Sunday, July 25, 2010

tourons are people too!


Sunday...I the official end to the week. I sit here in my office at 10:00 on the computer because I decided to cancel my star gazing program tonight due to lots of clouds and a HUGE full moon.
I had a great day (after my attitude adjustment described below) I had this renewed love for Yosemite's tourists again and I couldn't wait to go to work today and have conversations with people. I am supposed to hang out at the Ahwahnee hotel on sunday afternoons and ask people if they have questions about the hotel or the park, and just have some good conversation with visitors. I usually only stay for about an hour then make my way back to the office for research and program time. But, today I ended up staying around for over two hours just talking with different folks, and I had a blast!
I am learning that if you are going to work at a national park, or anywhere where your job is to serve visitors, you have to keep an appreciation and love for your visitors. I have to remind myself that people are here from all different walks of life, excited about being here, and eager to have fun...just like I am! Most of them are getting an experience of a lifetime, and I get to be a part of that for them.
When I lose sight of that, I lose that passion and motivation for my job. People just become annoying "tourons" instead of people having a significant family vacation or a couple on their anniversary trip, or a group of kids in nature for the first time....I am finding that whatever I do, I can not do my job well if I am not loving the people I am serving.

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