I worked at an information hub for a tourist area in Estes Park, Colorado, a few years ago, that was both fun and enlightening. I knew the area well so I wasn't too concerned about being stumped by customer calls. I was of course, dead wrong. There were five of us in an office of constantly ringing phones and at the other end of those phone lines were re-peat and new tourists planning trips to our area. As you might guess, many callers had questions relating to weather, lodging, restaurants, transportation, entertainment, skiing and because we were in a mountainous region, wildlife.
Those of us operating the phones were armed with plenty of information to dispense and we had the means to quickly get our hands on any answers that we didn't have on the tip of our tongues. We were fast and friendly and it was an upbeat environment because most tourists were calling about vacations and having fun, so the bulk of our calls came from people excited and happy to be planning a vacation in our region. Of course, you can't please all of the people all of the time and we did have a few customer calls that came up frequently that some callers felt we could not answer to their complete satisfaction. They were:
1. Where do the elk hang out?
Yes, the area is quite well known for its elk population, but they do not, as a rule fill us in on where they will be hanging out on a given day. We would tell people the time of day they might typically be grazing, near a water source, or in the National Park. If it were mating season we would tell people where herds had been recently spotted or likely be if any of us had spotted some on our way to work. For quite a few callers this was an excessively vague answer, they figured we live there we should know.
2. When exactly do the leaves change color?
Fall is indeed beautiful in the mountains and many people would take a weekend trip up to our area to witness the changing of the Fall foliage. The calls would start in August about what specific week-end would be best to witness the best color. Unlike the Midwest, our only color was shades of yellow. Aspens can change slowly in some areas and rather quickly in others, depending on the altitude, how the summer was, how much moisture we had or didn't have, any early cold snaps and other variables. We tried our best to explain this to customers and tell them what the conditions were at the time they were calling. But, this did not suffice for many who simply wanted us to pick the best week-end for color. We could guess but we didn't want to receive the wrath of those calls if we were wrong.
3. What will the weather be like tomorrow, next week or next month?
This question was always a rough one because in the mountains the weather can literally change on a dime. I mean, it can be sunny in the morning and snowing in the afternoon. It can snow six inches and be melted from the high sun in a few hours. We would try and explain our rather unique weather system as best we could but some callers were perplexed that we couldn't give a definitive answer on rain, hail or snow for their planned week-end trip. At least we could usually assure them that no matter what the season it would be windy, sunny and beautiful. The rest was up for grabs.
Cathleen Shaffer - I am a freelance writer for many print and online publications. My specialty is travel. I ghostwrite blogs for businesses and websites. My ...
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