Not tall enough?!
By mommyboo
@mommyboo (13174)
United States
July 22, 2012 10:59pm CST
Last week at the waterpark I had an incident with an employee.... a little backstory. We have season passes and have been going ALL SUMMER. We had passes LAST YEAR and went ALL SUMMER. My daughter is 8 and she has been swimming since she was 4. She is a tiny little thing BUT she is 48 inches. This is the minimum height for body slides at the park. May I repeat that we have been going there ALL SUMMER - since they opened in May. She was determined to be tall enough several times by several different people and since then has never had an issue on the slide. Many of the lifeguards know us and remember us and say hi every time we go.
Check this out... this past week, there was a brand new employee who decided to be full of crap and argue with me. I usually allow her to go up the slides by herself but in this instance, she came back crying and told me 'someone wouldn't let me go on'. WELL. I marched my way up there with her and got back in line and when it was her turn, of course the guy said 'I need to check your height, you're not tall enough'. I came unglued and I said 'you know what, we have been here ALL DANG SUMMER and she has been going on this slide the whole time. Nobody else here stops her and most of them do measure her at least ONCE every time we come. I'll even show you - and I put my hand on top of her head and even SHOWED him that my fingers hit ABOVE THE LINE which clearly means she is FRIGGING TALL ENOUGH. He continued to argue with me, even going as far as to say 'well it's a safety thing and I have had to do cpr on at least two kids blah blah blah.'. Well I'm not listening to that bs - my daughter can SWIM and she has gone down that slide at least 50 times and NEVER had a problem.
Final say here, I told her to go down and she did and I stared him down while he continued to run his mouth. I don't put up with people who go on power trips over nothing, especially after you PROVE TO THEIR FACE IN FRONT OF THEM that they were WRONG. A few of the other lifeguards asked me later what happened and all of them agreed that she was tall enough and all of them wouldn't have refused to let her go down. If I see that guy again and he has anything to say, I am getting his name and I'm going to report him. I'm so done with things like this.... it better not happen again or he will be sorry he ever applied for that job.
4 responses
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
23 Jul 12
That is really annoying. That happened to us a few years ago at a local theme park when my son was borderline height to go on the rides. He was going on them all day long and being checked along the way. Everyone was cool with his height until one guy toward the end of the day decided to say that he was not tall enough. That is not fun to find out after you have just lined up for 30 minutes! He had even been on this particular ride plenty of times. No amount of arguing seems to phase these height dictators either. They seem to get off on the power trip. 
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
26 Jul 12
And that is why she went down anyway and why nobody else has ever stopped her from going, because she IS tall enough and clearly that guy was on a power trip and had a hard on to cause me a bad day. Of course I would RATHER just avoid him than have a confrontation again but if he ever says anything again, there probably will be a confrontation because I'm not a doormat and if you mess with me, you won't win lol.
I find it really bizarre that someone else who posted in here thinks I should just 'be a doormat'. Obviously he doesn't have a kid and he's never dealt with stupid people who lie to your face either and don't apologize even after they've been proven wrong.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
26 Jul 12
No, don't be a doormat. Having some respect for yourself and standing up for what you believe in is a good thing to pass onto our children. As long as we are being reasonable about it and not losing our cool too much.
I had another experience at another theme park recently where we had just lined up for about 30 minutes to get on a ride and the attendant told us we could not ride as I had my wallet with me. It was in a zipped pocket which would have been compressed by the safety bars, so there was no possible way that it was going to fall out. I am convinced that the attendants are trained to be extra vigilant with wallets and keys so that you have to pay for a locker to store your stuff. They had a shelf for clothing and footwear on the exit side of the ride, but they would not let me put it in there and would not hold it for me. I understand them not wanting to take responsibility for my wallet, but I felt like I was being forced into paying for a locker. I was only in there for the last hour of the day and only had my son with me so I had no one to look after it and they say not to leave any valuables in the car either as thieves are known to target the cars in there!
All the rides were like this. It never used to be this way in the past so maybe they are struggling for funds to keep the park going? Another revenue raiser for them is on the water rides. They can control the water levels so that you either get really wet, or only a little bit wet. Now that they have a human sized heater which takes $5 for about five minutes at the exit of these rides, they keep the water levels up so that you get extra wet! 
My kids have been asking for yearly passes for the family but I told them that I am done with the parks for now. I have had enough of their rules!
All the rides were like this. It never used to be this way in the past so maybe they are struggling for funds to keep the park going? Another revenue raiser for them is on the water rides. They can control the water levels so that you either get really wet, or only a little bit wet. Now that they have a human sized heater which takes $5 for about five minutes at the exit of these rides, they keep the water levels up so that you get extra wet!
My kids have been asking for yearly passes for the family but I told them that I am done with the parks for now. I have had enough of their rules!
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
24 Jul 12
You are standing up for your daughter and being her advocate and I think that is something that more parents should do for their children. With that said, I think the lifeguard should have let her go down the slide. Heck, I remember when we were children I had a cousin that was the same age as my little brother, but shorter than him and we went to King's Island every year. Andrew was a little too short for one of the roller coasters, but he did get to go on it because he and my dad had worked out a way to give him the extra inch that he needed.
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
26 Jul 12
I will NEVER let people take advantage of her or screw her over, ESPECIALLY not people who are supposed to be adults and therefore GOOD examples. On another note, my other daughter had a really rotten (immature) little league coach who was caught trying to trade away half his team in order to accrue a few all-star players for his team - meaning he wanted to trade away my daughter and a few other girls in exchange for guaranteed girls to help him 'win' the league title at the end of the season. WELL. I found out what he was playing and I confronted him after clarifying the details were true and talking to the mothers of the other girls. I approached the coach and I demanded that he apologize not just to ME but to my daughter for the crap he was trying to pull. This guy was roughly twice my size but he didn't scare me, I was angry for how he had treated my daughter behind her back. Guess what? He actually apologized. I think he was shocked that someone caught him and SAID ANYTHING.
I have NEVER put up with crap from people lol. My goal is to get other people on the bandwagon to stick up for themselves and their kids more so we have more confident people who avoid being bullied or victimized by jerks.
@wilsongoddard (7291)
• United States
24 Jul 12
I am glad that you are going to report him. He sounds like nothing more than a bully, and I hope that he is shown the door. I'm certain that there are plenty of other, better people out there who would be more than willing to fill that position.
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
26 Jul 12
I absolutely agree with you! Most if not all of the other employees we've had contact with are really NICE and friendly people and they aren't rude, don't question or harrass me, etc. In fact, the only time I ever confront people is if they question or harrass me FIRST, and think they have the right to act that way.
You're RIGHT, that guy IS a bully and he must really get off on picking on people.
@andy77e (5156)
• United States
23 Jul 12
You know what happens when a minimum wage employee has a customer go nuts on them?
They don't care. Why? They're a minimum wage employee. I've had customers flip out on me, report me to my manager, report me to the district manager, even send a written letter to the corporate HQ.
Know what happened for all the trouble that customer went through to scream and yell at me? Nothing.
In fact, the reason I'm responding to this is because of your last line. "he will be sorry he ever applied for that job". I had customer tell me that to my face. What happened? Nothing. My manager actually told me that I did a good job putting up with a nut case.
I have never been sorry for any job I've ever had. What I have been sorry for, was treating an out of control customer as decently as I did. I know one lady that flipped out, I should have smacked her right across the face.
Now that dude may have been wrong. In fact, I would guess that you were completely right.
But really, small bit of advice.... bag the "you'll be sorry!" stuff. He doesn't care. It's a minimum wage job at an amusement park. He can find a hundred jobs that pay just as well, and chances are, he's not going to get into trouble anyway.
Never yell at someone doing what they are told to do. Just calmly ask for his manager, and don't complain about him, the manager won't fire him because you complained. Trust me.
Just ask the manager to give approval to the guy to let your daughter on the slide. You go that route, you'll end up way better off, and you won't set an absolutely horrible example for your daughter to follow when she get's older. Right now you are teaching her that when something messes up, her response is to flip out like a crazy lady.
Crazy ladies usually don't make it far in this world. Don't teach her that this is how you respond to problems, because life is full of problems, and she'll be crazy most of the time, if that's how you teach her to handle things.
Honestly, I think you should go back and apologize to the guy that actually cared enough about people to stop someone he thought was too small. Half the minimum wage people, don't even bother to check and let anyone go on. Then when someone gets hurt, you'd be screaming about how they didn't check.
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
26 Jul 12
andy, obviously you do not know me very well. I want people to do WHAT I WANT, not what THEY want. I am the customer. Guess what? Every place I have worked - the customer is right. NOT the employee. Especially if the customer IS right - like in this particular case.
I don't care whether the guy cares or not, what I care is that if he continues to act like a jack @ss, he gets in trouble, and trust me, if he does it again, he will. You try to claim nothing happens, you didn't screw ME over. I won't tell him that, I'll tell his supervisors and then above that. You forget that I actually have friends here, and he's new, he has no reason to act like the hugest jerk on the face of the planet. Nobody else employed there has. IF anybody ever dared to threaten to hit me or hit me, there would be an assault charge on top of whatever else there was I could get going and then he wouldn't just lose the job, but plenty of other things besides. If you would even consider hitting a customer, it sounds like YOU have issues as well.
Right now my daughter knows that you don't roll over like a stupid doormat and do NOTHING if someone LIES and tries to deny you something. MANY people just live with it and just walk away. That is not appropriate and it doesn't solve the problem of making sure people don't LIE to customers and go on power trips in front of customers.
I don't apologize to @ssholes.... he did not have to act like that, AND when I showed him he was wrong, HE should have apologized to not just me but my daughter AND the rest of the people.
@andy77e (5156)
• United States
26 Jul 12
The customer isn't always right. And the employee is right far more often than the customer is.
He's not going to get in trouble. Trust me. The lady that screamed that I was going to regret getting that job, did exactly what you say your going to do. She got my supervisor. She got the district manager. She even wrote to the Corporate HQ.
Not only did I not get in trouble, but she was the butt of many jokes. Further, it was minimum wage job that I hated. I absolutely hated that job. If she had succeeded, I would have been most happy. She would have been doing me a huge favor.
As it turns out, not only did I not get in trouble, but I was offered a position as assistant manager.
Putting up with screamy whiny customers, gets you promoted.
I was working at a Wendy's 15 years ago, and a manager yelled at a customer for disrupting the whole store over something really stupid. The customer drove back to the store, demanded the manager, got the store manager, and wrote to Wendy's Headquarters.
Result? The shift manager was promoted for putting up with a screamy whiny customer. She even got a raise in her pay over it.
I've seen this dozens of time. The more you go crazy, the more you start yelling, the more you demand your way and have that attitude "Oh no you didn't!", the more they are going to promote that person. Why? Because they didn't flip out on someone who flipped out.
So just march on back to that park, and write your letters, and demand to talk to who ever, and that guy will get promotions galore. The more you make yourself out to be a jerk, the more they will promote him for dealing with you.
And, no sorry. I've seen the kind of girls that run around screaming and demanding their way, and they get treated worse than anyone. (and they should) Your daughter will grow up to be a miserable wretch of an old lady if you keep teaching her that's how you handle life's disappointments.
As far as him being an @sshole... quite frankly you are coming across more like that here, then he did in your retelling of the story. Unless you are leaving out a bunch of stuff, I stand by my prior statement. You should apologize. And it sound like you need to apologize far more often, from this post.
