Attendant's View Blog and Cartoons

Ten things I wish I'd been told before working in a museum.

7/10/2016

I was recently involved in a discussion about "Things no one told you before you started working in a museum”.
It made me wonder: What would I tell myself if I could go back?

I wouldn't want to put the younger me off working in museums, galleries or heritage sites, but perhaps guide them a bit in what to expect. The ten points here may not be the most vital and key things to know, but they are things I wish I'd been prepared for!

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Copy and paste email replies - be human, get it right.

31/7/2015

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If your venue uses standard replies to written queries, how much have you thought about their use?

Museums, galleries and heritage sites get a lot of the same queries again and again; to check basic details, asking for favours and complaints from people you’ll never be able to make happy.

A set of copy and paste responses save a lot of time and effort, especially if your emails are answered (as is increasingly the case) by staff performing multiple functions. However, their use should be carefully thought about, with the tone, and how and when they are used.

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Handy Gallery Attendant Tip: Blu Tack

13/5/2015

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"My ring just rolled under that large cabinet"
"This label fell off the wall"
"There's a display stand which keeps falling over"
"My walkie talkie knob won't stay on one frequency"
"Can you pop these posters up?"
"People keep looking through the keyhole to the new art gallery we're setting up."

Handy Gallery Attendant Tip #31

Always have a lump of Blu Tack (or whatever brand of sticky, tacky putty you prefer or your budget allows) handy about your person.

Also useful for shaping small comedy animals and leaving them for co-workers to find and then sculpt into new shapes.

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Handy Gallery Attendant tip: Know who to blame, er, call...

30/7/2014

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There is currently only one route to our venue, due to extensive roadworks.
That one route now has a broken down lorry in it, waiting for a vehicle breakdown bloke.
The roadwork minions won't move any of the cones or fences for people to drive around it, or turn their cars around.

The phone is a bit busy as visitors stuck at the back of the line of traffic want to know what on earth is going on, and no roadwork minions will explain the situation to them.

Luckily, we've really enjoyed handing out the contact details for the company behind the roadworks, so complaints about the attitude of their staff can be sent directly to them.

Handy Gallery Attendant tip #18

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Handy Gallery Attendant tip: Hold keys to avoid falling asleep fully.

29/4/2014

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See, this is why you hold a bunch of keys loosely in your hands.

Then when you drop off too much, you drop the keys and wake yourself back up.

Handy Gallery Attendant tip #65

(I never did this, I spent dull time copying artwork and sketching visitors, but one gent on our staff had perfected the art of not quite being fully asleep with the key trick. We sometimes wanted to cordon him off and label him as an exhibit.)

Image from here

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Ten things I wish I'd been told before working in a museum.

Copy and paste email replies - be human, get it right.

Handy Gallery Attendant Tip: Blu Tack

Handy Gallery Attendant tip: Know who to blame, er, call...

Handy Gallery Attendant tip: Hold keys to avoid falling asleep fully.

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