Proper Greeting Technique

Andree Hurley demonstrates the correct and acceptable method for greeting a pedestrian or other driver using all five fingers of her greeting hand, along with a delighted smile.

Themes for February

There are three areas that I'd like everyone to work on during the month of February.

1. Post Tour Perfection
2. Dress
3. Tour Improvement

Post Tour, please complete your DVIR, gas up the coach, and clean the coach. This last point is often at issue the following day. Go over these things: walk through the coach and clean up ANY trash; clean the windows; sweep the floor. We do have a dress code, and are always considering a company "uniform". Look at yourself and you be the judge: are you dressed too casually? Try something totally different some days: wear a tie; wear a nice hat (beret, not baseball/feed). Tuck in that shirt! Liz and I will be making comments this month! How can you improve your tour? Read up on an area that you are a bit weak in. Get some statistics and WOW the folks. Make an extra effort to reach out to those people in the back corner who seem a bit off-putting. And let us know what works really well; maybe YOU will be featured in the blog! SP

Witch Hazel in the air

Its mid-January and all guides should point out the witch hazel plant at Waterfall Garden Park. Its right across from the waterfall on the corner. The blossoms are yellow, the leaves are ugly-dead, but it has a spectacular aroma. On sunny warm days (remember?) you can smell it from where we park the coaches! SP

The start of Something Good

Goodbye snow, hello rain... If you are wondering why we didn't chain up to run tours those last weeks in December, simply go to Google and punch in "tour bus over I-5". It happened on Dec 19th. While it is easy to stand by and ask "What were they thinking?" in regard to the drivers of those buses, you might ask yourself what you would've done in a situation where your dispatcher routed you into a situation where you had a closed and steep hill to your left, a narrow street ahead of you, and a steep hill to your right. A reminder to all drivers...if you haven't taken the SPS series of safety videos you will need to take them before the start of the season on May. Stop by the shop any day and we will set you up. Total time to take the videos is about 3 hours. Additionally, we still need help if any of you hearty souls feel like getting some hours in detailing coaches. Kudos to Bryan Dutt for getting out the elbow grease! LF

A visual reminder to be safe

Happy New Year Hey everyone we made it through the snow and we are happy to announce that we are back up and running at full capacity. We are looking forward to another record year and to the days increasing in length and the tours increasing in size! Check out the schedule for the next few weeks and call Steve if you are available! LF

Informationals

Telephone Rules for the OC Drivers need to know the "rules" that our telephone people use for taking reservations for the Outlet Shopping/Casino trip.

1. We do take a Credit Card No. to reserve their spot.
2. There is a 12 hour cancellation policy (like Mt. Rainier and Boeing Tour). If you are a no-show, your card will be charged.
3. As our brochure states, we do have a 6 person minimum and if there are not 6 people on the tour WHEN WE ARE READY TO LEAVE TOWN we will not run the tour.

Let it Rain, .... During these first weeks of Jan. 2009 it is good to call at 7 AM and check to see the status of your tours. The first weeks after the holidays are traditionally a little slower. Safety First When you are out running tours pay particular attention to shady areas, bridges, etc for icy patches. Preservation Next Mark Weber has requested that at the conclusion of your tours during this frosty time, that you pull the wipers into the "up" position away from the window so that they don't 1. freeze to the window 2. Burn the motor out if they are frozen to the window and turned on Hunkerin Down Time For many of you this time of year will find you with extra time on your hands and looking to fill it with something. Why not do some research and find out new exciting and interesting things to help us stay hip and current as a company? Steve is passing the list around to find out what each of us thinks are vital and exciting topics and points of contemporary interest to our guests. Have you stayed current with what people are reading about us in the in-flight magazines or on the web, for instance? We look good anyway because we are all beautiful people, but we will look better if we get on the same page as our guests! You go guides!

Weekly - Dec. 9

New Spot Times We are moving back spot times for tours for several reasons. There are, of course, fewer guests and therefore fewer complicated pickups this time of the year. We ask that you abide by these times and not come in earlier, or if you do come in, do not clock in unless requested when there is a reason to do so.

• BT AM - 8:15 AM
• 10 AM CT - 8:30 AM
• Outlet-Casino - 8:45 AM
• 1 PM CT - 11:45 AM

There will be less time to prepare your coach but we will make more of an effort to check them out in the morning. And, of course, it remains very important that drivers leave the coach the day before in ready-to-go conditions. If you find a coach in terrible condition in the AM, please report it to the Dispatcher before you get it ready so it can be inspected. The OC: 3 hours The Outlet Shopping and Casino Tour has had lots of activity this past week due to the presence of a convention in town. This tour allows for 3 hours of shopping or casino or a combination (ostensibly from 11 AM to 2 PM). We have been flexible regarding length of stay but have begun charging groups an additional charge for extra hours. We are learning that CLEARLY STATED LIMITS are necessary so people are fully aware of the departure time. Drivers - particularly Daniel Enderle, Andree Hurley and Mark Weber - have been exceptionally flexible as we learn how best to deal with unique situations. The old joke should work well here. What's the difference between a tourist and a hitchhiker? Five minutes.

DECEMBER CALENDAR

If you see a blank that you can fill, call IMMEDIATELY. We will try to keep this Calendar up to date, but the wall calendar in the office is the final word.

	14-Dec	15-Dec	16-Dec	17-Dec	18-Dec	19-Dec	20-Dec
	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
BT AM	BD	__	TJ	DE	DE	DE	AH
OC	__	BD	AH	MD	MD	__	__
10 AM	DE	__	__	AH	AH	LF	DE
	__	BD	AH	__	__	AH	__
1 PM	AH	DE	DE	TJ	TJ	__	__
Charter	x	SP	x	x	x	x	x
	x	x	x	x	x	x	x

	21-Dec	22-Dec	23-Dec	24-Dec	25-Dec	26-Dec	27-Dec
	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
BT AM	__	TJ	DE	TJ	xx	TJ	LY
OC	TJ	MD	MD	__	xx	__	MD
10 AM	DE	__	__	DE	xx	AH	TJ
	__	__	__	__	xx	__	__
1 PM	__	AH	AH	AH	xx	MD	AH
Charter	x	x	x	x	xx	x	x
	x	x	x	x	xx	x	x

	28-Dec	29-Dec	30-Dec	31-Dec	1-Jan	2-Jan	3-Jan
	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
BT AM	LY	MD	TJ	MD	__	__	__
OC	__	__	MD	TJ	__	__	__
10 AM	AH	TJ	AH	AH	__	__	__
	__	__	__	__	__	__	__
1 PM	TJ	TJ	__	TJ	__	__	__
Charter	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
	x	x	x	x	x	x	x

Weekly - Dec. 2

Caroling Opportunities! On Wednesday Dec. 10th we have an opportunity to go caroling with the Concierges. From 5-9:30pm we'll be singing at 3 different senior housing/shelters. It's a great cause and really gets you into the spirit of the season. Dan's entire family will be there. We have room for ten more people and you're welcome to bring a guest. The first ten to reply will go. New Fuel Cards We have new (blue) fuel cards for the coaches and drivers. See Duane or Liz/Steve, return your old (orange) fuel card to them, and initial the master sheet. Leavenworth Trips on Dec. Weekends? Let us know if you are ready, willing and able to run an all day charter to Leavenworth on Dec. weekends, either on Sat. or Sun. It would start at 10 AM and leave Leavenworth at 7 PM. We are just looking at this possibility, but need to know which drivers are willing to brave the elements. Signups 2009 The signup sheet is going out today and will cover the months of January through April. This will be done by spreadsheet, and once a person has signed up a copy will be printed out and kept on file to prevent any misunderstandings later. Be patient, but don't be afraid to ask in a week or two how things are progressing (not that I won't keep you informed right here).