A Basic Overview

I suppose most people think working in a zoo gift shop is boring and mundane, especially when it comes to dealing with disgruntled guests (my boss insists that we call them guests, not customers) and standing up for about 8 hours at a time. While those are some of the downsides to my job, it is the people who I meet who actually make the job far from boring. In fact, the people who come into the gift shop often end up being the highlights of my day. And not just the kids, but the adults as well. Kids can be pretty funny, often asking the silliest questions, but you may be surprised at how entertaining adults can be as well.

The gift shop I work at is very customer--guest--oriented. The managers and supervisors constantly remind us that the guest comes first. We are reminded to greet them as they come in and to always smile and be friendly. Not only does this make my job eaiser and my days shorter, but it creates an experience for the guest as well. If they have a good time, they'll want to come back, or they'll tell their friends about the really friendly, entertaining cashier they met in the gift shop.

Most of the people I work with are between the ages of 14 and 30. High school and college age kids who are hired on for the summer season. The store is pretty much dominated by teenagers and young adults. While this is often seen as a bad thing, it actually works fairly well. My co-workers are diverse and quite friendly. Most of them are also extremeley entertaining. If you were to come into the shop, you would probalby find several of us laughing with each other or a guest or perhaps wearing lion ears on his/her head (something I do frequently).

I created this blog to share with you some of my experinces with working in a zoo gift shop. Many of my stories you will find funny and fairly entertaining, but there will be a few that may seem sad (lost children mostly). I will not be using the name of where I work or any last names to protect credibility and privacy. In some cases I may even make up names if I feel it is appropriate. Either way, all the stories I post are accurate to the best of my recollection of them. I hope that you find most of them as entertaining as I do.