"In grammar school they taught me that a frog turning into a prince was a fairy tale. In the university they taught me that a frog turning into a prince was a fact!" -Ron Carlson
It makes me feel a little better when even the VAO leads occaisionally have trouble making themselves clear to a guest, or struggle for the right words to describe something to someone, since it happens to me all the time. See, almost every location in the Zoo has a name, official or unofficial that everyone uses, and that's great when you're talking to another employee, but most of the visitors have no idea what you're talking about if you say "Canyon Crossroads" or "Skyfari East," so it's sometimes a challenge to help someone find something. Like yesterday, I was on my way with VA2 to close an aviary then head to the Show when someone stopped us on the front plaza asking about places to eat because the Flamingo Cafe was closed. (If they'd just bothered to look in their map, of which they had two, they would have found many options.) VA2 told her that there were a couple other places to eat in the front plaza and she gave him a blank stare for a couple seconds before he realized he needed to explain that we were, in fact, standing in the front plaza. It just makes me feel like a little less of a dolt when a lead has to stop themselves and back up or simplify their language for a visitor who wants their hand held throughout their entire trip to the Zoo, like I have to do for people all the time.
