its about the business: the facts

(photos by my sweet roomate becky legel)

Today is Wednesday! The third day of training. Today was mostly classes about how to treat our guests. I didn't realize how huge of a company DNC is. They own/operate a ton of huge venues like stadiums, casinos, airports, and other national parks and resorts. I am working for a powerhouse of a company, which takes good care of their employees and there are a lot of opportunities with them in a lot of crazy cool places around the world. We had to learn our purpose as a DNC employee "to create special experiences one guest at a time." I understand now why the people at Chic-fil-a always say "my pleasure" to you. Its just good hospitality, and that is the nature of this business.

Yesterday's training was a lot more fun. We got to go on a hike up to Columbia point, which is about half way point of the Upper Yosemite Falls trail. The falls are just raging with huge amounts of water! Along the hike, our boss led us in a few discussions about the crazy history of Yosemite from the Native American peoples that settled here first, to the first white men, the crowd that came to explore/exploit in the gold rush of '49, John Muir (who is the freaking man btw) and how it eventually became a National Park. I felt really inspired by how John Muir's passion for this place ultimately saved it from total exploitation. Did you know that the man ALONE drew up the boundaries for this park because He had walked and explored them himself. (the park is about the size of the state of Rhode Island) Pretty Incredible. I learned that John Muir built a little cabin at the base of Yosemite Falls and he made it so a part of the creek would run right through his home. I am excited to read more about this fascinating man that was so in tune with the wilderness, yet so influential in the societal realm that He was able to ensure this wilderness was protected by the federal government.

To sum up what I learned the past two days:

1. I have a lot to learn...Yosemite has a PACKED history

2. the NPS and all of the park partners including DNC interpretive services (us), Yosemite Fund, Yosemite Foundation, Yosemite Institute, and Sierra Club all work together on interpretation in the park, and have come up with 13 interpretive themes for Yosemite that I get to build my talks around

3. Make eye contact with guests, smile, use their name at least 3 times during your interaction, dress neatly and professionally, use words like "my pleasure" and "how can I serve you" .....haha oh the business