Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Where's Jimmie Johnson with his Kobalt tools when you need him ?

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Williamsburg

On Saturday, once Linda finished her shift at Water Country, we decided to walk around Colonial Williamsburg. We haven't had the time yet to visit there but when my kids were down here we drove around it a bit so was anxious to check it out. Here are some pics of our visit. More pics under the link to the right....






I found this one interesting since we're now full-time travelers. Back then, we would have been looking at the same scenery for a really long time at this rate of travel.




See....T.Boone Pickens isn't that far off base....Had windmills back in Colonial days....




And we think that today's "Buy Local" campaigns are big news.....





Lots of formal gardens, complete with beautiful old arbors...alleyways...tucked away areas to explore...



And no day is complete without barnyard animals just lazing in the hot, summer sun...

Friday, July 25, 2008

What's your "ability"?

It was really great to see all of my colleagues at Penn College when I visited on Wednesday. Since joining the management staff in the culinary dept at Busch Gardens, it has become very apparent that, at least in the area where I work, that we have a lot of problems with our employees. Tardiness, call offs, disappearing during their shift, texting on their cell phones, failure to clean up properly at the end of the night and leaving early are things that I've had to deal with. Boils down to reli-"ability"...account-"ability", respons "ability" and depend-"ability". Webster's dictionary says the definition of "ability" is - competence in doing. Clearly there is a lack in competence for these young people and it is rather disheartening and frustrating to deal with. Disciplinary write-ups don't have any affect on them. I haven't found anything that motivates them. There is a large margin allowed for tardiness in our area. When someone is scheduled for a 10:00 a.m. start time, to me, that doesn't mean arriving at 11:30. When I ask my supervisors around 10:30 if the person scheduled for 10 has called off, they say it's too early."Might have been traffic" is the response.....What happened to leaving home a few minutes early to account for traffic ? Linda's area doesn't abide by the same rules that my dept does nor does another dept within culinary. Seems that I picked the country where they don't hold people accountable and allow such behavior. And it's not all of the young 'uns that do this. There are several employees that are 16 and 18 in age that are great to work with. I can count on them to be there when scheduled and they do their work. The "problem" employees are all college age. I've come to realize that this is the age where "everything is negotiable". I encountered this a lot during my 18 years at the college. It became more pervasive in the last 8 years or so. They don't take "no" for an answer....there has to be some way that they can negotiate things to get their way. In a customer service oriented business like food service, people with this mentality work this for all its worth.When I was a kid, sometimes the answer from my mom was "because I said so" and that was good enough for me. I didn't challenge her....didn't negotiate for a better answer. I knew that the "board of education" awaited me if I pushed my luck or I'd be told to "go sit in THE chair" until I was told to move. Good enough for me....not today, folks.
The more I work at other food businesses, the prouder I am of what we created at Penn College in the Food Service dept. Penn College has a team of competent, trustworthy, customer service oriented individuals who provide an awesome service to their customers. The other thing that has been amazing to me is how a large organization such as BG is so lacking in training for their employees. No staff meetings, no orientation for new hires, nothing to put a new employee into that oh so important "comfort zone" of what the job entails, where do you report to work, how do you resolve problems or questions, etc. Another area that makes me proud to have been part of the Penn College team.....an extensive training program to guide new employees through the early phases of starting a new job. When I saw the faces of my former colleagues, on Wednesday, it made me very proud. I know there are days when they get discouraged if they have a lot of absences and they are short handed but believe me, you have it much better than other places. The food service employees, at Penn College, have a lot of heart and are a very talented group of individuals. Although it felt really strange to go back there, after having been gone for 8 months, it was really good to see everyone and say hello. It made me very proud of what we created and what they are continuing. Their success rests in their "ability" to provide outstanding service to their customers. Competence in doing......

Quick Trip

Linda had a drastic change made to her work schedule here at the campground that has cut her hours from 32 down to 10. When this played out last week, it became apparent that she and I would have Tuesday and Wednesday off this week so we started to figure out what we'd do with two whole days off. This hasn't happened in many months so we wanted to make the best use of our time.
We decided to visit both of our families so we left Monday night after work and went as far as Linda's brother's house in Vienna, VA. We had a nice time there...spent the evening and had breakfast there before heading out for Chambersburg, PA....where Linda spent her childhood and where some of her relatives still live. We arrived at noon and had lunch with her brother,sister and niece. A short visit but a nice one ! We got back on the road and headed for my mom's house, in Mansfield, PA. Last weekend, after deciding that we'd go visit family I had called my sister and brother to see if they could get together with us, at my mom's house. My mom's birthday is tomorrow....she'll be 83 so it was good timing for our trip north. We wanted it to be a surprise for my mom, as she'd never suspect us coming to see her. It had been arranged that they would arrive at mom's house around 5:30 and then we'd get there between 5:30 and 6:00. Our timing worked out well, as we arrived about 5:45. She was surprised, to say the least ! We stayed at mom's house Tuesday night and had breakfast with her the next morning before hitting the road again. We went to Williamsport and Linda visited with her son, daughter in law and grandkids while I visited with folks at Penn College, where I worked for 18 years. It was great to see everyone and chat for a bit.
Upon leaving Williamsport, for the trip home, we ran into rain and in some areas it was pretty heavy. Down through the Washington, DC area it was raining really hard and we had to slow way down, put on the four way flashers and take our time. Once we got past D.C. we ran out of the rain, the sun came out and the rest of the trip went smoothly. We arrived home, safe and sound around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday night after two days of visiting with family. We wanted to get this trip in as we probably won't get home again until Christmas, due to our next job taking us to Kansas from October through Christmas. Quality time spent with all during our quick trip.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Good Times...


Becky and Jay (my kids) came down for the weekend and we went to Busch Gardens on Friday. We took in some of the historical sites and went to the beach at Yorktown. Was fun to hang out with them for a few days. They headed back home on Monday morning. Today (Tuesday), we're getting some wicked thunderstorms. Boomer and Schroeder aren't likin' them at all. Warning out till 9 p.m. tonight...should be an interesting night.