mistressofmuses (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mistressofmuses) wrote2021-10-30 10:28 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2021-10-30 10:28 pm
Entry tags:
Trick or Treat?
Maybe the database being taken down is a Halloween trick...
Surprisingly, having the catastrophic database issue made my hell Saturday LESS awful. (Or at least... awful in different ways.)
Less busy than feared, and basically... nothing we can do. All we can do is take down people's information so that we can reach out to them once the systems are functioning again. But since existing customers can't access their accounts either, it just didn't generate quite as much panic as anticipated.
But also, god, we really can't do anything. Class roster? Can't check that. Registration numbers? Can't see 'em. Individual employee's appointment schedules? Nope. What location is your appointment? I also do not know. Running late? Welp, I can't see what time the appointment was for, which location it's at, which instructor you have, much less look up their contact info to let them know.
And since several locations aren't staffed on Saturday (or even the weekends at all), uh... RIP if that's the center in question.
The most frustrating thing was the utter lack of communication from upper management. We got one message this morning telling us the systems were down, and to use paper enrollment forms and take down information for future followup. They also said they'd pull copies of tomorrow's schedules for our instructors so that we could prepare tomorrow's appointments.
(Then I was asked to send out copies of the paper enrollment forms, because no one else could find them...)
And then we got one more email at the end of the day, saying the system will still be down tomorrow, and they'll pull the schedules sometime tonight to send them out.
That's... too little, too late, since the instructors don't have access to the center emails, and will mostly be there earlier than office staff anyway, so they... still don't have their schedules or the student paperwork.
(Super luckily, my drivers DO, because in anticipation of this weekend sucking, we worked ahead and printed that off yesterday, so barring anyone who wanted to cancel and was unable to, we should have an accurate schedule.)
I'm concerned about my class tomorrow, since I can't view the roster, but hopefully it'll be a small class that we can get sorted out.
While I'm sure that trying to actually address whatever this server-destroying issue is absolutely the #1 priority... it's frustrating that we weren't given any real guidance or the minimum amounts of help (like getting the schedules or rosters to us) that could make center operations go as smoothly as possible under the circumstances.
The last contact was just "welp, gonna be down tomorrow too", so we'll see if that means the whole day, or if it comes up sometime tomorrow. I'm not sure which I hope for - if it stays down, it's another day where we can't do much except write down info and try to keep the centers from completely falling apart. If it does come back up, the class will be much easier, and we don't have so many situations we're helpless to deal with.
-
We did go to the corn maze! It was super crowded (night before Halloween, last night of the season). We paid for the fast passes, which cost a fucking arm and a leg, but it was worth it not to wait for literal hours in line.
It was definitely fun, though Alex seemed kind of in a rush to get through, when I would probably have walked slower, ha. (One of the first "rooms" had a collapsing platform that lurched sideways that definitely hurt his knee, so that may have been part of it.)
Not to get all "when I was your age..." but I miss the way it was a decade+ ago. It's gotten a LOT more "commercial" feeling, and while I can't fault them for their popularity, the vibe change is unfortunate. The tickets are a lot more expensive, and include far less, and there's now no way to mix the fluffier maze and autumn festival stuff with the spooky Halloween stuff. I VERY SLIGHTLY regret that we splurged as much as we did on the night, but it WAS fun.
(I also miss the mid-haunt queue area where they used to re-space groups, because it was always showing the WORST classic bad horror, and it was fun!)
There WERE some really neatly designed rooms - one indoor "forest" with a spooky witchcraft vibe, and a deer-girl costume that I loved, and another that used fog and LED strips in a way that made it look like you were wading through something, where you couldn't see the floor. None of the scare actors really stuck out to me the way some previous years have, but we were moving through a bit quicker than I would have liked. Several of them had good costumes, and one of them managed a prolonged low growl that they maintained for much longer than I would think possible!
(They DIDN'T give any kind of "rules/orientation" this year like they have previously, which surprised me. Usually we get a "please don't punch our scarers, there are flashing lights, be aware of suddenly moving footing" warnings thing, but there was nothing this year.)
But I forever love whoever it was who threw an instrumental Silent Hill track in the midst of the Halloween dance party playlist that was playing in the line area. :)
Surprisingly, having the catastrophic database issue made my hell Saturday LESS awful. (Or at least... awful in different ways.)
Less busy than feared, and basically... nothing we can do. All we can do is take down people's information so that we can reach out to them once the systems are functioning again. But since existing customers can't access their accounts either, it just didn't generate quite as much panic as anticipated.
But also, god, we really can't do anything. Class roster? Can't check that. Registration numbers? Can't see 'em. Individual employee's appointment schedules? Nope. What location is your appointment? I also do not know. Running late? Welp, I can't see what time the appointment was for, which location it's at, which instructor you have, much less look up their contact info to let them know.
And since several locations aren't staffed on Saturday (or even the weekends at all), uh... RIP if that's the center in question.
The most frustrating thing was the utter lack of communication from upper management. We got one message this morning telling us the systems were down, and to use paper enrollment forms and take down information for future followup. They also said they'd pull copies of tomorrow's schedules for our instructors so that we could prepare tomorrow's appointments.
(Then I was asked to send out copies of the paper enrollment forms, because no one else could find them...)
And then we got one more email at the end of the day, saying the system will still be down tomorrow, and they'll pull the schedules sometime tonight to send them out.
That's... too little, too late, since the instructors don't have access to the center emails, and will mostly be there earlier than office staff anyway, so they... still don't have their schedules or the student paperwork.
(Super luckily, my drivers DO, because in anticipation of this weekend sucking, we worked ahead and printed that off yesterday, so barring anyone who wanted to cancel and was unable to, we should have an accurate schedule.)
I'm concerned about my class tomorrow, since I can't view the roster, but hopefully it'll be a small class that we can get sorted out.
While I'm sure that trying to actually address whatever this server-destroying issue is absolutely the #1 priority... it's frustrating that we weren't given any real guidance or the minimum amounts of help (like getting the schedules or rosters to us) that could make center operations go as smoothly as possible under the circumstances.
The last contact was just "welp, gonna be down tomorrow too", so we'll see if that means the whole day, or if it comes up sometime tomorrow. I'm not sure which I hope for - if it stays down, it's another day where we can't do much except write down info and try to keep the centers from completely falling apart. If it does come back up, the class will be much easier, and we don't have so many situations we're helpless to deal with.
-
We did go to the corn maze! It was super crowded (night before Halloween, last night of the season). We paid for the fast passes, which cost a fucking arm and a leg, but it was worth it not to wait for literal hours in line.
It was definitely fun, though Alex seemed kind of in a rush to get through, when I would probably have walked slower, ha. (One of the first "rooms" had a collapsing platform that lurched sideways that definitely hurt his knee, so that may have been part of it.)
Not to get all "when I was your age..." but I miss the way it was a decade+ ago. It's gotten a LOT more "commercial" feeling, and while I can't fault them for their popularity, the vibe change is unfortunate. The tickets are a lot more expensive, and include far less, and there's now no way to mix the fluffier maze and autumn festival stuff with the spooky Halloween stuff. I VERY SLIGHTLY regret that we splurged as much as we did on the night, but it WAS fun.
(I also miss the mid-haunt queue area where they used to re-space groups, because it was always showing the WORST classic bad horror, and it was fun!)
There WERE some really neatly designed rooms - one indoor "forest" with a spooky witchcraft vibe, and a deer-girl costume that I loved, and another that used fog and LED strips in a way that made it look like you were wading through something, where you couldn't see the floor. None of the scare actors really stuck out to me the way some previous years have, but we were moving through a bit quicker than I would have liked. Several of them had good costumes, and one of them managed a prolonged low growl that they maintained for much longer than I would think possible!
(They DIDN'T give any kind of "rules/orientation" this year like they have previously, which surprised me. Usually we get a "please don't punch our scarers, there are flashing lights, be aware of suddenly moving footing" warnings thing, but there was nothing this year.)
But I forever love whoever it was who threw an instrumental Silent Hill track in the midst of the Halloween dance party playlist that was playing in the line area. :)
no subject
Class roster? Can't check that. Registration numbers? Can't see 'em. Individual employee's appointment schedules? Nope. What location is your appointment? I also do not know. Running late? Welp, I can't see what time the appointment was for, which location it's at, which instructor you have, much less look up their contact info to let them know.
I know it probably sucked donkey balls yesterday and today, I couldn't help chuckling at that description of the day.
no subject
Hahaha, it was a bit of a "laugh because otherwise I'll cry" vibe for the day, but to an extent it was pretty funny, just not being able to do literally anything that someone would call in to ask us to do.