fabrisse

For two years, after my long period of unemployment, I worked at a travel agency. Most of that time, I did data entry, but my years of living in Europe meant that I was occasionally called upon to help with training for that department. I also did some training on Asia because that was the data I entered.

This is the story of Colette. She was a recent high school graduate, beautiful in the Southern California manner, and an airhead. I don't usually use that type of epithet, but, frankly, most of the people who met her used it, usually within five minutes of being introduced. She and another recent graduate of the LA County school system were hired, Colette to work the Europe desk (our largest) and her friend to work the River Cruises area. They'd had the standard two days of training when i was asked to take them in hand.

I started by teaching them the names of the rivers we had cruises on so that customers could be referred to the correct department. I told them they could ask me anything, and some of the questions I got, like why didn't everyone speak English, were very, very basic. I also introduced them to the concept of climate -- warning people that it rained, for instance, if they were planning a spring or autumn trip. I spent two days with both of them and an extra day with Colette because the agency covered so much territory with Europe (including parts of Turkey, Iceland, Russia, former Soviet Republics, the Baltic states, etc.). I discovered that Colette had a strong sense of curiosity about other parts of the world, and taught her how to narrow a customer's expectations about what could actually be done in a fourteen day trip.

She was quizzed by our usual trainer who was thrilled with her progress and turned loose on the floor. A few days later, I heard from another friend, that there was one question Colette had been too embarrassed to ask me: Where was Europe? She genuinely didn't know whether to book customers through New York or Japan to get to London.

There are a couple of things. First of all, by the end of our three days together, Colette was very, very angry at LA County schools. Her refrain became "why didn't they teach me this?" Second of all, I loaned her Honey from a Weed and it enthralled her. She even tried a few of the recipes and eventually I told her to keep the book because it meant so much to her.

Lastly, she was far from the only one I helped. About a month after training her, I overheard one of Colette's colleagues on the phone with a customer. She said, "I'm sure you'll love Edinburgh in December." I told her to put the customer on hold politely. (Digression: I worked with our complaints department to make certain we had appropriate disclaimers on all our tours, like "The weather may not permit you to see much on Mount Fuji and no refund will be provided." I saw this as a customer complaint waiting to happen.) I explained about how far north Edinburgh was (Brussels is on the same line of latitude, approximately, as Quebec City and Edinburgh is 5 degrees north of that -- 21 degrees north of Los Angeles) and that there would only be about 6 or so hours of daylight while they were there. I was met with incredulity, but the agent trusted me and spoke to the customer explaining. She also noted the conversation in the database so that it couldn't come back to bite her.

I really think geography should be taught. I think it should be taught by cities as they are more likely to stay in a permanent location while a country's borders are more flexible.