First volockie irritation of the year.

[Horace42]

Personally I am grateful for all the help I can get. On balance, I think volockies do a good job. The personal touch is what makes life interesting.

I let them get on with it, and thank them when leaving.

 

 

[cuthound]

Blimey, that volockie must have really upset Nick.

 

Nick normally looks around and waves to us as he goes past, but he has just gone past and totally ignored us. ?

[nicknorman]

19 minutes ago, Nut said:

why not ask if the geezer can be retrained in  a polite way and next time it happens tell em to do one its your boat in the end

The first part, I have done in my courteous email to CRT this afternoon.

14 minutes ago, cuthound said:

Blimey, that volockie must have really upset Nick.

 

Nick normally looks around and waves to us as he goes past, but he has just gone past and totally ignored us. ?

No I did look, but didn’t see any sign of life. No offence intended!

[nicknorman]

59 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

  NO, just a boater who gets on with it and see's all aspects of the canal, boaters, lock keepers, Vlockies and can see that they are not all the same. I just don't run and tell the world about it on here, Why didn't you challenge him about his remarks at the lock instead of going public on here?

  I think your complaint is trivial and quite pathetic and laughable actually.

Part of the reason to go public first, is to gauge whether I am overreacting or not. Note that I have not named or described the chap, except that he is one of the many volunteers at Atherstone.

 

Yes I could have taken it further at the time but, bearing in mind his body language, rightly or wrongly I decided that it wouldn’t be an easy path and would end up in a shouting match. Better that advice on his conduct comes from his supervisor.

 

As to your last sentence, I am so glad that you find me entertaining.

[Machpoint005]

1 hour ago, dmr said:

Some VLK's do what they have been taught within thinking it through.

 

I think that's the key to Nick's experience. Life's too short to worry about small minded people doing small minded things.

[cuthound]

7 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

The first part, I have done in my courteous email to CRT this afternoon.

No I did look, but didn’t see any sign of life. No offence intended!

 

None taken! ?

[Mike Todd]

Customer feedback is inherently 'a good thing'  as it helps any organisation maintain process of continuous improvement. How a comment is phrased may well influence how it is responded to in the short term, especially if you give positive feedback when justified as well as the negative. Both are helpful. Overdoing it can lead to a marked ;lack of impact - look what happens if you make too many of the wrong sort of FOI requests . . . Such feedback is even more important in customer-facing services which, by their nature, are not directly supervised. How else is the org going to find out if ot is doing a good job?

[Machpoint005]

18 minutes ago, Mike Todd said:

too many of the wrong sort of FOI requests

 

Would that be the sort of FOI requests they would simply rather not have to answer? 

[Victor Vectis]

A moan complaint about a vlockie.

 

It must be spring!

 

?

[haza]

like i was told once  ,this is a forum ..get over it . but if you dont agree with .not just this op.but any ...dont comment .i can not see why pdi d64 is being rude .if thats is view .why is he being rude    . ,i for one agree with him thats  if i am allowed too ..keep a smile on your face and your laughing .

[Ex Brummie]

Obviously, the subtleties of lock operation are interpreted in different ways by different volunteers. Descending Atherstone last year, whilst particularly busy, I was ushered into the first lock, and through. I was then waiting behind another boat in front, and as there was a boat coming up, I waited. Another boat appeared behind me, so we both waited. I then descended the second lock, and saw the boat in front waiting to descend, with another in the lock descending, and one waiting to come up. I decided to stay in the lock until I could cross with the ascending boat, and suggested the volunteer reported back to the top lock, as another boat was coming to wait behind the one already there.

After a slightly heated exchange, I stayed where I was and the volunteer disappeared. We proceeded like this for the next 5 locks, when obviously some boats had moored up.

[nicknorman]

2 minutes ago, haza said:

like i was told once  ,this is a forum ..get over it . but if you dont agree with .not just this op.but any ...dont comment .i can not see why pdi d64 is being rude .if thats is view .why is he being rude    . ,i for one agree with him thats  if i am allowed too ..keep a smile on your face and your laughing .

I think with Facebook etc people have forgotten how to disagree. This is of course a current theme in itself! I have no problem with PD taking a different view, eg that volockies are great and why shouldn’t they stop me using a paddle. As you say, we should be allowed to disagree! However when that disagreement takes the form of a personal attack, ridicule etc., that is not good.

4 minutes ago, Ex Brummie said:

Obviously, the subtleties of lock operation are interpreted in different ways by different volunteers. Descending Atherstone last year, whilst particularly busy, I was ushered into the first lock, and through. I was then waiting behind another boat in front, and as there was a boat coming up, I waited. Another boat appeared behind me, so we both waited. I then descended the second lock, and saw the boat in front waiting to descend, with another in the lock descending, and one waiting to come up. I decided to stay in the lock until I could cross with the ascending boat, and suggested the volunteer reported back to the top lock, as another boat was coming to wait behind the one already there.

After a slightly heated exchange, I stayed where I was and the volunteer disappeared. We proceeded like this for the next 5 locks, when obviously some boats had moored up.

Yes there is never any point in having more than one boat waiting to go up/down in an intermediate pound. Just causes congestion and ultimately slows everyone up.

[haza]

i should have said part agree then sorry .if there was a personal attack or ridicule ,then that is not good ...but if you would have done the locks trouble free. with the aid of the guys there .would there even be  a post ...i was at middlewich boat music fest couple years back ..and i got to say the abuse and the threats of violence they put up with was awful and discusting .like some one said.we dont have to except there help ..i for one will take any help i can get  thanks guys 

[nicknorman]

3 minutes ago, haza said:

i should have said part agree then sorry .if there was a personal attack or ridicule ,then that is not good ...but if you would have done the locks trouble free. with the aid of the guys there .would there even be  a post ...i was at middlewich boat music fest couple years back ..and i got to say the abuse and the threats of violence they put up with was awful and discusting .like some one said.we dont have to except there help ..i for one will take any help i can get  thanks guys 

But surely they only get abuse and threats of violence when they are interfering with lock operations with boaters who don’t want their help? Our chap today never asked if we wanted help, he just “took charge” and that is my beef. So yes, I did have to accept his “help”, or fight him.

[alan_fincher]

3 hours ago, Mike Tee said:

I thought it had been decided near the end of last year that the volunteers are there 'to help if wanted, but the ultimate responsibility is the boat owners' which I read as being the boat owners choice as to what goes on. (Foxton and Watford in particular excepted).

 

eta - come on Mr.Fincher, I seem to remember you got a letter from C&RT after you complained, and it said the boater is in charge, or do I remember it wrong?

 

See here.

 

Specifically, taken from that, as agreed with CRT Head of Health & Safety.

 

Quote

3. Reiterate to all lock keepers that “The boater has the overall responsibility/control. The lock keepers are there to advise, guide and assist”

 

Also in there it states.....

 

Quote

6. The VLK should always ask the boater before offering assistance.

 

Sadly in our experience this still almost never happens - it very firmly is supposed to!

 

 

[tree monkey]

1 minute ago, nicknorman said:

But surely they only get abuse and threats of violence when they are interfering with lock operations with boaters who don’t want their help? Our chap today never asked if we wanted help, he just “took charge” and that is my beef. So yes, I did have to accept his “help”, or fight him.

My experience working in a customer facing role (horrible phrase) is sometimes just being there is enough to receive abuse.

I have been on the wrong end of some very peculiar rants, occasionally borderline violent .

Equally some lovely conversations but unfortunately it's rarely those who are happy who write in and say so.

 

 

[nicknorman]

2 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

My experience working in a customer facing role (horrible phrase) is sometimes just being there is enough to receive abuse.

I have been on the wrong end of some very peculiar rants, occasionally borderline violent .

Equally some lovely conversations but unfortunately it's rarely those who are happy who write in and say so.

 

 

Yes I’m sure that’s true, there are some pretty horrible people around and/or people with other difficulties who allow that to impact on strangers. However in the case of volockies they don’t have to interact with a member of the public in the same way that someone selling a service does. If I were a volockie and encountered abuse, I’d just immediately walk away and let them get on with it.

[haza]

so in 50 years of doing this ..have you never come across any other boater who does not do the locks the same as you ...i would be stunned if you have not ..i have many times . and a times its not been nice viewing lol

[nicknorman]

7 minutes ago, haza said:

so in 50 years of doing this ..have you never come across any other boater who does not do the locks the same as you ...i would be stunned if you have not ..i have many times . and a times its not been nice viewing lol

Obviously there are many ways to skin the cat of working locks. Yes some people manage to make an enormous meal of it! Others abuse the infrastructure and I have on occasion pointed out the error of their ways! However it is not a Volockie’s role to be a lock policeman.

[haza]

well apparently the mods think your a bit of a monster ...lol ..that was a joke not ridicule lol

[Sea Dog]

2 hours ago, sirweste said:

He is also free to come on here and moan prior to complaining. 

Well, if nothing else, it lets off the worst of the steam and also serves as a litmus test, so the odd forum rant can be a good thing. 

[Arthur Marshall]

I did notice last year that a lot of the vlockies did ask me (singlehanding) if I would like them to work me through, so it has had some effect. One, interestingly, apologised for taking a long time but said they'd been banned from stepping across gates. If that was true, most ignored it. 

[ditchcrawler]

23 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

I did notice last year that a lot of the vlockies did ask me (singlehanding) if I would like them to work me through, so it has had some effect. One, interestingly, apologised for taking a long time but said they'd been banned from stepping across gates. If that was true, most ignored it. 

A few years ago the Locky (real one) at the Montgomery told me his boss had come out of her office to see him one day to visit him and went ballistic when she saw him step across the open gate

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, nicknorman said:

Obviously there are many ways to skin the cat of working locks. Yes some people manage to make an enormous meal of it! Others abuse the infrastructure and I have on occasion pointed out the error of their ways! However it is not a Volockie’s role to be a lock policeman.

 

Indeed, if you had been travelling the other way the volockie would have had to lock you up! ?

[matty40s]

3 hours ago, nicknorman said:

 

No I did look, but didn’t see any sign of life. No offence intended!

I dont think I have ever not had to reverse a bit at the Cuthound house due to the highly polished windows obscuring view of life inside as you pass...?