so my husband and i started a new job a few weeks ago in a big yellow campground in TX... nice little place... very quiet, so consequently very low hours. basically, we work 2 7 hour days to give the pair of managers a well deserved break (they hadn't had a day off in "a really long time" before we arrived), and i work 2 hours a day for another 3 days cleaning the bathrooms (this is important) and other miscellaneous odd jobs.
the players in this little drama:
SC - a monthly guest on her 4th month staying with us
DH: dear hubby
OM: old manager
NM: new manager
me
also important tidbit... we've worked at big yellow campgrounds since 2008... i know the computerized registration program VERY well... frequently better than most of the managers and owners i've worked under .. so i am frequently called upon to train new employees.
it started out simply enough. i was covering the office while NM was on lunch. Ms. SC comes in to pay her monthly rent. my DH has been wanting to learn the registration program for quite some time, and we figured this is a quiet enough park, he can easily learn it without stressing about the line building up or the phones ringing off the hook. i start walking him through how to renew someone for a month. there are notes, and when i check them they are a running tally of meter readings for the electric bill. i send DH out to read the meter, and then check the previous months rent amount... and here is where the trouble starts.
the first month she was there her rent was $400, the 2nd month it was $375, and the 3rd month it was $350... and then she says to me "my rent is supposed to be $325 this month and from now on." i'm brand new. i've never talked to this woman before, and this is the first monthly i've had to process... despite the obvious pattern, i can't just take your word for it, i have to run it by my manager. i didn't say that.. but that's what i was thinking. i did tell her i had to ask a manager about the pricing. she gets a little frustrated and asks when OM will be in next. i told her he'd be in tomorrow, then told her that NM is on lunch and will be back in just a few minutes. she got a bit snotty and said she'd come back and talk to OM tomorrow because "you don't know what you're doing." (apparently, according to DH, she thought NM is a jerk. too bad for her OM will be leaving soon). i gently bit firmly told her "ma'am i know the computer system very well, i just need to verify the price with my manager because i'm new to THIS park."
this seemed to calm her a bit, but she was still irritated. DH ran around to the NM's rig to get him (he's parked right behind the building. very close) and while we waiting we started chatting, and i commented that i'd been cleaning the restrooms. she immediately said "oh, did you mop the floors? they're filthy...they haven't been cleaned in months". oh H*** no you didn't just go there!!!!
i just spent the last 2 weeks deep cleaning every inch of those bathrooms removing God knows how much neglect... on my hands and knees with Barkeepers Friend and a scrubby pad scrubbing away the soap scum in the bottoms of the showers, on a ladder wiping down the walls and cleaning the ceiling fans, etc etc etc... and literally not even 4 days before this conversation i spent over an hour with a scrub brush scrubbing every inch and every single line of grout in the ladies room...a 3 shower stall and 5 toilet stall bathroom. i was WORE OUT after that day.... and now she says i didn't mop?!?!?!???
i managed to restrain myself to only say "i just scrubbed that whole floor a few days ago." she seemed unconvinced, but fortunately DH arrived right about then with NM, who verified that the rent that month was $325. apparently this person had taken a deal offered by a previous manager or owner for a descending rent amount to drum up more business.
we finished the rest of her transaction without any further incident, and i made a note in the file that her future rent was going to be $325. i'm only there till April. i don't want the next person to get screwed over by lack of notation like i was.
ah well... that's the first suck i've had to deal with in quite some time, and even then in the grand scheme of things it's a relatively minor one... she just kinda irked me real good... but all things said and done, not bad. hopefully the rest of my time here will be peaceful.
the players in this little drama:
SC - a monthly guest on her 4th month staying with us
DH: dear hubby
OM: old manager
NM: new manager
me

also important tidbit... we've worked at big yellow campgrounds since 2008... i know the computerized registration program VERY well... frequently better than most of the managers and owners i've worked under .. so i am frequently called upon to train new employees.
it started out simply enough. i was covering the office while NM was on lunch. Ms. SC comes in to pay her monthly rent. my DH has been wanting to learn the registration program for quite some time, and we figured this is a quiet enough park, he can easily learn it without stressing about the line building up or the phones ringing off the hook. i start walking him through how to renew someone for a month. there are notes, and when i check them they are a running tally of meter readings for the electric bill. i send DH out to read the meter, and then check the previous months rent amount... and here is where the trouble starts.
the first month she was there her rent was $400, the 2nd month it was $375, and the 3rd month it was $350... and then she says to me "my rent is supposed to be $325 this month and from now on." i'm brand new. i've never talked to this woman before, and this is the first monthly i've had to process... despite the obvious pattern, i can't just take your word for it, i have to run it by my manager. i didn't say that.. but that's what i was thinking. i did tell her i had to ask a manager about the pricing. she gets a little frustrated and asks when OM will be in next. i told her he'd be in tomorrow, then told her that NM is on lunch and will be back in just a few minutes. she got a bit snotty and said she'd come back and talk to OM tomorrow because "you don't know what you're doing." (apparently, according to DH, she thought NM is a jerk. too bad for her OM will be leaving soon). i gently bit firmly told her "ma'am i know the computer system very well, i just need to verify the price with my manager because i'm new to THIS park."
this seemed to calm her a bit, but she was still irritated. DH ran around to the NM's rig to get him (he's parked right behind the building. very close) and while we waiting we started chatting, and i commented that i'd been cleaning the restrooms. she immediately said "oh, did you mop the floors? they're filthy...they haven't been cleaned in months". oh H*** no you didn't just go there!!!!


we finished the rest of her transaction without any further incident, and i made a note in the file that her future rent was going to be $325. i'm only there till April. i don't want the next person to get screwed over by lack of notation like i was.
ah well... that's the first suck i've had to deal with in quite some time, and even then in the grand scheme of things it's a relatively minor one... she just kinda irked me real good... but all things said and done, not bad. hopefully the rest of my time here will be peaceful.
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