Interview 22891 – Caption Index: 107
I just thought how can that be?… Read More
I just thought how can that be?… Read More
‘Cause I hadn’t, I heard that one. I don’t know if I ever told you that. Bob Wagner took me aside at one of the conferences that we were at. I’m trying to remember where we were. And I thought well this is kind of odd, you know. The big… Read More
But then the more research we got into it, we figured out it wasn’t, nobody had come to the zoo. And done an analyzation and gone to all these different zoos and that person writing it. It was they had just put out a survey to people and obviously somebody… Read More
And we were listed as one of the 10 worst zoos in the United States. That was a massive blow to me personally. Read More
That was in the Sunday newspapers?… Read More
What were some of the most frustrating or challenging times that you had as director?… Read More
Hmm. Well back in the day. One of them that popped to mind was we were voted, well it came up in the Parade Magazine. Read More
Do you remember that?… Read More
Now she’s one of them and she’s saying blah blah blah. So some of it you have to let it roll off your back. Some of it you just have to work a little bit more on relationships. A lot on communications. Yeah. Read More
Did you have like little tricks you would do or things that move these kind of things in a certain direction you wanted?… Read More
Not specifically. I think, again, each situation is so different that you have to just kind of go with the flow and it depends on the exact person and the problems you were having there. There’s a lot of schmoozing. I wish I had done better. You do learn as… Read More
You know, or what did you do?… Read More
You know, you could call your friends and go okay, I’m dealing with this, what do I do?… Read More
And I don’t think anybody has the exact same situation that you can go oh, that worked for them, I’m gonna do that. Because everybody is so different. But you can pick up some little pieces that you can try to use. So yeah, I started out trying my best. Read More
How would you describe yourself as director?… Read More
Did it change over the years?… Read More
Oh I’m sure it did. Well it was a learning process for me. I started out quite honestly because I just… I used the knowledge of people I knew. Again, Lincoln Park Zoo and St. Louis Zoo. People I had met at conferences. Read More
And did you feel it was important to have amenities?… Read More
But they were important. Oh yeah, absolutely. Because I guess the whole if mama ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy applies for visitor services too. Because the mom bringing the kids in, there are certain things they need. Baby changing stations, you know, a place to put the kids, little seating… Read More
I think it’s very important to have amenities because it’s the visitor service part. If you don’t make people happy when they’re there, and give them that experience, that’s anywhere from having the bathrooms, nice and clean in bathrooms, and, you know, making them fun where you paint things on… Read More