#ride ops

We had a fairly busy Sunday during our Halloween stuff. I was at the mine ride panel when we had to tell a lady about our bag policy. I didn't hear the conversation, but it ended with her standing at the exit, waiting for her group. Her bag was a fairly small purse, but not small enough to fit into a pocket. While she was still waiting, she accused us of letting other bags on. There was apparently one bag, and on the train we were loading, a girl had, according to this lady, put a "large camera" under her shirt. She was talking about someone in the 2nd car. I looked at the girl I though she was telling my coworker about. I couldn't see a bulge that would have given away that she had a huge camera under her shirt.

During this, my one coworker, J, seemed to only be able to say "Rules are rules, ma'am." It wasn't even in that great of a tone. Okay lady, I understand that you feel wronged, but we're only human, we may let bags on by accident. (When that girl got back that had a huge camera, I did see her take something out from her shirt. I was one of those see through pouches for your phone, which we actually do let on.

I have a few good height requirement stories

First, I’m at the mine ride, which is tied with another ride as having the shortest height requirement for the coasters (42"). (The mine ride is 1 of 5 rides at my park that does not have bins or anything on the dock for people to leave their loose article, so anything that doesn’t fit in a pocket  besides fanny packs has to go in a locker or with a non-rider, except medical bags. Each of these 5 rides has a locker attendant to tell people this and to be the 1st defense for kids who are too short.) I’m hanging out at the entrance, and this family comes up with a smaller kid. I ask to height check her. The parents tell me she’s been riding it all summer. I say I’d still like to check. She’s FOUR inches too short. I tell them this, they ask if she can at least go up with them. I say yes, but I still have the feeling they’re going to try to have her ride. I just hope that my coworkers on the dock are paying attention. This happened in the last hour or so. When I closed the line at closing time, I go up to the dock and ask the panel operator about the girl with her hair in such-and-such way, if she still tried to ride. He says he told the loader who was going to be checking their restraint to height check her. The loader asks to height check, the dad, who she’s sitting with, says, “She not tall enough” before picking her up and plopping her down on the dock. They go over to the exit gate, which can swing open at anytime but has to be closed while a train is moving in or out of the station. They go to the gate, but are standing in its way of closing. The panel operator asks them to let it close. The dad then complains that “We can’t do anything right, can we?” Well, it’d help if you didn’t start off by completely ignoring the rule I told you.

Second, I was at the same ride at lockers. I have a mother a daughter come up. I ask to height check the daughter, and she’s a half-inch too short. The mom starts getting upset because the girl’s been riding the 42-inch rides all day and she’s been right there as her daughter’s been height check every time. Like, I can’t actually she can ride because the height stick that’s nailed against a post is all I have to go off of. They leave with her in somewhat of a huff. I thought that was it, but they end up back so that the mother could take a picture of the girl at the height stick. Apparently, she went back to the other ride/some random ride to do the same. She wanted to take the pictures over to guest relations to complain there. Whatever, I’m just trying to keep your kid safe.

My last story is at the shoot-the-chutes water ride. This couple comes up to the 1st row with their toddler daughter. Mind you, there’s already 2 people sitting in the row, and we can only allow up to 4 people per row. I ask to height check the girl. The height requirement is 36 inches with an adult, 42 without. She’s around 30 or 32 inches. I tell the couple she can’t ride. “We were just going to hold her on our lap.” NO, she can’t ride, she has to be at least 36 inches with an adult. A guy in the row behind them tells them that we could get in big trouble/fired if we let their kid ride and something bad happened. (If you’re out there, random guy, thank you.) And it’s true. That particular situation, if seen by the wrong person, even without something bad happening could have gotten us fired. We could have gotten all 3 of our safeties in one cycle, and bye-bye us. One, we let a kid ride who was too short. Two, we were letting a kid sit on somebody’s lap. Three, we were letting more people ride in a row than what was allowed. Finally, the mom gets out to let the dad ride while she holds the girl. We had 2 boats running, when the next boat comes back, the lady tries to GET IN THE BOAT. I was like, what? I told you she can’t ride. She gets back out to wait to kid swap with the dad. Ugh. What goes through people’s heads sometimes?

My home ride has a strict no bag policy. Pretty much if you have anything other than a fanny pack or a medical bag, you either have to leave it with a non-rider or in a locker at the front of the line. We have 2 signs at the front of the line explaining this as well as a locker attendant to catch any bags as they walk into the entrance.

I was working Mother's Day this year, which is always busy, at least partly due to it being a bring a friend free day for pass holders. I was at enable at the mine ride and had to height check this kid. (Now mind you, the mine ride is tied as having the shortest height requirement of our coasters.) The mom gets out with him. I tell her that he's too short. She ended up picking him up as she said, very snottily, "Thanks a lot." She left with the rest of her group. On their way out, she once again very snottily said, "Thanks a lot."

One recent Sunday night during our Halloween stuff, we closed at 9, which is same time that our kiddie rides close on Friday and Saturday nights when the rest of the park stays open until 11 and midnight, respectively. I had to go to each of our 3 kiddie rides to make sure they were clean before sending everybody home. I was checking the last one as one of my team members, an older guy, goes to pick up a half eaten pickle in a pouch from behind a fence. Two of our 16/17 year old workers were waiting to be cleared by the control booth, one of whom asks him if he wants someone to tickle his pickle. He said, "No, thanks. My wife will take care of that when I get home."

In 2016, I was at the locker attendant position for the mine ride for the last hour or so before the park closed. I had this family come up. I asked if the youngest, a girl, was planning on riding. The dad said yes. I asked to height check her. She ended up being 4 inches too short, despite the parents saying she'd been riding all summer. (Those liars.) They ask if she could at least walk up with them. I said yes, but I still had a feeling that they were still going to try to have her ride.