked about what the person looked like that had supposedly given her such a ‘bad experience’, she again stumbled and fumbled over her words, but eventually maliciously singled me out. Typical of loser types who simply like to complain.
2) She mentions that she overheard a lifeguard say that the pool might not reopen for the day. Yet another lie, as every single lifeguard knows for a fact (as this happens often) that we only close for 30 minutes when cleaning out the pool and recirculating the water.
3) She mentions that she waited at the counter for 5 minutes while we discussed our lunch plans. Another bullshit lie, as we always greet every single person WHO COMES TO THE COUNTER and/or SHOWS GENERAL INQUISITIVENESS NEAR THE COUNTER, even on this day when the place was packed. I can bet that instead she stood far back from the counter so that she could ‘observe’ us briefly discuss our lunch plans. This discussion, while we were facing everyone in the lobby, took less than 25 seconds. Further, noone approached us during those 25 seconds. Take note that I had been there since 9am without any break, lunch or anything, and that it was approaching 5pm. (I was working a full 11 hour shift with no break, which happens far too often.) This day was EXTREMELY BUSY, and from my manager’s POV, it was one of the busiest days on record.
4) She claims that I openly expressed my displeasure when she supposedly interrupted us making lunch plans. But like I said before, noone interrupted us during our 25 second discussion. Furthermore, when pressed about how I supposedly expressed my displeasure, she choked and didn’t answer that as well. Regardless, I know for a fact that her accusation is a bold-faced lie, bc I would never do that nor even give off the perception that I was disgusted with a customer for interrupting me (if that is what had happened…….). We are solely there to serve our customers, so that accusation flies in the face of common sense and truth.
5) She claims that she asked for the Gold Card back and that I abruptly said no and returned to making lunch plans. This accusation is the biggest fucking lie of them all. First and foremost, our policy (created by the facility manager) dictates that we do not give CASH refunds to anyone, which we politely go over with customers when faced with such a request. Additionally, policy states that unless we are closed for a full hour, only then are we allowed to give our customers ‘Rain Checks’ to come back. If someone gets heated about that policy we simply ask for the facility manager to personally ‘overturn’ it, which DID NOT HAPPEN ON THIS DAY. On this day, when a select few people approached us about getting a refund, I reiterated the fact that we would only be closed for a very short while and asked if they would choose instead to wait patiently for just another few moments, to which EVERYONE AGREED. Not only did noone come before me and ask for a Gold Card back, everyone who came to us agreed that they would wait to reenter the pool when it reopened……..‘EVERYONE’ INCLUDED HER.
6) For the record, a gold card is pretty much just a free pass for one person and one guest to any of the local P&R facilities. They are primarily given out to people who have complained to ‘higher-ups’ in the organization and are not given out that often otherwise, unless by the chief officer of P&R. In my experience, at least there at my place of business, I often see the same people coming in with Gold Cards, to which one can only assume demonstrates that these same people have learned how to abuse the ‘whiny perk system’ in order to get free passes.
7) Not a single person expressed their displeasure and/or dissatisfaction, verbally and/or otherwise, with the service we offered them THE WHOLE DAY!
This patron was pissed simply for the fact that she used a donated Gold Card and wasn’t going to get it back, per the MANAGER’S POLICY, and that she had only been in the water for 15 minutes when someone puked and the pool had to be closed. So instead of being a grown-up about the whole thing, she instead turned into a whiny bitch and took her anger out on someone………ME!
NO WORRIES, as facts are facts and reality is reality, RIGHT?
Not quite, bc my facility manager, even after repeating these same facts I stated above to her, took this jackass’ side and refused to believe in me and reprimanded me for the ‘altercation’ in her office (speaking to me like I was a child of some sort?), which completely pissed me off. She chose instead to take the word of a complete stranger over one of her own managers?!?!?!? However, I will say that in my experience there, this same facility manager (who is only a year older than I), is extremely naive about customer service and about the ‘reality of the world’ around her, in general. She’s a sucker for any person with the slightest complaint or concern, even if it may be completely unfounded, ridiculous and/or obviously false.
Today I plan to find out how long I have to be in a position before I can post to another, as this position is but a stepping stone anyways. Besides, I cannot and will not stand by while customers waste their time and my time lying through their fucking teeth about shit only in an attempt to cause friction in my workplace.
Ideas? Suggestions? Thoughts?
