way29 Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 About our 2nd trip to Kings Island this year. We came in a group of 7 (5 adults and 2 children) on Sunday 5/8/2011. It was a very nice trip overall. We brought my mother and my wife's mother for Mothers day and they loved it. I spent over $500 in the park on this trip. $80 of it was at the buffet where the hostess said "I ain't getting drinks for all these people" but luckily the other hostess did, which actually I only asked her to show us to a table and told her we could get our own drinks. Later on when ordering 2 root beer floats, the girl taking my ordered asked if I knew what time it was after I ordered. I told her 6:30. She said sorry, I'm supposed to get off at 6:30, you'll have to go to another line. And, so it has started. The magic of Opening day is over. Next weekend we will bring our own lunch to eat in our car in the parking lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
standbyme Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Maybe every employee read your comments from your first trip and decided to cut out the middleman and jump to that end of the season attitude that you already expect! This was the first year ever that we went on opening day and it was awesome. The lines weren't too bad and the Kings Island employees were extremely friendly and ambitious. In fact I have never seen them this cheerful but now looking back I have noticed that as the season goes on the KI employees do seem to get less ambitious if not down right rude... I have said in the past and I will say it again...in my decades of going to the park I have NEVER had any employee be rude to me. Sometimes they are not smiling...but I can excuse that because I figure they could have had a hard day. I also try and take into account that they may be dealing with something that happened at home before they got there...something I am sure we have all done...you try and be your normal self but you just can't stop thinking about your problem while you are working. I can live with an employee who may not be bubbling with excitement as long as they are doing their job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avatar Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Way29 thanks for taking the time to share your Kings Island experience with us. Two things, 1 I would like to hear more about what made your trip a overall nice time as you started with. 2 May I suggest that if you encounter a KI emplyee who may not have lived up to proper guest expectation standards, that you swing by KI guest services and explain the situation to them so KI can deal with those two situations better. Versus making a statement about two situations and then use it to make it blanket statement of all the employees because most employees do care as you did have a nice experience overall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Sheppard Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 I spent over $500 in the park on this trip. $80 of it was at the buffet where the hostess said "I ain't getting drinks for all these people" but luckily the other hostess did, which actually I only asked her to show us to a table and told her we could get our own drinks. I've eaten at the buffet numerous times and have never had anyone show me to a table or get me a drink. Its a buffet; isn't self-service kind of the point? Was this something special they were doing for Mother's Day? Later on when ordering 2 root beer floats, the girl taking my ordered asked if I knew what time it was after I ordered. I told her 6:30. She said sorry, I'm supposed to get off at 6:30, you'll have to go to another line. Was this at the buffet also? Or somewhere else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyGuy4KI Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 I spent over $500 in the park on this trip. $80 of it was at the buffet where the hostess said "I ain't getting drinks for all these people" but luckily the other hostess did, which actually I only asked her to show us to a table and told her we could get our own drinks. I've eaten at the buffet numerous times and have never had anyone show me to a table or get me a drink. Its a buffet; isn't self-service kind of the point? Was this something special they were doing for Mother's Day? On opening day a bunch of KIC'ers went and had to wait to be seated and drinks were brought to us. I think this is new new RJ experience this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKIVortex Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Ya think Midway Market at CP! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pillsberry123 Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 I would have stopped by guest relations about those two employees. I've never been treated rudely to by a park employee, but then again I rarely eat, drink, or buy anything. Anytime I get treated well by an employee I stop at guest relations to make a point, so I would to the same vise-versa. Especially with the girl that you ordered the root beer floats from. That's really rude and sends me the signal that she doesn't care about her job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ Kinda Guy Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Am I the only one who thought that "Sorry I get off at 6:30. You'll have to go to another line" was hilarious? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlvtr Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Am I the only one who thought that "Sorry I get off at 6:30. You'll have to go to another line" was hilarious? I think it's hilarious as well. I generally don't get too upset over things like this. Think about it from her perspective... She's tired from a long day, her shift is over, she probably isn't allowed overtime, so even if she clocks out a few minutes later because she helped you, her pay won't reflect the extra effort. And if she helps you, there is a good chance someone else will line up to be helped and they will either have to be told to get in another line, or keep her busy even longer after her shift is over. There probably is no motivation for her to put on that extra smile or extra effort to help you. It would be great if everyone was nice and helpful just for the sake of it, but that is not the reality of human nature. The low-level employees have no real stake in the company as a whole, because even if they're attitude drives away business, by the time it actually effects the company, she's probably moved on to college and/or other jobs. All she has to do is just enough to keep her job, and anything further isn't worth her time. Honestly, I think the fault here is more with KI/CF management than the employee. Better scheduling and management of that situation would have put more people in the spots needed, and would have insured that someone was ready to take over for the employee leaving immediately so that there would be no interruption in service, and no need to switch to a new line. If they are making the decision to pay low wages, you have to plan for and work with the reality that many employees won't give 100% to their job. Expecting more is naive and just bad management. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarketingExpress Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Think about it from her perspective... She's tired from a long day, her shift is over, she probably isn't allowed overtime, so even if she clocks out a few minutes later because she helped you, her pay won't reflect the extra effort. Actually seasonal employees are not paid overtime and she would have been paid for those extra minutes that she worked. They are limited on the number of hours they can work in a given week and in a year, but given the fact that park was only open Saturday and Sunday that week, it's very unlikely she was about to surpass that limit. Honestly, I think the fault here is more with KI/CF management than the employee. Better scheduling and management of that situation would have put more people in the spots needed, and would have insured that someone was ready to take over for the employee leaving immediately so that there would be no interruption in service, and no need to switch to a new line. A crew leader is under a tremendous amount of pressure throughout the day and shift changes just add one more degree of difficulty and problems. As far as a replacement, perhaps there was a replacement but they were running late that day or didn't show up for work leaving the crew leader in a tough situation and a "man down" temporarily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlvtr Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 A crew leader is under a tremendous amount of pressure throughout the day and shift changes just add one more degree of difficulty and problems. As far as a replacement, perhaps there was a replacement but they were running late that day or didn't show up for work leaving the crew leader in a tough situation and a "man down" temporarily. I'm not saying the job of the crew leader is easy, or that shift changes don't pose problems. But that is the crew leader's problem. That's why he or she is a crew leader. They should have had a better handle on the situation, or received more support from their manager. The lower employee had fulfilled her commitment for the day and the OP's desire for root beer floats didn't trump that. I don't mean to criticize the OP. But I don't find the employee's actions so objectionable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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