Southeast Texas Attitudes

Along time ago, more like 35 years, I was living in Killeen, TX near Ft. Hood…Back then I remember people waving and being friendly…Thirty five years later, I find myself in Waller, TX (about 30 miles northwest of Houston) working at a Yogi Bear Jellystone Campground…The campground is about 15 minutes south of US Hwy 290 & FM1980 (Prairie View)…The campground is a pretty good sized park with rv sites and lots of cabins (Yogi, Cindy & BooBoo cabins)…There is a Fun Park/Splash Zone for the kids along with an Adult Pool…There is Miniature Golf with 18 holes, an Outdoor Theater, a Yogi Stage where Karaoke takes place, Yogi’s Kitchen where the Ice Cream Social takes place and the Crafts Center (where I work)…There is a U-shaped lake with 5 cabins in the center with the lake going around them…Trees are throughout the park along with lots of sand…The Ranger Store/Office area is pretty big compared to some store/office that I’ve been in..The only thing I see is that most of the souvenirs are centered around Yogi, Cindy and BooBoo…But there are some nice keychains with saddles or cowboy boots attached to them…Pretty cool!  I may have to buy a few and send them to some family members…lol  The grounds are flat for bike riding and golf cart riding..But in the way back are the woods with lots of hills and flat areas where golf carts can go but they have to be careful of the hills and not tipping over…

Every weekend lots of camper/tenter/cabin people come in the campground…There are about 1000 – 1200 people in the campground every weekend, at least…They are from all over the area probably no more than 2 hours away in all directions…They all have their bikes, pets, toys for the kids, grills, coolers, beer, food, more beer and other amenities for them…Every weekend come all new attitudes..Most think the employees are here to “serve” them..Some constantly complain about how this is wrong and that is wrong…If something didn’t work in their cabin, can I get something for free…Moaners and groaners all day long..Even during the week, we get weekly people who come in and they gripe too…Now there are some who have a good time, they don’t let little things interrupt their good times…They now what is going on around the park at what times…They laugh with you and have fun…Then there are the ones that you have to hand them a schedule to cause you can’t remember everything that they ask you…Friendly, some are…Snobby, most are…Uppidty Up, most are…Do they think they are better than you, most are…

The attitudes are terrible…If you tell them NO, they are at you like a cobra snake…Head up, snarling at you or hissing at you…They are ready to strike if it don’t go their way…If you tell their kids to stop doing something cause the parents aren’t watching them, you are wrong…The kids 14 and under are sent to the pool without adult supervision which is not the rule…14 and under, YOU MUST HAVE AN ADULT WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES…but the 14 yr. old is watching the 6 yr. old..Sometimes the little ones “loses” their parents and we have to find their parents…but yet it’s our fault that the child is parentless…They want you to move out of their way…They tear up screen doors on the cabins…They take pillows…They make very high fires…They drive the golf carts too fast…All of which the staff here is suppose to tell them the rules but it don’t pertain to them…None of the rules pertain to them…After 8 weeks, one finally realizes how to deal with people like these…One – Don’t wear a red shirt (the park’s color of employee shirt), Two – Wear a tye dye tee, for some reason the guests seem friendlier, Three – Hand them a schedule when asked questions cause you just can’t remember everything, Four – Post all you can on the boards outside the crafts room or in any of the 5 bulletin boards around the campground…and still they dont’ read and still ask questions…

We’ve worked at a park before where the campers thought they were better than you and we learned how to deal with them too…So we do our best to deal with the attitudes and the snears and the “what’s your name so I can tell on you” look…

I hope all of Texas isn’t like the people here…I think they leave their good manners in their house when they leave to come here…Even the kids dont’ have manners which is a shame in this day and age…There are no Thank You’s, No Yes Sir or Yes Ma’am…The kids act just like their parents…Even the parents have temper tantrums when things don’t go their way…It’s funny to see a parent “stomp” off cause their kid can’t sign up for Karaoke at night at the stage when they had all day from 10am – 4pm to sign up in the crafts center…It’s not our fault that the parent can’t get their kid to the craft center in time…but they blame us cause “they didn’t know”…

Will we come back here…Possibly…Why?  So that we can save up money to head out west and to the west coast to see our 2 little grandchildren who we have not seen yet…Once we know how to deal with the people, the rest is easy…Maybe not cleaning up after them, but we know how to deal with the attitudes…

Ya’ll come back now, ya hear!