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

American perceptions vs. English 'humour'

29/4/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
We do sometimes mock the colonials a little for being over awed by anything older than their settling in the Americas, and their tendency to forget that things were created prior to then, and in some cases still exist to this day. This chap however was a gem, he genuinely believed I was taking advantage of his American nativity and pulling his leg about standing parts of the building dating back that far.

Once I gave them the audio tour wands, he handed his directly to his wife and told me conspiratorially “She’ll listen to the whole damn thing, but I’m just going to get some great pictures of her looking like lady of the house.” As Staircase House is full of replica furniture and is wholly hands on, he was very happy to have “Gotten a snap of her pouring tea like a real English lady.” :D

(please don't turn this by having a crack at me about my understanding and perceptions of Americans and their history. I know some very bright and great Americans. I have also met some real doozies. Likewise, us Brits can be astonishingly dumb sometimes!)

0 Comments

Life in the workshop

26/4/2013

0 Comments

 
Today I've been hidden in the workshop, sticking and slicing foam board labels. It's a different environment to the office, not only due to the powertools, mess and hands on creativity, but also thanks to the different life experiences and mindset of the staff there, and the conversational freedom granted by not sharing an open plan office.

Topics of conversation:
Revenge "He super-glued my paintbrushes to my desk, so I glued his door shut"
Best practice in making IEDs (Improvised explosive devices) "The Provs used mushy pea tins"
Breaking into cars "You can't do it with half a tennis ball anymore"
Washing powder "I use Fairy. Seriously, feel  my trousers, they're really soft"

Even tool wielding, furniture lugging, scenery creating rufty tufty men like their trousers to be nice and soft!

0 Comments

No news is ever really new.

22/4/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
A BBC article on the origins and history of tinned food may not sound like a riot to read, but by golly I've just gained a grand amount of trivia! 

For example: scandals over cheap meat are nothing new!

"Instead of perfectly preserved beef, they found putrid meat so rotten that the stone floors needed to be coated with chloride of lime to mask the stench, according to an account in the Illustrated London News.....The supplier in question was Stephan Goldner, who had won the Admiralty contract in 1845 by undercutting all rivals, thanks to cheap labour working at his meat factory in what is now Romania ."

0 Comments

The Foibles of Funding

17/4/2013

0 Comments

 
Florence's Galleria dell'Accademia are apparently planning to complain about the treatment and resulting state of Michelangelo's David, following an exhibition funded by American Sponsors.
Prior to Exhibition
Picture
After Exhibition
Picture
The sponsors were:
Picture
Picture
Picture
Many thanks to my mum for sending me the comedy email, this is based on!
0 Comments

Letter of the law, not the Spirit

16/4/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
On Facebook someone queried why recording would be an issue, as they thought the main problem with photography was the use of a flash.

 In some places, for some objects, it is a major issue of copyright and security. So something privately owned may be shown by a gallery or museum, and part of the agreement is that the owner retains all rights to any images etc, and/or no images can be taken of the cabinet/alarm wires/wall fixtures. (the security/images issue can also sometimes arise in insuring certain items) So the staff then have to try and prevent visitors from taking images of the object and it's surroundings. 

Frustrating, but at least it gets objects from private collections, or which would otherwise be prohibitive to insure and publicly display, on show.
0 Comments

You have deleted the internet

9/4/2013

2 Comments

 
In work I maintain our section of our website, using a slightly cumbersome system. I'm deleting old images and things we no longer need clogging up the system.

Today I learnt that ticking the box at the top of a list to select all in that list, and then unticking the items you don't want to be included, does not actually exclude those items from being deleted when you then press the delete button. 

I was alarmed when the 22 page list of images, media bundles, pdfs and articles went down to only 3 pages. And rightly so it seems, as that would pretty much delete our  whole web section. Now to work out how to fix this, or if I need to start wholly from scratch on the project. 

At least I noticed before pressing the 'make it so' button!
2 Comments

The Customer is Always Right: Going the Extra Mile

8/4/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
I am wholly up for making customers happy, but had to laugh when a staff member just went the extra mile, causing my boss to ask:

"Can you print a new copy of the poster about the regimental cat? The bar manager damaged it while trying to un-staple it off the wall. He was going to photocopy it for an American customer who really wanted a copy, but then we found the file and printed a new one off for him."

This is simply an A4 comedy poster we stapled up about a missing cat (challenging kids to then find the hidden toy cat) which also gently mocks the manager who wanted to get rid of the cat in the first place (before we hid it) I can only assume our American guest is a cat lover after a unique souvenir! 

0 Comments

Sensitive souls

7/4/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
This is quite an old cartoon, drawn while working at Staircase House (great place, well worthy visiting Stockport for there, Bramall Hall, the Hat Museum, Air Raid Shelters and the marketplace. Then, leave before it gets dark...) and just after Most Haunted had done a live broadcast from the site. We had quite the procession of erm, unique, visitors after that show, including some who complained rather bitterly. Genuinely, a small pane of glass in a leaded window was cracked, and comment had been made on the "sudden and unusual drop in temperature" by a few people.

I may well draw up some of what went on behind the scenes of it in the future. Mistaking a smoke alarm for communications from beyond the grave on live TV? whoops. I'm not saying that it's not haunted, just that whatever is there had enough sense to dodge the TV crew ;)
0 Comments
    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

    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!

    Archives

    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    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

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.