A submitted tale... The first member of reception staff to arrive switches the phone settings from 'absent' to 'present', goes through the voice-mail, responds to anything urgent, and then checks emails. My colleague came in, and found almost 20 missed calls from the previous evening, and around 10 from early that morning, but no messages left. About 5 minutes before opening, the phone rang. "Oh so you do have staff! I assumed that you were too busy drinking tea or playing croquet to bother even phoning me back! When do you actually open today?" "Our hours are 12.00 to 4.30 on weekdays, I'm sorry if that wasn't clear in our voice-mail message when you called. Because you called after 4.30, and then before 12.00, there was no-one here to take your call, again I apologise if that wan't clear. And please be assured that I would have returned your call, but regrettably didn't have a number to return your call to." "...well, Thank you!" The gentleman had called almost 30 times, but hadn't listened to a word of our instantly played voice-mail message, preferring instead to immediately hang-up, get increasingly frustrated and continue wasting his own time. The staff member was awarded that week's chocolate biscuit for handling an unpleasant visitor. ![]() I am both impressed and vaguely concerned that this venue/team has a weekly award for having handled an unpleasant visitor. That either indicates a good sense of humour, or a worrying necessity for boosting morale in the face of unrelenting stupidity. If you have a tale of museum, art gallery or heritage venue woe or comedy, do drop a line in, and it may even become a cartoon of it's own!
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Thanks to the new follower who submitted this tale of someone playing fast and loose with interpreting the rules for visiting their property. The lady with the dog was quite cheerful, and unaware of the issues behind the rules. Her friend was the one to argue the case, threatening to "write to your head office and ask for my membership to be refunded" if the staff "persisted in being petty and demanding."
The issue was resolved when the lady with the dog suggested he may get restless anyway, so if they put him in the car they'd be able to enjoy the house without him wiggling around. ![]() Phone calls I, and a public facing team member in a heritage venue, have both had this past four days: "I can't find the option I want on the website drop down menu, so phoned to arrange it in person" "The option isn't on the website because we don't offer it any longer." "You don't offer it online?" "At all, it's not an option we provide at all. You can - " "Who do I need to talk to to get that option?" "..." "My son was playing on the balance beams yesterday and fell off them, so I wanted to raise it as a concern." "I'm very sorry to hear that, was he hurt?" "Not so much, but his trousers have been washed twice and are still stained, I think you need different wood chips or something dryer in that area." "Can you tell me what the soup of the day is in the cafe?" "Of course I can find that out for you if-" "Why do you need to find it out? Why don't you know?" "I'm not based in the kitchen, but can ask them." "Well, I suppose that'll do." "It says on your website that some of your collection is in storage, I explained to my wife that it means it isn't on show, and that we won't be able to get in there, but she insisted I call to make sure. We did a tour of the stores at a museum in Birmingham a few years ago, and now she pretty much forces me to check 'can we see in the stores' every time we visit somewhere with an archive. So I'm sorry, but I have to ask or I won't hear the end of it." This came form a fan: Phone call query (bear in mind we're a transport museum): 'Hello, could you tell me where your nearest dog show is?' What now?
A phone call where a travelling visitor is lost, they're unfamiliar with the area, they can't spot any specific distinguishing features, as soon as you work out where they are - they're not there any longer as they're in a moving car, and then your directions are fruitless as they are quite a way off, have no map, no way to write down your instructions, and ask "can you tell my son as I drive?" Spending the next 10 minutes on the phone to direct you across a city via your son shouting directions at you, occasionally too late to act upon them, so I have to keep re-routing you? I honestly enjoy giving the kind of customer service that goes beyond customer expectation.
We often get phone calls and emails from visitors who seem to want us to plan their entire trip, assuming that we have encyclopedic knowledge of local hotel availability, travel times... We always help were we can, as is appropriate, and I assume that other staff in other venues do the same. Some visitors just can't draw the line though, as this email I recieved shows:
Some of your 'agh!' type stories make me think you'll get this. A bloke called me today who banged on about how much his wife wanted to come to our gallery, but he didn't, so he wanted to plan a day in their holiday for her to travel off alone with their daughter, and could I help. He asked me to suggest travel for visiting us, he then asked me to check the times "because we're in the hotel and I don't have internet access". Then he asked me to book the tickets "because you've got that information in front of you now, so it seems a shame to mess about. I'm happy to read my credit card details to you." I said I couldn't do that, because it's really not appropriate, or safe for him, but i could give him a phone number for the train people, or I could email the details to his hotel and he could ask the reception to help. He banged on some more about how much the exhibition means to his wife, and again I said I couldn't provide this service, so he offered to PAY me to do it. When I said no again, he offered to send the cash with his wife "so your work won't know". I said that as a council staff member, I would loose my job if I used his credit card details, because of fraud, and they monitor computer use, so they would know I'd put his card details into a website, and I love my job, and it would be really hard to get another job like it. He apologised loads, said he didn't want to upset me, and gave me his phone number "in case they monitor calls and you're worried they've heard this." The guy working next to me heard about a quarter of my side of the call, and then tried to calm me down because he thought I was really worried about my job! It's a constant source of surprise, even though it happens so often, the confusion between museum/gallery/visitor centre staff and tourist information staff, and the persistence of some people even when the limitations of what is possible are explained, and alternatives are suggested. I've never been offered cash though, I wonder if I'm doing something wrong?... ;) (The location of the gallery and type of exhibition were included in the message, I've removed these details though in case they help identify the venue, and the bewildered staff member.) |
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February 2023
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