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The Sinking Ship: (Un)Love Letters to Merlin

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My only real complaint about the staff is just how fracking slow the bar staff are in the hotels. They wouldn't make it to the end of a single shift in a real bar without getting fired.
Ive never understood how they can be so slow, is it special training they undertake? o_O
 
The bar staff situation is lose/lose. If there's more than one of them on, they're always painfully slow. Yet on the rare occasion you come across a fast server, they'll be the only one serving and the wait will still be astronomical.
 
It's subjective of course. Personally, my days at Towers in 2016 have been a lot better than just "fine".



Fair enough. It depends on what your expectations actually are though. For me, the main attraction of Towers has always been the coasters, way before anything else. I definitely consider myself a coaster enthusiast over a theme park enthusiast. And I still think Towers has the best line up of coasters in the country, so in that respect, standards haven't slipped. I've never gone to theme parks to watch parades or sit through shows, no matter how good they are.

I see the closure of rides as a very bad thing, but from a purely selfish point of view, I was never *that* bothered about any of them, bar Hex. My day at Towers certainly isn't any worse now that Wobble World is closed. I don't like the message closed rides sends out, and I do understand the major grievances enthusiasts are having with Towers right now, but speaking purely for myself, the standard of my day at the park is basically no different to how it's always been.

Plus the coasters at Flamingoland are generally rubbish, so I doubt I'd ever be able to have a good day there.

I can't agree more with this post as i would be in the same boat as andeyhart.

For me its about the coasters and they are what makes me return again and again. I don't care about shows, in my opinion they just waste precious riding time, yes i am selfish but hey ho.

I still (and always will) enjoy Towers but my experience starts when i pull off from the motorway with the vision of the brown "Alton Towers" sign. Now i live in Norfolk, flat as a pancake so driving the last 10 - 15 miles towards the park i feel i am somewhere special with all the hills, dotted farm buildings here and there.

The location of where the park sits, for me, is the biggest factor. The scenery and views you get are amazing, i can't get enough of the view from the top of oblivion. Just walking around the place makes me appreciate my time within the park and takes me away from normal day to day life in (flat as a pancake) Norfolk.

Yes i agree, if looking in depth, the park needs a lot of work to spruce it back up, but for me, as i said before the coasters and just being in such a beautiful part of the country makes it for me.

To be fair, that's in most jobs that deal with customers. There's always someone in management who assumes customers will be mortally offended if they're not asked how their day's been by a total stranger.

Retail mate, if you can't lick ass, its not for you.
 
There is two sides to an Atlon Towers visit for me.
Myself and my daughter having a quality time away from everyday life. Enjoying the rides, even if the theming need maintenance.
Then there is the eye of the estates team, the curse of spotting things most normal people would miss. The garden bloke (bluesonichd?) Understands this. That anything that is not right jumps out at you. I see it, then put it to the back of my mind to forget it.
Is alton bad for maintenance needs? I have seen worse, core maintenance is good, theming maintenance could be better.
 
I can't stand the miserable staff at Towers. It's 90% of them. Occasionally you meet a happy chirpy one, usually at the entrance gates, but that's it. Try the Resort Box Office on Towers Street if you want to see an example of people who are genuinely sick of their life.

Other noteable mentions for top misery guts:
  • staff on Rita
  • staff on Nemesis
  • staff on The Smiler
  • the various drink/snack huts around the park
  • Burger Kitchen staff in Cloud Cookoo Land

It's even worse when you approach someone in a positive way and they give you nothing back, won't even crack a smile!

Have you ever done a menial service job for low pay?
 
My only real complaint about the staff is just how fracking slow the bar staff are in the hotels. They wouldn't make it to the end of a single shift in a real bar without getting fired.

Ive never understood how they can be so slow, is it special training they undertake? o_O

I've always assumed it must be intentional to try and prevent people getting drunk.

You know, because they don't want their guests to enjoy themselves.

This, this, this... and more this! I'd love to see these people work in a busy city centre bar. They wouldn't last 5 minutes.

Have you ever done a menial service job for low pay?

Yep, sure have. No matter what the job is or level of pay, when you're in a customer facing role you have no right to be miserable. Becuase that's not your job. Your job is to service the customer with the company's product and make them feel valued to the business.

People in a menial service job (as you put it) on minimum wage should consider themselves very lucky because there are so many other people out there who can't get a job at all.

But I think the problem at Towers all comes back to training and the management. What efforts are being made to make their jobs as enjoyable as possible? What incentives are offered to make employees work hard and better themselves? Knowing Merlin, the answer to that is likely none whatsoever.
 
Alton Towers treat their staff terribly, the pay is poor, they are expected to work with minimal breaks so I don't blame them whatsoever for being miserable.

People in a menial service job (as you put it) on minimum wage should consider themselves very lucky because there are so many other people out there who can't get a job at all.

There's a fine line between "can't" and "won't" ;)

The jobs are there.
 
So many bad managers use the line "you should be grateful you even have a job" when met with complaints about bad working conditions. It doesn't justify anything.
 
Would you class caretaking or general maintenance jobs as menial job?

I don't think any job should be classed as menial really. I mentioned about the fine line between can't and won't find work and that's because there are a lot of British people who think these so called 'menial' jobs are beneath them. I respect anyone who chooses to become a toilet attendant, I've often said to oafish clients of mine who refuse the idea of cleaning work as they see it as menial or 'beneath them' "Yeah, actually you need a good standard of education, an understanding of health and safety laws, health and hygiene and knowledge of COSHH, plus the resilience and drive to do this admirable job"
 
Whilst I remind staff that report to me that they should be grateful for their jobs, I still think it's no excuse for poor pay and working conditions. Mine are treated well and paid fairly, many other services workers are paid shocking money, have no access to any kind of appropriate pension scheme. Often they take the job because it's the only one they can get In that area.

I would say this is probably different at Towers though. Don't most choose to be there?
 
I don't think any job should be classed as menial really. I mentioned about the fine line between can't and won't find work and that's because there are a lot of British people who think these so called 'menial' jobs are beneath them. I respect anyone who chooses to become a toilet attendant, I've often said to oafish clients of mine who refuse the idea of cleaning work as they see it as menial or 'beneath them' "Yeah, actually you need a good standard of education, an understanding of health and safety laws, health and hygiene and knowledge of COSHH, plus the resilience and drive to do this admirable job"
Great post, there are two problems with attitude to work in this country.

On the one hand you have vastly overpaid, CEO''s, managing directors and consultants (and I include a lot of (but not all) accountants, bean counters, solicitors, lawyers, etc in this category). I worked in the Accountancy section of a Local Authority for 12 years and have never seen as much dishonesty, incompetence, misappropriation and nepotism in my life... leaving the sector and the "profession " was the best thing I ever did.

Then on the other hand you have the Jeremy Kyle types who choose to sit at home all day, smoking, drinking, watching TV and eating takeaways (because they are too bone idle to cook), with the benefits they receive. Please note there are people with genuine disabilities and people who apply for jobs unsuccessfully every day and I do not put those people in this category. Just the ones for whom benefits are a lifestyle choice.

Take away the highly paid "elite" and little will change. Take away the underlings on minimum wage, and civilization will grind to a halt.

I have all the respect in the world for people doing boring, dangerous or tiring jobs on minimum wage and would like to see them receive better pay funded by reducing the oscene salaries of the top brass and stripping feckless scroungers of the benefits to which they think they have a lifetime right.

Everything great about this country was built on the sweat and toil of miners, steelworkers and similar occupations. When Britain was in its darkest hour in world war two, a miner was worth any number of lawyers.

I don't do politically correct


Rant over!
 
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Oh my god we've turned into the Daily Mail comments section again haven't we? How a discussion of the horrifically slow service at the bars turned into weird shouts about the the welfare system I don't know. I know I'm dragging it even further off topic replying but seriously hahahahahaha. That last post, you were doing so well then it all went wrong, can't believe the numbers it's got too hahaha.

Then on the other hand you have the Jeremy Kyle types who choose to sit at home all day, smoking, drinking, watching TV and eating takeaways (because they are too bone idle to cook), with the benefits they receive.
No you don't.

stripping feckless scroungers of the benefits to which they think they have a lifetime right.
Lol

I don't do politically correct
Ooh you're hard

ANYWAY

"You should be grateful you have a job" absolutely not. No one should be grateful for having a job, it's a basic need and the whole economy relies on it, there's nothing to be grateful about being a cog in the machine. As someone said before, it's an excuse to take the Michael. Absolutely nothing worse than people who feel entitled to have people on minimum wage bend over backwards for them and treat them like their proverbial doesn't stink. It's part of staff's job to help customers etc but be reasonable. If you (general you not aimed at anyone etc) think staff are unreasonably unpleasant it could be you that's making them like that, or, of course, the conditions of the job, people don't like to consider that though because everyone is selfish and empathy is dead, apparently. I wonder how many people talk about jobs being 'out there' have any experience of being unemployed recently, particularly with no major qualifications, or live in areas where most jobs are low paying? It's horrific how easily people buy into all the nonsense that gets thrown at them, people who are otherwise sensible enough to see workers are exploited, the people at the top are greedy, that there's nothing wrong with 'menial' employment and recognise the importance of these jobs in society. Then these people at the top start saying it's actually people even worse off that are the real bad ones and without any evidence everyone buys it. Jesus Christ. It's so paper thin as well, throw in a few token shouts about workers being sound and you can get away with regurgitating any old drivel and people lap it up.

Anyway to get this back on topic seeing it's been days since the last reply, Merlin need to treat and pay their staff better, they have the money to. Happier staff, better performance. With their little obsession with Tripadvisor lately they better had start making their staff feel better if they want to boost their scores.

Oh yeah, rant over, or something.
 
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Oh my god we've turned into the Daily Mail comments section again haven't we? How a discussion of the horrifically slow service at the bars turned into weird shouts about the the welfare system I don't know. I know I'm dragging it even further off topic replying but seriously hahahahahaha. That last post, you were doing so well then it all went wrong, can't believe the numbers it's got too hahaha.


No you don't.


Lol


Ooh you're hard

ANYWAY

"You should be grateful you have a job" absolutely not. No one should be grateful for having a job, it's a basic need and the whole economy relies on it, there's nothing to be grateful about being a cog in the machine. As someone said before, it's an excuse to take the Michael. Absolutely nothing worse than people who feel entitled to have people on minimum wage bend over backwards for them and treat them like their proverbial doesn't stink. It's part of staff's job to help customers etc but be reasonable. If you (general you not aimed at anyone etc) think staff are unreasonably unpleasant it could be you that's making them like that, or, of course, the conditions of the job, people don't like to consider that though because everyone is selfish and empathy is dead, apparently. I wonder how many people talk about jobs being 'out there' have any experience of being unemployed recently, particularly with no major qualifications, or live in areas where most jobs are low paying? It's horrific how easily people buy into all the nonsense that gets thrown at them, people who are otherwise sensible enough to see workers are exploited, the people at the top are greedy, that there's nothing wrong with 'menial' employment and recognise the importance of these jobs in society. Then these people at the top start saying it's actually people even worse off that are the real bad ones and without any evidence everyone buys it. Jesus Christ. It's so paper thin as well, throw in a few token shouts about workers being sound and you can get away with regurgitating any old drivel and people lap it up.

Anyway to get this back on topic seeing it's been days since the last reply, Merlin need to treat and pay their staff better, they have the money to. Happier staff, better performance. With their little obsession with Tripadvisor lately they better had start making their staff feel better if they want to boost their scores.

Oh yeah, rant over, or something.
We actually seem to agree on more things than we disagree... either way, thanks for the debate... opinion respected.

And to get back on topic. Merlin are not uniquely awful, but sadly they are very typical.
 
It is no use if people keep commenting 'let's get back on topic' if then people continue to discuss.

The next post needs to return to the topic in hand otherwise I will remove posts.

Thank you!

:)
 
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