Are Adirondack tourism businesses and retailers naughty or nice?
Adirondackers have always had a love-hate relationship with tourism and the entire hospitality industry.
And it's an ambivalence that all too often we carry just below the surface.
The other day I walked into a tourism business -- I won't say which one or where -- and the person behind the desk didn't look up.
The person kept doing paperwork. Not a nod, not a raised finger, not a "Be with you in just a minute." Silence.
Curious, I decided to wait, saying nothing, to see how long the standoff might last.
Honestly, it wasn't very long. Twenty seconds maybe?
But in the hospitality biz IGNORING someone for twenty seconds is risky.
Finally, the person looked up at me and smiled and helped me with what I needed. But the impression had been made.
I wouldn't mention this anecdote if it weren't an experience that I have far more often than is healthy for our regional economy.
For better or worse, pampering outsiders is a big part of what we do here. We offer them an escape from their everyday, urban, sharp-elbowed lives.
We are, to some extent, creating an illusion. A fantasy that in this gorgeous, rustic place people are just a little bit nicer, a little bit more warm and welcoming.
Fortunately, that kind of experience is something tourists and second homeowners are willing to pay a lot for. As in, billions of dollars in visitor and real estate dollars.
Unfortunately, the deal means we have to put our game-faces on. We have to pretend, even on bad days, that we're happy to help, eager to please, ready to make a new friend.
My instinct is that we need to get better at this.
We need to offer better soft-skills training to local workers.
We need to find ways to offer pay and benefits that keep our workers healthy and happy enough that they can pass on the love.
Otherwise, people will go elsewhere -- Vermont? New Hampshire -- to get their fix of the good life.
A lot of Adirondack businesses are hiring foreign kids, perky souls willing to work for peanuts, but that strikes me as unsustainable and kind of an admission of failure.
If we're to be a tourism destination, our people have to be part of it.
So what do you think? Should we learn to make nice? Are you a tourism entrepreneur struggling to keep a a smile on your face?
Comments welcome below.
posted by Brian Mann @ 12/21/2009 06:45:00 PM
5 Comments
5 Comments:
This issue isn't just about tourists. I went to a new fast food business when it opened in Potsdam. I'd been to another franchise in the chain several years earlier while visiting my son in California and was enthusiastic about one opening here. There were three young women behind the counter having a chat about people they knew, who they liked and didn't. I didn't time it but it was way past seconds and into several minutes before they acknowledged my presence. In placing my order I specified "No seeds" because my wife can't eat anything with seeds. When I got home and my wife unwrapped her sub the roll was crusted with seeds. We haven't been back. We drive to Massena to buy a lot of our groceries in Hannaford because they are attentive and friendly. You treat me right, you get my business. In retail, it doesn't matter whether you are dealing with tourists or locals, your attitude matters.
We actually like tourists
I'm pretty sure this is not limited to the Adirondacks.
I've been treated very poorly in Vt and Mass too. I don;t think it's local, I think it's the culture. Young people have never seen a real service oriented business. Remember Sears in the 60's? You had experienced, professional sales people who knew their job, their merchandise and what was expected of them. That's all gone. Just another sign of the times.
As for the tourism industry in our area, having grown up in the central Adirondacks I know the feeling of being viewed as a "deliverance type" by the BMW/Hummer types. It's not easy to put up with decade after decade.
That TourPro find is hilarious. Yes, it's everywhere, but there's a special anger here, I think, having to do with proximity to the Eastern Seaboard, its money, and the stereotypes it breeds on both sides of the exchange.
And Bret's right, too, that the overall culture has changed. Basically, any non-executive job has been devalued, and we're getting what we pay for.
The best revenge for condescension to smile politely and take their money, then laugh at them when they leave.
I'm guessing Mr. Mann was refering to a young person. Plenty of rudeness to go around. For instance my father was shopping one year in old jeans and a sweatshirt. He had just finished drywalling a new room for his grandchildren. A woman approached him as he was looking at a particular item and said, "Sir this is very expensive." Cool and collected he responded, "Let me be the judge of that." This is a local store that saw no more local business from my father and hundreds of friends he told of the experience. I had a similiar experience in SL. This business wants to sell $60 turtle necks but reufses to give the customer the time of day.
Post a Comment
<< Home