TVC - Day 91 - Headcase!

Saturday we had an equal number of arrivals and departures, but with the campground at maximum capacity we stayed busy all day long hopping from one thing to another.  The SDA church group (Seventh Day Adventists) were holding their final camp meeting of their sojourn here so there were a lot of vehicles inside TVC which were from the surrounding areas.  Several times the entry area was backed up almost to Melba, but we quickly dispersed them to their sites asking them to return later to register as been our habit since the 4th of July.

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it, but we reopened the ice cream parlor that has been shuttered for a couple of years now, and so far it has been a huge success.  Essentially it will only be open for the final month of the summer season, but this period of time will give us a good feel for how it should go next summer.  We also moved Karaoke night from Wednesday to Saturday to see if we would not get a bigger response, and the Saturday night movie night to Wednesday night.  We had a huge attendance Saturday night at Karaoke!  These small changes are just the beginning of what is to come for next summer as far as entertainment options.

We had a couple of customers who arrived in foul moods for whatever reason......sometimes a 10 hour drive in traffic can sour your mood significantly, and I have seen that look in customer's eyes as I approach their RV to send them to their site.  Usually the offer of initially skipping the 30 minute line in registration brightens them up, but some are determined to project their general unhappiness on to you.  On one occasion we had gotten backed up to the Trolley station when a class 'A' RV towing a car pulled in, stopping in the middle of the traffic lane as there was no where else to go....I quickly arrived at his driver's side window advising him we would send him to his site, and he could register later......I asked him his name, looked it up on my 'Arrivals' list, and said......"Oh, you have reserved two spots side by side, which one do you want for your RV?".......to which came the reply "How the F... do I know!!!"......wait, what?  Keeping my composure I came back, "Well, sir, you reserved them, I don't now what you have in mind, which site do you want your RV in?", to which he replied "Don't you know which site is best for me?  Apparently you don't know what you are doing!"......I put down my clipboard, looked up at him and said....."Sure, I know what I'm doing.....please make a U-turn 20 feet up the driveway, and leave the park....no one deserves to be talked to like that......".  Well, he began backpedaling ferociously apologizing, justifying, etc.

Usually, at this point, people calm down, and I thought this was the case, but I was soon to be proven wrong.  By this time the 3 RV's in front of him had left for their sites, and I asked him to pull forward about 100' before unhooking his towed vehicle.....I turned to go back to my golf cart, but heard him turn off his diesel engine right where he was with his towed vehicle still blocking traffic......by the time I returned he was beginning to unhook his car.....I told him to stop what he was doing and immediately move his rig forward the 100' I had specified previously and here comes the attitude again.....all the while cars are backing up behind him.  Once again I gave him the "U-turn" option if he did not comply......he huffed and puffed a second, then got back in his RV and moved forward to unhook his car....traffic began to flow once again and order was restored......I thought.

At this point I am not taking my attention off of him.....I see him finish unhooking his car, then he gets back in the RV while his wife remains in the vehicle, pulls out in to the traffic lane with her following, and proceeds up to the STOP sign where I mistakenly assumed he would turn right after stopping and proceed to his site in section 'E'.....instead he stops and just sits there, once again blocking traffic.....I figure maybe he is trying to remember if he turns left, or right to go to his site, but no.....I see him looking in his left side view mirror at me....he's waiting to see if I will walk toward him to make him move......as soon as I take 3 steps toward him he suddenly decides to go......OMG.....this guy is a real piece of work!

It's not like this every day, but on a day where we are at maximum capacity it is inevitable that we will get one, or two head cases like we did Saturday.....then there was the guy in section 'F' who had too many cars for his site, and was parking 3 of them in the empty site next to him......if the park is pretty empty I don't worry about this too much, but when it is full and people are arriving all the time to claim available sites you cannot allow it.  I stopped the first time to inform him and his family they would have to move their vehicles....if they did not fit in their site then they would have to park them up at the office.  Initially they seemed co-operative, but when I came back an hour later the vehicles where still there.....I stopped the cart and walked over to their site to inquire as to why the vehicles were not yet moved...by this time they were preparing an early dinner.  The 'guy' turns to me and says....."When I'm done eating I'll think about moving them..."....to which I replied...."I've given you an hour....you promised to move them immediately, which you did not.....move them now, or we're going to have a problem".....you should have seen the surly look in his eyes.....he just stared at me.....after about 3 minutes I told him....."I'm not leaving until you move the cars.....if you refuse to move them, then we will have to invite you to pack up and leave the campground immediately....end of story".  The cars got moved.......I have never, ever had anyone give me this kind of grief about moving their cars out of sites they have not rented.....that's what we do, we rent space for specific periods of time.....if you need more space we will rent it to you, but you don't get to occupy more space than for which you have paid.

That was my Saturday.......we did end it on a high note, however.  We had been invited to the site of another customer to share dinner with them, and that was a real treat.  We met some really interesting people, and I was reminded that this is what this life is really all about.  99.9% of the people we come in contact with here at TVC are co-operative, sweet, and understanding...sometimes the .01% can distort that reality.

Thanks for stopping by!