Give ‘em the Pickle!
So it has been a week or so and I think I have settled back down to life in the mountains. Today was a beautiful, warm spring day. Cooper had fun playing out in the meadow. It was all fun and games until she found something very old and very gross to eat just outside our building. Muy yucky. Sigh, dogs huh?
Not much has happened since I last wrote but yesterday, on my day off (comp time baby woot!) Bob Owens and I went to W. Yellowstone for VUA (Visitor Use Assistant) training. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it’d be. There is road construction from Norris to Madison (the northern loop of the park) with at least half hour delays so we elected to take the southern route (the northern loop to west is shorter and the southern is longer) but with the construction, it would have probably been one half dozen of another, something I tell people as well! ;P
We learned quite a bit about the role of the fee booth and that there was actual legislation passed that gives us the right and the power to collect fees. Though each park gets to set their own fees, we are legally allowed to do it. We watched a video, which was slightly amusing, on what to say to difficult people. There are, we learned, magic words to use: I’m sorry… and …for you? It was pretty standard information, but good ways on how to deal with troublesome guests/visitors/tourists etc…
Then we watched another really funny video called Give ‘em the Pickle and the story is of this man who owned a restaurant and he received a complaint one day from a customer who wrote in saying how he has always loved the restaurant and enjoyed their pickles as they are the best pickles he had ever had. Upon asking the waitress for another pickle she charged him for it, something he had never experienced in his long time of patronizing that establishment. Well, the man in the video said that had become the battle cry, Give ‘em the pickle! Which means really, give the customer that small thing to make them happy. It doesn’t cost you much and it just might mean a repeat customer. The analogy I came up with is our maps. Technically we are supposed to charge fifty cents per extra map per car. Honestly… no. They make for good souvenirs and they are something people like to keep and, now that I have watched the video, it is our pickle.
Maybe you had to have been there.
This past weekend was fun, it was a fee free weekend for all national parks. Now, you might think we had a ton of people come through but, surprisingly-no. I did, however, have three people declare their love for me. They were all men… and married. Naturally I doubted the veracity of their declarations of adoration, especially since, come Monday, they’d have to pay.
But all national parks are going to be free the third weekend of June, July and August so that would be a perfect time to head up to Yosemite if you don’t have a pass ahem mom ahem. And sorry dad, but you’re too young for the senior pass, so don’t ask.
And once more, I nearly forgot something. On our way to the VUA training, we came across a herd of buffalo with calves. They were sooo cute!!! As you will see by the pictures. They reminded me of cow calves and how they are so much cuter than the adults. I also saw a bald eagle sitting in a nest, and, on our way back, 3 big horn rams where they were not supposed to be. Way cool. I didn’t get to get a picture of the eagle or the rams but I did see them.
We had a few days of thunder showers where everything just got drenched. Coops had to be shoved outside to do her business. She hates the rain! But it did make things look lovely!
Oh, and if you are planning on coming, just gotta let me know. In my building, there is an empty 2 bedroom apartment above me that we have set up for visitors. They have sheets and everything so those who visit have someplace comfortable to stay. Hey, beats a hotel by a mile!
We are going to have a goodbye party for Candace and Ryan who are leaving East to go to South. Ryan is getting a better job and Candace just might be able to get a supervisor’s position in South as the current one might be retiring. This means then, that her winter position is going to be open. I have already told my boss I would love to have it. Haha, could you imagine me in the kind of winter wonderland they have up here?
This would mean shoveling snow everyday, taking a snow-machine down to Pahaska Teepee where the cars will be parked so we could go into town to do our shopping. They will plow up to Pahaksa but no further, thus the snowmobiles.
It’ be and adventure but a cool one. Literally.
Anyway, that is all the news I have on this front. Oh, I am going to crack open a couple bottles of mead so I’ll let you know how the found it.
So it has been a week or so and I think I have settled back down to life in the mountains. Today was a beautiful, warm spring day. Cooper had fun playing out in the meadow. It was all fun and games until she found something very old and very gross to eat just outside our building. Muy yucky. Sigh, dogs huh?
Not much has happened since I last wrote but yesterday, on my day off (comp time baby woot!) Bob Owens and I went to W. Yellowstone for VUA (Visitor Use Assistant) training. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it’d be. There is road construction from Norris to Madison (the northern loop of the park) with at least half hour delays so we elected to take the southern route (the northern loop to west is shorter and the southern is longer) but with the construction, it would have probably been one half dozen of another, something I tell people as well! ;P
We learned quite a bit about the role of the fee booth and that there was actual legislation passed that gives us the right and the power to collect fees. Though each park gets to set their own fees, we are legally allowed to do it. We watched a video, which was slightly amusing, on what to say to difficult people. There are, we learned, magic words to use: I’m sorry… and …for you? It was pretty standard information, but good ways on how to deal with troublesome guests/visitors/tourists etc…
Then we watched another really funny video called Give ‘em the Pickle and the story is of this man who owned a restaurant and he received a complaint one day from a customer who wrote in saying how he has always loved the restaurant and enjoyed their pickles as they are the best pickles he had ever had. Upon asking the waitress for another pickle she charged him for it, something he had never experienced in his long time of patronizing that establishment. Well, the man in the video said that had become the battle cry, Give ‘em the pickle! Which means really, give the customer that small thing to make them happy. It doesn’t cost you much and it just might mean a repeat customer. The analogy I came up with is our maps. Technically we are supposed to charge fifty cents per extra map per car. Honestly… no. They make for good souvenirs and they are something people like to keep and, now that I have watched the video, it is our pickle.
Maybe you had to have been there.
This past weekend was fun, it was a fee free weekend for all national parks. Now, you might think we had a ton of people come through but, surprisingly-no. I did, however, have three people declare their love for me. They were all men… and married. Naturally I doubted the veracity of their declarations of adoration, especially since, come Monday, they’d have to pay.
But all national parks are going to be free the third weekend of June, July and August so that would be a perfect time to head up to Yosemite if you don’t have a pass ahem mom ahem. And sorry dad, but you’re too young for the senior pass, so don’t ask.
And once more, I nearly forgot something. On our way to the VUA training, we came across a herd of buffalo with calves. They were sooo cute!!! As you will see by the pictures. They reminded me of cow calves and how they are so much cuter than the adults. I also saw a bald eagle sitting in a nest, and, on our way back, 3 big horn rams where they were not supposed to be. Way cool. I didn’t get to get a picture of the eagle or the rams but I did see them.
We had a few days of thunder showers where everything just got drenched. Coops had to be shoved outside to do her business. She hates the rain! But it did make things look lovely!
Oh, and if you are planning on coming, just gotta let me know. In my building, there is an empty 2 bedroom apartment above me that we have set up for visitors. They have sheets and everything so those who visit have someplace comfortable to stay. Hey, beats a hotel by a mile!
We are going to have a goodbye party for Candace and Ryan who are leaving East to go to South. Ryan is getting a better job and Candace just might be able to get a supervisor’s position in South as the current one might be retiring. This means then, that her winter position is going to be open. I have already told my boss I would love to have it. Haha, could you imagine me in the kind of winter wonderland they have up here?
This would mean shoveling snow everyday, taking a snow-machine down to Pahaska Teepee where the cars will be parked so we could go into town to do our shopping. They will plow up to Pahaksa but no further, thus the snowmobiles.
It’ be and adventure but a cool one. Literally.
Anyway, that is all the news I have on this front. Oh, I am going to crack open a couple bottles of mead so I’ll let you know how the found it.
3 comments:
So pretty. I love the pictures.
I just now saw this!
I love you mom but you're not too smart.
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