What would you do in my shoes regarding job & supervisor?

[snugglegirl05]

I am posting this message to find out what would you do in my shoes regarding my job & my supervisor.

Here is some background information:

I work as a parking attendant inside a booth for the Visitor Parking garage at a university in the city where I live. The parking company I work for has a contract with the university. I have been at this job since March 2006. My current supervisor at the parking company has been over the account since the beginning of the year. The department I report to at the university is Visitor Parking/Community Relations, which is responsible for reserving parking spaces for events. An event can be a meeting, a job fair, a job interview, a workshop, a luncheon, teacher training, & so on. The Visitor Parking assistant (who works from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday) makes the daily event list, which I pick up at campus police before clocking in for my shift. The Visitor Parking garage only has 55 parking spaces. According to Visitor Parking/Community Relations (which is a 3 person office), when the only available parking spaces are the ones for our guests on the event list, we are not authorized to allow anyone not on the event list (including previous & regular customers) to park in the garage.

The Visitor Parking assistant & the parking company supervisor had a meeting with me & my co-worker (who has worked there for around 3 weeks), last week inside the booth during working hours. The Visitor Parking assistant mentioned to me & my co-worker that we can only call Visitor Parking/Community Relations when absolutely necessary & to use our best judgment the rest of the time. The Visitor Parking assistant also told us not to call the department supervisor unless the guest specifically asks us to call our supervisor or the department. The department director does not want us to call the department over the event if there are any problems, only her.

There are times when I am faced with 2 situations when Visitor Parking is reserved, & I would like to know what would you do in my shoes:

A previous or regular customer wants to park when Visitor Parking is reserved after letting them know Visitor Parking is reserved & Visitor Parking was not contacted to make parking arrangements for their visit. What would you tell them when they say "but I am a previous/regular customer?"

The guest is causing a traffice backup at the booth, & they are frustrated because they cannot park since Visitor Parking is reserved. Usually this is because Visitor Parking was not contacted to make parking arrangements for their visit, & I let the guest know this. How would you let the guest know they need to move because they are causing a traffic backup?

How would you deal with the department director & the office staff?

[reimero]

Document everything that happens. Every phone call, who says what, every policy change and when you receive it. It won't necessarily help improve things right away, but if things come to a head, at least you've got a paper trail proving you're doing the best job you can.

You can only work with the tools you're given. Ultimately, everything else is up to management.

[Barefootgirl]

A previous or regular customer wants to park when Visitor Parking is reserved after letting them know Visitor Parking is reserved & Visitor Parking was not contacted to make parking arrangements for their visit. What would you tell them when they say "but I am a previous/regular customer?"

I would give them my awfully sympathetic smile and repeat that I totally understand how frustrating this must be for them, but that unfortunately Visitor Parking is reserved for a specific event today.

The guest is causing a traffice backup at the booth, & they are frustrated because they cannot park since Visitor Parking is reserved. Usually this is because Visitor Parking was not contacted to make parking arrangements for their visit, & I let the guest know this. How would you let the guest know they need to move because they are causing a traffic backup?

You could say, "Excuse me, could you please move your car as you are causing an obstruction right there. I am very sorry that all the parking spaces are reserved for today but I do need you to move your car."

However, i am very good at drowning people in politeness.

The Visitor Parking assistant also told us not to call the department supervisor unless the guest specifically asks us to call our supervisor or the department. The department director does not want us to call the department over the event if there are any problems, only her.

I only just noticed this bit. In that case, your line is "I cannot allow you into the parking area as it is reserved today. The only person who can authorise entry today is the department director" when the guest then says, fine, call her, you do so - hey, they requested it specifically !