Sunday, March 7, 2010

A Sunny Spring Like Weekend


What a beautiful weekend it has turned out to be. It’s been fairly mild and the sun has been shinning non stop! Even though I am working as usual my work days couldn’t put a damper on my mood. Thanks to the shinning sun and the warmth along with a couple of very long phone conversation I am feeling great. Can you believe that next Saturday night we turn our clocks ahead giving us more daylight!! Then the following week is the first day of Spring!!!!

Yesterday was a full day at work starting at 9am and ending at 4pm. I really have to laugh at the way some of the patrons try to get out of money owing from them. The usual Saturday morning hockey group has been promising to pay up on their “User Group Insurance” and yet each week there seems to be an excuse. They promised last week to pay the amount owing and then when all was said and done they only wanted to pay a meager amount. Our Supervisor has told us that the remaining teams must pay this week, no ifs and or buts. Well when this team decided that they couldn’t afford to pay the insurance this week I pulled a bit of weight and told them they may be risking their hockey time next Saturday morning. I informed them that our Supervisor has been told to collect the money or the ones owing will not be able to use the facility until the Insurance is paid. Well my goodness the money magically appears and this group IS able to pay the Insurance after all. Now don’t get me wrong. I think this Insurance idea is stupid and the majority of rental groups can not afford it, BUT, we do not make the rules. We are the so called front line and in that we are to enforce the rules and regulations sent down from the higher powers. Then I ran into a situation yesterday afternoon when a Birthday Party rental had insisted that they had paid for their rental by credit card. Now most times that is done, but in this case it wasn’t true according to the computer, the office receipt binder, rental agreement and my supervisor. There was a note stuck to this person’s rental agreement stating that she still owes. This note was written by my supervisor letting me know I was to collect payment. This person swore up hill and down that they paid, but the computer was saying” nope you didn’t…so pay up now!’ Again I pulled a bit of weight and told her that if there was an error and I am charging her again, then there would be an immediate refund. She begrudgingly decided to pay and left in rather snitty way. I smiled my best customer service smile and wished her a wonderful day. Now, as I said, my P.I.C and I are the frontlines to this facility and we are the ones that catch hell from the patrons when they are not happy. Because of this reason, I shifted through the trash and retrieved the note that was clipped on this person’s rental agreement that said they still owed for their rental and tucked it away safely. The note is written in my Supervisors hand writing so therefore my ass is covered if there WAS a mistake in the higher ranks of the “Booking’s and Payment’s” area. I have to pat myself on the back because I was able to handle both situations yesterday without breaking a sweat and worrying about whether I did the right thing or not.

Today has started out in a good note as well. Even though the sun is trying hard to keep shinning it’s still promising to be a sunny and warm late winter day. The first hockey group is on the floor now and the second group is starting to file in. I have to say that all the groups I do supervise during the weeknights as well as the weekends are a really good bunch of guys. They are always friendly, stopping into the office to say hello and if time permits they will start chatting away. Most of the people from all the groups that I do supervise have been coming to the centre for years. I myself have been employed here for 15 yrs come March 14th, and have seen many happy, sad and worrisome times for many of these people. I know sometimes I bitch about working here and how unfair things can be at times as well as challenging and maddening, but all in all I do enjoy my job as Facility Supervisor. Many times I have to fight back my laugh with certain complaints. Like when a regular patron came into the office this morning and asked if we had added more chlorine into our water. He said last week when he took a shower that the smell was over powering. Now I know this is a City Wide Public Facility, but we do not have any control over what is added to the city wide water supply. This complaint was coming from a man who refuses to use a cell phone due to the electro radiation field that could soak into his brain causing “God knows what damage to his brain cells” Needless to say there is never a dull moment when it comes to listening to complaints from patrons! Now I’m sure with a little help from the Baileys Company and Folgers; It will be “The best Part Of Waking Up” and I will love my other job classification as well! Especially on Friday.

No comments: