You have just been hired as a reservations (rez) agent at a central reservations center for a cruise line. On your first day of work, the human resources office processes all of your paperwork and provides you with a two-hour orientation program. The program consists of a few outdated video presentations and some general information about the company’s history, policies and procedures, and benefit package options. You are then sent to the reservations center to begin work. As you walk around, you finally find the reservations center after asking for directions from one of the employees in the hallway. As you enter the center, you notice that the room is buzzing with about twenty-five agents seated at open-space desks, wearing headphones and talking with travel agents and prospective passengers by phone. Standing behind every five or so agents is a headset adorned supervisor who listens in on random conversations. Everyone is working at a frantic pace, unaware of your presence as you stand near the doorway for what seems to be an eternity. You walk farther into the room to ask the nearest supervisor for the manager. Without interrupting her task or acknowledging you, she points over her shoulder to a glass-enclosed office at the rear of the work area. You enter the office through the open door to find a middle-aged woman talking on the phone. She is obviously engaged in a heated discussion with someone else in the organization. Without breaking stride in her conversation, she points at a chair in front of her desk for you to take a seat. As you wait for her phone argument to come to an end, you take note of the disheveled office space with mounds of computer printouts strewn about. Finally, the woman ends her phone conversation with a threatening comment before slamming the phone receiver down. She looks at you inquisitively, so you say, “Hi, Fran. Remember me? I interviewed with you a few weeks ago.” “Oh yeah,” she says. “HR finally got you processed, huh? It’s about time. It’s a madhouse here!” She presses the intercom button and says, “Frank, come to the office, please.” Frank, one of the supervisors, arrives and is introduced to you. You follow him to the work area. He says, “Sit here and watch Mary. She is one of my best agents.” Mary says hello and you pull out a notepad. She says, “What are you doing?” You say, “I thought I would take notes.” She replies, “Whatever. I wish I had thought of that when I started.” After a few days of this type of “training,” you are placed at your own terminal to begin taking reservations. Do hospitality organizations really provide this type of poor training?
You have just been hired as a reservations (rez) agent at a central reservations center for a cruise line. On your first day of work, the human resources office processes all of your paperwork and provides you with a two-hour orientation program. The program consists of a few outdated video presentations and some general information about the company’s history, policies and procedures, and benefit package options. You are then sent to the reservations center to begin work.
As you walk around, you finally find the reservations center after asking for directions from one of the employees in the hallway. As you enter the center, you notice that the room is buzzing with about twenty-five agents seated at open-space desks, wearing headphones and talking with travel agents and prospective passengers by phone. Standing behind every five or so agents is a headset adorned supervisor who listens in on random conversations. Everyone is working at a frantic pace, unaware of your presence as you stand near the doorway for what seems to be an eternity. You walk farther into the room to ask the nearest supervisor for the manager. Without interrupting her task or acknowledging you, she points over her shoulder to a glass-enclosed office at the rear of the work area. You enter the office through the open door to find a middle-aged woman talking on the phone. She is obviously engaged in a heated discussion with someone else in the organization. Without breaking stride in her conversation, she points at a chair in front of her desk for you to take a seat. As you wait for her phone argument to come to an end, you take note of the disheveled office space with mounds of computer printouts strewn about.
Finally, the woman ends her phone conversation with a threatening comment before slamming the phone receiver down. She looks at you inquisitively, so you say, “Hi, Fran. Remember me? I interviewed with you a few weeks ago.” “Oh yeah,” she says. “HR finally got you processed, huh? It’s about time. It’s a madhouse here!” She presses the intercom button and says, “Frank, come to the office, please.” Frank, one of the supervisors, arrives and is introduced to you. You follow him to the work area. He says, “Sit here and watch Mary. She is one of my best agents.” Mary says hello and you pull out a notepad. She says, “What are you doing?” You say, “I thought I would take notes.” She replies, “Whatever. I wish I had thought of that when I started.”
After a few days of this type of “training,” you are placed at your own terminal to begin taking reservations.
Do hospitality organizations really provide this type of poor training?
Trending now
This is a popular solution!
Step by step
Solved in 2 steps
