Rising Abuse and Threats of Service Workers
I have never seen anything like the year we are having in the outdoor recreation and camping business, on many fronts. The problem hiring workers has been discussed before. But something I have only seen in written up in a few places is what seems to be a growing abusiveness of the public toward service workers. We have already had a record number of incidents this year of threats by visitors aimed at our employees. In most cases, the issue seems to be that the employee, usually politely, attempted to enforce a rule or restriction the customer did not want to hear and the customer exploded.
I do not know if this is just an issue in the outdoor business, with a flood of new customers who have never camped before and don't really have clear expectations about what is and is not allowed in a campground. I don't know if it is some kind of COVID/Lockdown hangover. I don't know if it is a sign of rising entitlement. But it is frustrating to have our people treated this way.
I remember a sign I saw in a restaurant years ago, "please be nice to your server, they are harder to get than customers."
