Road Trip!

This past week I got to go on a (short) road trip to Glendale City Hall to observe a budget meeting with the Parks and Rec Deputy Directory.  And actually, the Director of Parks and Rec was in attendance to share what she knew about budget cuts and the new voluntary furlough program implemented by the City Manager.  The meeting was short and somewhat informative.  Mostly the word was, 'when we know something new, we'll tell you.'  

So it is what it is I suppose.  But I continue to be disappointed to be in the pinch of budget cuts causing much of the focus to be on how to squeeze more money out of participants rather than creating and continuing excellent programming.  I'm really not trying to critized, because without cuts and increased fees, NO programming will exist.  And it's not just at my facility, but all over.  And it certainly isn't just a Parks and Recs issue.  It's everywhere.  Everyone is struggling.

So enough about the budget and back to the road trip.  It was fun to ride along with the gang.  They are fun and I enjoy being around them.  We laughed quite a bit and they continue to take advantage of 'teachable moments' with me and are great about sharing the history of different policies and activities.  I feel blessed to get to be part of their team for a while.      

Ugg...

I can't lie.  I'm worn out and it's not even Monday yet! Internship, classes, family visiting last weekend, and church camp this weekend has wiped me out and occupied much of the time I would like to be sleeping or doing homework.  But, that's life, right!  Roll with it and make the best of what I've got.  I'm on it.  Hope you all have a great week!     

Customer Service

As some of you know, Glendale Parks and Rec is working toward its accreditation.  I don't know all of the details, but from what I've heard and seen, the accreditation process is extremely detailed and very labor intensive.  It seems like nearly every employee is involved in the process in some way. This cool because people from different departments are collaborating to accomplish one big goal.  When they get their accreditation, everyone should feel a great sense of accomplishment.  If it weren't for the massive budget cuts, I'm sure they'd throw a big party! 

Personally, I have not been nor will I be officially assigned to any of the accreditation working groups.  However, I have been attending the Customer Service group with one of my supervisors, Jackie. This group consists of people from several different areas of Glendale P&R.  They are working to create customer service policies, guidelines, and training materials about the importance of maintaining a very high standard of customer service.  It's great to see each of them contributing their ideas and offering to use their individual abilities and experiences to help the group achieve its goals.  

I have been able to contribute by looking up YouTube videos.  The idea is to embed some fun customer service clips into the training video to help make it more interesting for viewers.  I found a couple of good ones.  I attached two to this blog for your viewing pleasure.  :)  I was also assigned to help write the script for one of the 7 main training points.  I finished my assignments today and turned them in to Jackie.  I'm sure we'll do quite a bit of revising before we submit the final product, but I feel confident it's going to be great! 

So that's it.  GO CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!

Videos:  One is good service and the other is not-so-good service.  You be the judge!