Attendant's View
Visitors are reminded not to eat in the galleries. The staff may attack you for your food.

  • Cartoons and Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Links Elsewhere
  • We're sponsoring...

He's New Here

11/4/2019

2 Comments

 
Picture
2 Comments

No Photos Please

16/10/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
0 Comments

Unsolicited Best Intentions

16/6/2018

0 Comments

 
The awkward moment when your museum finds that a local facebook page has been cheerfully copy/pasting your facebook events to create Their Own event pages, because they think it'll help your events reach more people.

What is mainly seems to do is reach people, confuse them, and make them frustrated over unanswered questions in the event discussion section.

Why didn't we answer your question on the event page? We weren't notified about a question on the event page. There isn't a question on the event page. Oh, that's a link to an event page which isn't ours. But looks exactly like our event page...

Road to hell, best intentions, paving, and all that.
Picture
0 Comments

Stolen Pushchair

8/1/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
To provide a bit of context, the area at the bottom of a set of stairs was often used to leave pushchairs, rather than walking to the lift and using the lift, or taking the pushchairs upstairs.

This not only blocked a fire escape (to the degree that some people would "tuck out of the way", actually inside the alcove of the fire escape door) but also presented a safety risk (leaving unattended, unidentified bags in a busy public venue) a "we're not responsible for your stuff being nicked" risk, and sometimes prevented people accessing art and exhibition panels when they were mounted on the walls in this space.

Signs were either willfully or obliviously ignored, often with minor panic when people were then informed that their pushchair was now relocated, to a safe place, outside the building.
0 Comments

For posterity

3/10/2017

0 Comments

 
​I must not do this if we remodel the museum in the future.
I must not do this if we remodel the museum in the future.
I must not do this if we remodel the museum in the future.
Picture
0 Comments

Your call

19/7/2017

0 Comments

 
I was going to send an email to a visitor query which was a flat out "We don't have an official position on this, but No".

Instead I have sent an email which is "Here are all the reasons why it could negatively impact on your visit, and on other visitors, the ball is however, in your court."

I'm not sure if that was actually the crueler email to send.

Because they now could do the thing they want to do, but will have to admit that they are knowingly potentially having a negative impact of the fun of others.

​In other words "How much of a twunt do you want to be?" 
0 Comments

Glamour

30/3/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
When you point out in a sudden panic to a colleague "DON'T PUT YOUR HAND THERE!" and then have to chisel lumps of dried on nasal matter from an exhibition wall.
0 Comments

Taking little Hugo to the museums

6/2/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
I REALLY hope this is a legitimate TFL sign.

Fist spotted and posted by https://www.facebook.com/mymuseumlife/
0 Comments

The real cost of visiting a historic house - Hint, It's not less than £1 per person.

23/11/2016

0 Comments

 
Winter nights have drawn in, and many museums and houses are using the dark hours to run dark events - ghost hunts, bat watches, lantern making... So when a photography club emailed an "Elizabethan House" about some night time photography, staff replied to them, willing to help plan an after hours visit.

I know about this because the photography club's response to this plan was apparently so unpleasant, that the house's staff compiled a joke letter, and then wanted to share it with you all.
Picture
The start of the "letter"
It is easy for us, within our institutions, with our detailed knowledge of how they function, to scoff at public misunderstanding about their inner workings. We have a duty to educate and inform the public not only about historic sites, but also the surprising ongoing costs just to maintain the status quo, let alone develop them.

Aaaaaalllthough... Staff frustration is very understandable when someone expects to bring 8 to 15 people on a special out of hours visit, paying less for the whole group than is usually paid for one person!
And they then threaten to break into your venue.
​
Read on to see the full image sent to me of the venue's mock letter.
​And do watch out for that box hedge!

Read More
0 Comments

Musuem experiences in the School Holidays

5/9/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
I’m not saying that these wouldn’t happen at other times of the year, just that they certainly happened during the school summer break at our museum.
​
  • Picking up what I thought was a piece of paper from the floor, but it was wet, chewed, ham. 
  • A visitor placing their bag “out of harm’s way” on top of a display cabinet, intending to leave it there all day. Cue our explaining about bomb scares, and the very real fact that their bag could have caused a fire, sat as it was in direct contact with the lighting for the cabinet and hot to touch when we found it.
  • A visitor pointing out that the lights were off in a cabinet. Discovering it had been deliberately unplugged at the wall. We suspect someone wanted to cheekily charge their mobile phone.
  • Cleaning a glass cabinet covered at knee height in so many very opaque hand and face prints, and so much wiped nasal matter, we firmly believe it wasn't a normal child, but some form of biological weapon testing in toddler form. How could a single child be that sticky and not actually have adhered to the cabinet?!
  • A small child purposefully, slowly and methodically poking their entrance ticket through a gap until it was stuck inside a locked display cabinet. It was part of the display for the rest of the weekend.
  • If you are sat drinking coffee and your children are four rooms away from you, they are not being accompanied by an adult. If you now want to leave, upset that we don’t trust your 12 year old to be mature enough to accompany their 9 year old brother, that’s fine by us, but a shame for them.
  • Lots of adorable and badly written messages in the visitor comments book about it being “amaysing” and “the best moseum ever”

More museum holiday fun? Find out what I've overheard in the holidays here.

1 Comment
<<Previous
    Webcomic and occasional blog about the heritage sector.
    Share The Attendant:
    Follow The Attendant:
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Tumblr

    RSS Feed

    Topics

    All
    Archaeology
    Art
    Behind The Scenes
    Blog
    Book
    Cartoon
    Castles And Houses
    Complaints
    Daft Questions
    Don't Do That...
    Don't Do That...
    English Heritage
    Entrance Desk
    Forrin Tourists
    Guided Tours
    Handy Gallery Attendant Tip #
    Happy Stories
    Kids
    Mischief
    Museums
    National Trust
    Old Dears
    Parents
    Parks And Gardens
    Review
    School Visits
    Submitted
    Tourist Information
    Yuk

    Archives

    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010

    Author

    All text and images are produced by and copyright of the artist, holder of the domain name of attendantsview.com
    Please contact for permission to use images, which will probably be gladly given, but it's only polite to ask first!

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.