Sucky customer Wednesday & Friday

[snugglegirl05]

Wednesday:

It was the first day of finals, & there is very limited parking. Only 4 non-reserved spots available. The garage was reserved at 7:20 a.m. The software that is used to change the open sign to full still is not working.

bilingual female customer who will not take no for an answer:

bc: bilingual customer
me: me

me: "Hi, how can I help you?"
bc: "We are here to take a test, & we need to park in the garage."
me: "I'm so sorry, but even though the open sign is on, the garage is reserved. Every open parking spot is on, every open parking spot is..."
bc: "I know, I know (waves her hands)"
me: "I'm so sorry, but I cannot allow anyone to enter the garage."
bc: "We just need to take a test. We will only be parked in the garage for a while."
me: "I understand that, but I do have to follow the rules."
Bilingual female customer leaves & then returns & parks her car in front of the booth. The girl in the passenger side gets out & walks up to the window. I open the window.

bc: "Hi, we need to park in the garage to take a test."
me: "I'm so sorry, but the garage is reserved for events, & I can only allow people here for the events to enter the garage. I cannot allow anyone else to enter the garage."
bc: "What do you mean event. I do not understand."
I'm stuck for an answer, but she since "needed" to park in the garage, she was not listening.

me: "I'm so sorry, but the garage is reserved for events, & I do have to follow the rules & only allow people here for the events to enter the garage."
The bilingual customer looks at me & says "what do you mean events. I do not understand."

me: "I'm so sorry, but I do have to follow the rules & only allow people here for the events to enter the garage. I cannot bend the rules for anyone."

bc: looks at the sign stating Visitor Parking in front of the Parking garage. "But the sign says Visitor Parking."
me: "I understand that, & I see it. However, I cannot allow anyone to enter the garage."
bc: "So you have change you can give me for the meters."
Since we do not get change, I shook my head no.
bc: "Well..thank you. You are so kind."

They park somewhere else, & I see them walking towards the Faculty/Staff garage, which is adjacent to Visitor Parking. They walk past the booth window when they are done taking the test, & one of them looks at me with a cat but look on her face.

Friday:

The entire garage was reserved today for 2 events. Juan from IT managed to change to open sign to full, but it was only on for a while. It changed back to open after a while.

surpised vendor: sv
me: me

me: "Hi, can I help you?"
sv: "I'm a vendor, & I need to park."
me: "Are you here for anything in particular?
sv: "Well.. I'm a vendor here on business, & I have a meeting at the library. Do I pay you?
me: "So you are going to the library."
sv: "yes"
I look at the event list, & there is no reservation for anyone going to the library. The full sign was on at this point.

me: "I'm so sorry, but the full sign is on because the garage is reserved. Every parking spot is already reserved & already paid for. Unfortunately, I do not see a reservation for anyone going to the library. I'm so sorry, but I cannot allow anyone to enter the garage."

The vendor has a look on his face like what? I cannot park in the garage!

sv: "So I cannot park in the garage even though I am a vendor here on business? Where am I supposed to park?"
me: "Other parking is available at the meter lot across the street behind your car, at the lot at North Main Street (I see there are many open parking spots at that lot), which has many open parking spots, or at the lot at Main & Commerce Street."
sv: "So I'm a vendor here on business, & if a Coca Cola representative arrived to park, he could not park?"
me: "We do try to accommodate anyone not on the event list as much as we can. However, since the garage is reserved, I do have to follow the rules."
The vendor still has a suprised look on his face. Well..I still cannot let him in.

sv: (sigh) "Ok, so I have to park at meter parking. Is there anyone other meter parking available?"
I tell him what I know.

I raise the gate for him to exit, & he drives off in a hurry.

[scruff]

The software that is used to change the open sign to full still is not working.

Can you not cover the sign with something? At least an 'out of order' note?

[snugglegirl05]

Scruff:

Unfortunately the President of the university does not want anything covering the open sign.

[Polenicus]

Scruff:

Unfortunately the President of the university does not want anything covering the open sign.

Okay... you have a sign that has two states, 'Open', and 'Full'. And they cannot get the software that drives the sign to work properly. In fact, the software seems to be entirely insistent that the garage is open, no matter what they do.

Who wrote this software? Gavekeeper's customers?

Seriously, I know it must be SLIGHTLY more complex than that, but I know high school computer science students who could make something like that work easily. Couldn't they just bypass the software and give you a switch to flick?

... Bet it requires some high-end graphical interface too, that's slow as molasses because it consumes huge system resources. *Sigh*

Still, I work for a Post-Secondary instituition myself, so I know how bizarre the logic can be that they apply to things.

[jedimaster91]

I also seem to recall from the OP's other posts that for some strange reason they do not want to give her control to change the sign. She has to call a supervisor or something for that.

[jerkface11]

If the sign only has 2 states why does it need software? Wouldn't a switch work better?

[snugglegirl05]

I also seem to recall from the OP's other posts that for some strange reason they do not want to give her control to change the sign. She has to call a supervisor or something for that.

Yes, that's correct. I have to call my supervisor because she has to call the Parking office to have them change the open sign to full since that office is over the sign & the software is installed on the computer in their office. Unfortunately, the last time the software worked properly was in October. The software is only a little more than a year old. "Pat" in the Parking office has not been able to manually override the software. Juan in IT could not do that as well. Staff members have complained to "Pat" about the open sign being on when the garage is reserved. She cannot do anything to fix the problem. Juan in IT said that someone from the company that sold the university the software has to come to the campus to fix the problem. He said that back in November, & the software still has not been fixed.

[Bramblerose]

What you need is a redneck with a shotgun and plausible deniability. That'll fix it!

As this is violence to an inanimate object (that doesn't stinking work) it is not against CS rules.

Oh, OK, you cold unplug the ungrateful thing. A shotgun would be far more cathartic.

[One-Fang]

I've seen a few of these posts. Is it possible to stop going on about reserved spots and stuff and just say "Sorry, we're full, and the sign's broken"?

SC: Whaddya you mean, can't we park here?
You: No, we're full.
SC: But it says Visitor Parking!
You: And it's all taken. Full. No parking left.

It seems to me, that while your explanations may be way more accurate and help to explain to reasonable adults why they can't park there, they are too complicated for SCs. A simple "we're full" after you realise what you're dealing with might be a more productive way to go ... if allowed.

[snugglegirl05]

I've seen a few of these posts. Is it possible to stop going on about reserved spots and stuff and just say "Sorry, we're full, and the sign's broken"?

SC: Whaddya you mean, can't we park here?
You: No, we're full.
SC: But it says Visitor Parking!
You: And it's all taken. Full. No parking left.

It seems to me, that while your explanations may be way more accurate and help to explain to reasonable adults why they can't park there, they are too complicated for SCs. A simple "we're full" after you realise what you're dealing with might be a more productive way to go ... if allowed.

I wish I could be more direct, unfortunately, "Kim", the director I report to, received complaints from "pissed off customers" when I was this direct. Apparently the "pissed off customers" felt I was too blunt or that I was out of line. "Kim" told me what she wants me to say when the garage is reserved, but since what she wanted me say was a paragraph long, I shortened the explanation.

[smileyeagle1021]

If the sign only has 2 states why does it need software? Wouldn't a switch work better?

because (and not remembering the size of the garage it may be a moot point) when there isn't issues like reserved parking (even then when it's working properly) rather than having the gate attendant try to keep track of open spaces the software can track people entering versus people exiting and adjust the sign accordingly.

[Chromatix]

Just give the attendant a pair of click-counters. Increment one when a car goes in, increment the other when it comes out. Initialise the "out" one to the number of spaces, so when the counts are equal, you know it's full.

And give them a switch for the sign.