Danny
TS Contributor
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
A large quantity of Merlin's workforce in front-line roles like this are youngsters in college or university, some of them with it being their first proper customer-facing role. It's true, you do need a thick skin to cope in such roles but when it's their first, having that thick skin isn't always possible as it needs to be developed and adapted as they encounter each different guest concern.
When you have the full control of a ride all by yourself, under pressure to be as amicable with guests as possible yet working under the stress of having to keep queues short, it can get hideously overwhelming. Having that second person by you not only mitigates those stresses, but also helps to keep control in situations when a guest takes advantage of you being by yourself when they get arsey, verbally, or even physically abusive.
There is no comprehensive training that Merlin has in place to deal with guest situations if you're a ride operator or host. Particularly on some of the smaller rides across the group, where you won't need as many hours to be signed off to work it by yourself, there is every chance that you don't receive sufficient exposure to the dark side of the general public before going solo. There's then every possibility on your first outing operating as an individual, you can be put under extreme pressure or face the nastiest of guests without any confidence in having reinforcement; especially when managers hide in their back offices or pretend to look busy with a litter picker elsewhere.
When you have the full control of a ride all by yourself, under pressure to be as amicable with guests as possible yet working under the stress of having to keep queues short, it can get hideously overwhelming. Having that second person by you not only mitigates those stresses, but also helps to keep control in situations when a guest takes advantage of you being by yourself when they get arsey, verbally, or even physically abusive.
There is no comprehensive training that Merlin has in place to deal with guest situations if you're a ride operator or host. Particularly on some of the smaller rides across the group, where you won't need as many hours to be signed off to work it by yourself, there is every chance that you don't receive sufficient exposure to the dark side of the general public before going solo. There's then every possibility on your first outing operating as an individual, you can be put under extreme pressure or face the nastiest of guests without any confidence in having reinforcement; especially when managers hide in their back offices or pretend to look busy with a litter picker elsewhere.
