Thursday, September 11, 2014

Snarky Bitch vs a Summer at a State Park (as an employee) part one???

   Snarky Bitch here! Have you missed me? I've missed you. I've been wearing my big girl panties every day and going to a real job! At which I work with "kids" (college-aged kids) and spend every day as a total tool. Or at least that's how the people who come into the state park I work at view me.

    Let's start with the biggest issue I found during the course of my time at the park: Carseats!
You'd think this would be a non-issue in 2014. I mean the laws are pretty cut-and-dry, but that did not stop people from ignoring them and then bitching/screaming/cussing/threaten us every time they had to pay for children not in a carseat or booster seat under the age of 8.
Here's just a few of the excuses I heard...
* "They don't all fit"- this usually came from families packing 6-9 people in a Honda Accord, or a similarly sized car.
* "He/She's too big for one"- the child in question usually is still in diapers and seated on someones lap.
* "It's my right as a parent to decide if my child needs a carseat or not, and I say they don't. You can't tell me how to parent!"- this father argued the philosophical nature behind our rules and pricing. He ultimately paid....for all of his kids not in carseats!
* "No, that's a baby. He/She no need a carseat"- yes, infants on adults laps were viewed as safer than a carseat!
* "But the baby is in a carseat!"- this came from a woman who was holding an infant carseat in her lap in the front seat. NOT okay and NOT legal!
* "But she/he was crying in line, so we took him/her out because the crying is horrible!"- yes, a crying baby is an awful sound. But you know what's a worse sound? A dead baby!
* "I had to feed the baby"- this was somehow turned into me being against breastfeeding, as every time I heard this it was because a child was being breastfed.

I was asked on more than one occasion if I was, in fact, a parent and if I knew what it was like to try to keep a child in a carseat. This was usually from parents with more than one child STANDING in the vehicle while it was moving and then they ASK the child if they'd please sit back down! Hell yeah, I'm a mother and HELL NO does my kid walk around in a moving car! On top of that I don't ask my kid to sit his ass back down, because he knows better than to EVER get up in the first place!
Is what I wanted to say. What I did respond with was "Yes, I am a mother. And my child was never out of a carseat while the car was moving, so it's never been an issue in my family."


   The second largest pain in my ass groups might have been: Senior Citizens!
You'd think, when you're closer to dying every morning than not, you might be a kinder person. You'd be wrong. Seniors were brutal!
   *They feel entitled to freebies. And bitch when they don't get one just for being old.
   *They are scheming thieves! Our senior pass is only good for the senior on the pass. That being said we did have a courtesy pass for seniors, that entitled them to free entrance into the park when the Entrance Lane was busy or closed. It's still only for the cardholder, but they started bringing their whole family in, trying to justify it as "You gave us the card to get in, so we're going in". Not okay! Old people did not like me!


   There were more incidents. I have a summer worth of issues to address. One of the more recent issues involved a senior, who did not have his pass but showed me a pass from another park. When I explained he'd have to pay, he got annoyed. I finally directed him to headquarters, as they are able to look up all senior passes issued at our park. He did so, and I was instructed to let him in no charge.
   Upon his return he tells me "You know, it's not about the money I can afford to pay. It's about the principle" *cue my blank stare* He went on "It's about the principle". I replied, quietly, "Sir, I'm only doing my job.". His reply? "It was all about the principle" and drove away.
    I still don't know what this "principle" is that he was blathering on about!

1 comment:

  1. What in the hell? They don't even let you leave the hospital with your baby unless he is strapped into a well-installed carseat. Pretty sure that rule is clear.

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