Before University started, I worked at the theme park in Universal Studios Singapore as a park operator. I do remember one incident that led to a quarrel between me and a collegue.
The ride, "Revenge of the Mummy", which I was working in, had two specific queue lines. The first queue was passengers who wanted to sit in groups, while the other was for single riders.
However, there was this day that the queue ropes got mixed up. This meant some people who wanted to sit in groups ended up in the 'single rider' queue. That day, a collegue and I were given the duty to assign the passengers to their seat.
So when I told these passengers that they came up the wrong queue, they were surprised and protested that it was not their fault. I felt they were right, and wanted to let them into the ride. However, my collegue thought otherwise. He told the customers that they had to leave the queue and re-queue in the group-queue (which meant another extra 20 minutes to queue). Halfway while he was explaining to the customers, I interrupted and told him that we should let them through.
My collegue was furious after what I did, and let me have my way. After that, he complained to my head about it, and told me that, "Rules were rules", hence it was my fault that I chose to let them in.
Have I really done my collegue wrong? What should I have done instead?
Hi Jia Ai,
ReplyDeleteI personally felt that you had not done wrong. Instead, you were flexible not to ask the customers to re-queue again. This was because the customers were right to say that they were not at fault as the queue ropes were mixed up. Moreover, providing excellent service to our customers is always our priority especially in the service industry. I have similar experiences as yours too.
For your case, I would have apologised to your collegue at the end of the day as it was rude to cut him off when he was explaining the customers. This would put him in an ugly situation. Instead, you could have ask him aside for a quick talk and tell your colleague about your possible solutions, i.e. to be flexible as to ensure that the customers enjoyed themselves after he had finished explaining to the customers. Also, you should emphasis to your colleague on the importance of excellent customer service and the effect should your colleague insisted the customers to re-queue.
If I were you who worked there, I would have check daily that the queue ropes were properly placed. However, in the case of the queue ropes got mixed up, I would discuss the situation with my collegue who were on duty together with me and explained that we should act on flexiblilty at times to uphold the reputation of the theme park. Thus, the customers would leave with a good impression. In addition, I would suggest to my collegue to end the queue for about 5-10 mins so that we could clear those customers who were already in the queue to take their rides first and then rectify the mixed queue ropes before allowing the next batch of customers to queue again. After all, it would help to alleviate the situation and the next batch of customers can queue at the correct queue. At the end of the day, everyone would have enjoyed themselves.
Regards
Kent
Hi Jia Ai:
ReplyDeleteI can understand your empathy towards your customers since it was not totally their fault that they were in the wrong queue. I think that you did the right thing by allowing them to take the ride as I can foresee them making a big commotion if they were not allowed to do so.
I think your colleague was most probably furious that you had embarrassed him in front of the customers by cutting his conversation and opposed his instruction to them. If I were you, I would have informed my supervisor immediately when the problem has surfaced and solved it according to the wishes of my supervisor. I believe that since both of you were rather inexperienced in handling such situation, your supervisor would be the most appropriate person to solve the problem. Personally, you could have apologised and explained your action to your colleague after that incident to appease him. Lastly, I hope that your supervisor was on your side after the complaint was lodged to him by your colleague.
With regards,
Kar Liang
Hi Jia Ai,
ReplyDeleteI believe you did the right thing to give the customers the benefit of doubt and to allow them through since they did actually queue, but just at the wrong queue.
However, if the disparity between the length of the queues was large, I would have been skeptical instead. As they could have took the shorter queue on purpose.
Flexibility at work is a virtue that many others should learn from you; but of course the right decisions come with experience to discern lies from truth.
To address the questions you posed, I would like to agree with Kar Liang that if the customers were not appeased, they would create a ruckus with more profound effects not only for you and your colleague but also for the theme park and the other customers.
But as Kent did mention, it will be much more pleasant to ask for the customers to wait for a moment while you discuss with your colleague about how to resolve the issue than to interject midway during his explanation which made him look bad.
A follow-up would then be to run along the length of the queue to make sure there are no further cases, apologizing and requesting for them to queue up again at the proper respective queues concurrently.
With respect to accounting to your "head" (supervisor or person-in-charge), it will be only responsible to share your side of the story as well with the rationale behind your actions; do mention that you will bear the responsibility for your actions as sincerity really does show through if you mean it. There is nothing to be afraid for believing in what you feel is right.
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Regards
Sam
Hello Jia Ai,
ReplyDeleteI have been to the Universal Studious Singapore last December and I rode the 'Revenge of the Mummy' many many times. It was probably the most tolerable and thrilling ride at the same time.
I absolutely understand why you would have allowed the passengers through the queue because it was a real LONG distance to cover before you would be anywhere near the ride itself if you were to re-queue. Especially so since it's a theme park where patrons wish to have a fun-filled time, you were probably trying your best to make it a joyful and pleasant experience for them. Had it been me in your shoes, I wouldn't dare get in their way (especially roller-coaster thrill-seekers!).
However, while I believe your intentions were good, your colleague had probably interpreted your response as an act of defiance. If he had been toiling in this line of work for a longer period than you have, he may have felt he deserved a greater sense of authority. If that had been the case, I would have allowed the patrons to pass at that moment and discussed with your colleague further on how we could have untangled the queue ropes while keeping the queue moving efficiently. Given that your job is to serve the patrons of the theme park, their welfare should be a higher priority and your colleague should succumb to reasoning.
Lastly, I would like to say that I disagreed with your colleague for reporting you to your head without approaching you beforehand; I view this as an act of cowardice. Given that the situation involved the both of you; he should have approached you during your break time and settled the matter amicably. Bringing up the situation to your head would only create spark more resentment between the both of you. If he had wanted your respect, he should have firstly respected you.
Anyway, in times like this, I would usually choose to be tolerable and decide the most efficient solution for everyone. Sometimes, this would mean sacrifice on my part, but it would be for the greater good of everyone involved. I certainly hope you have a more pleasant experience working in the future!
Hi Jia Ai,
ReplyDeleteI think in your case, you do not need to seek the answer of who is right or who is wrong. In my opinion, both you and your colleague were correct at your own stands. You may have the empathy for the customs queuing at the wrong line, but your colleague may have been thought more of the ones queuing at the correct line, who had also waited for long time.
Under such consideration, I think Kent's idea of letting the customers wait for a while and you and your colleague discussing about the situation first would be a better idea than just interrupt your colleague. Since both of you may not reach agreement, to ask your supervisor for help would also be necessary.
In addition, as Kent had suggested, you may also want to check that the rope is placed properly. But I want to add that even if the rope was properly placed, you may also want to apologize to the customs for bring them troubles and gentle remind them that there will be indication to the lines and hope they pay more attention to it for their own convenience.
Lastly, I also do not agree with your colleague's action of reporting you to your supervisor. You may want to talk to him in person to discuss about the problem and show him your consideration.
Regards,
Cangming
Hi Jia Ai,
ReplyDeleteLike Eric, I enjoyed the ride. It was fun. And I, the customer, would be furious if I were told to queue again when it was not my fault. I would have demanded to see the supervisor and made life difficult for all concerned.
If that should happen, the supervisor would probably ask: why didn't both of you approach me?
Then, what would happen to both of you?
Have plan b, plan c etc because things always go wrong in the service industry.
Regards,
Happy
Hello all!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your advice! and as Eric said, the queue is exceptionally long to walk through!(you probably need to spend 10 minutes walking) Sometimes when I'm in patrolling the queue lines, I'll secretly direct the customers to the shorter 'group-queue' line.(it doesn't affect the single line queue)
Sam, I am pretty sure that the customers walked into the wrong line, because it was actually a few groups which had ended up at the wrong queue. But I do agree there should be often checks of the queue ropes.
But yes, I should not have cut into my collegue's conversation. But at that moment, I just felt he wasn't right, and had the urge of telling him before the customer got angry. Our failure to seek the supervisor was also an error on our part.
Well, my collegues always tell me that I'm too submissive to customer's needs. But yet I find some of them too narrow-minded in dealing with customers. But overall, I felt this vacation job was fun and fruitful, and will join it again if I had the opportunity!