I HATE Mardi Gras

[Moirae]

It was fun the first couple of times but I really hate this time of year. People are extremely rude, extremely loud, extremely drunk and extremely whiny.

You have no idea of the giant mess that's left after these people come here. We specifically had to order a whole crapload of extra towels and sheets because inevitably half of what we have is going to be destroyed.

We have been called EIGHT TIMES since leaving at the end of our shift by staff members due to some utter stupidity with the computer system, or something that the guests are complaining about (like a remote that simply refuses to work with the tv and we don't have any extras), and more.

It cannot be over fast enough. Hate HATE this time of year. Difficult to get home, difficult to get to work, pretty much impossible to go grocery shopping, noisy, pigsty. Fun for the tourists, horrible for those that work it. Money be damned.

[AccountingDrone]

I prefer off season, personally. Just not into crowds.

[EricKei]

I grew up in it, too. Worked pizza places for the inevitable 'we need 300 pizzas to sell down on the parade route; we'll call for the rest later' dealie that our stores do. Not a fun time to stand next to a pair of 500F gas ovens for hours, unloading the damn things as fast as humanly possible. We were just lucky to be out in Metry, so our District guys had to sit in traffic for hours to get the food down there (we used metal-lined hotboxes for this, so the pies were *still hot* when they arrived).

As for Mardi Gras itself, I couldn't tell you the last time I went to a parade in the city proper. If I don't have a house to hang out at, there's no way I'd even consider it. Out in Algiers almost a decade ago, and the ones on Vets, that's about it. Well, those, and the St Patrick's Day ones out in Metairie, because I lived 2 blocks from the route and knew people who lived ON it to use as a home base and food table. Hey, as they say, ain't no place to pee on Mardi Gras day >_>


TL;DR I smpathize. I don't think I could handle actually working from within the parade route zone.

[Ree]

I know, when we visit, we are always thinking about the poor people who have to work with all that nonsense going on.

Sometimes I see or hear things from the "tourists" and I just shake my head and feel sorry for the poor people who have to deal with the idiots.

You have to give yourselves credit, though, as annoying as it may be, and as pissed off as you may be, one of the first impressions anyone gets of New Orleans is how friendly everyone is, and how courteous all the customer service people are.

Thank goodness you have this place to vent, right?

[eltf177]

It's about the same everywhere a place has an annual event that draws thousands of drooling morons.

For me it's the Marine Corps Marathon (won't go anywhere near DC that weekend), numerous events in the town I live in (they'll give the streets away to any idiot who asks, who gives a @$#%! about the residents being inconvenienced?) and the Annual Festival in the town I work for. A month's plus worth of work at huge cost (little of which is reimbursed) at the expense of our real work (which we then get dinged for naturally), then the town manager wants _everything_ gone by 9am Monday. Not gonna happen buddy, so stop complaining...

[Moirae]

We currently live in Metairie so the St Patricks day parade goes right past us. That's ok, and easy to deal with. Its the only parade thats actually fun for us. And we live a block from the main area of the parade route in Metairie. But we work on the main parade route in New Orleans. Makes me want to pull my hair out.

Phone was ringing off the hook all day yesterday because everyone was looking for rooms at the last second, or wants to know something about the parades. Its called "google" people, use it. Every single thing you want to know is on google, I promise. There's only one of me, I do NOT have the time to do audit, all the checkouts and checkins, deal with idiotic problems like the nonworking remote, the whining about how "its 3 pm and we don't have new towels yet" when the checkout rooms had to be done first and half the house emptied so the stayovers are on the bottom of the list, and take 300 phone calls from idiots that can't be bothered to use their phone to take 30 seconds to google something.

[MoonCat]

Wow, already?? I thought that shit started next week!

I'd love to see Mardi Gras in New Orleans but I can't afford to travel right now. If I ever do, I promise to be reasonable, quiet, polite, undemanding, and to tip well

[notalwaysright]

Mardi Gras. *shudder* Sorry, not anything I'm interested in. Though to be completely honest, all I know about it, I learned from episodes of COPS. Lots of screaming and throwing up. If you have to deal with anything like that, I'm sorry.

If I was to have enough money to go to a large event, I would love to go to the Olympics.

[Tama]

Don't forget guys thinking they can expose themselves, and people having sex on the street....etc. Sounds like fun, right?

[EricKei]

Wow, already?? I thought that shit started next week!

Well, the season -- along with the first ball -- starts on the 12th day of Christmas, January 6th. The parades normally start to roll on weekends 2-3 weeks before MG day, and then all day, every day from Friday evening~Tuesday midnight, depending on area.

We currently live in Metairie so the St Patricks day parade goes right past us.

I gotta go hit up Sal's Sno-Balls when I'm in town again; it's been 3 years and I can still taste 'em. I was down there a couple of years ago for a wedding, and my brother ended up taking his kids there without telling me x.x It didn't occur to me to get one until we were already back on the road and too far away to turn back. Would have been worth it, tho. Mmmmm wild cherry... Or my Dad's favorite, chocolate with condensed milk drizzled on top

[XCashier]

I can imagine the folks working in New York City on New Year's Eve feel pretty much the same way. I promise if I ever have the good luck to go to either event, I will be on my best behavior and cause no trouble to the hotel I'm staying in.

It's a shame that an event that should be great fun must always end up spoiled by ill-behaved jerkasses.

[Moirae]

Well, I have my first set of SC's and I'm not even there. By law, there are limits to the number of people allowed in rooms. A guy snuck 4 people in a room with only one bed. Well above the limit and it could cause us thousands of dollars in fines if its discovered.

We have a new staff member that I thought had known about it (and that the number of legally allowed people in the room), but I was wrong and now I feel like a total dumbass and bad because I think I made the staff member a bit pissed or hurt when I talked to him about it.

[AyreBiskits]

you couldn't pay me to go to a MG parade in new orleans. i stick to the smaller ones outside of town. love going to the spanishtown one, my favorite. husband does go to ones in new orleans but only because he's part of a sci-fi group who costumes for charity and they march in the parades.

[XCashier]

husband does go to ones in new orleans but only because he's part of a sci-fi group who costumes for charity and they march in the parades.

Is it the 501st Legion? Those guys rock!

[AyreBiskits]

ya, it's a blast i want to make a costume and join too