Bratty Customers?

[Dr.Mandrake]

I remember one night last October when two twelve year old brats came through my haunted house. They were trying to act tough and cool, and generally just causing a bunch of trouble. What I saw of them, they stopped on the bridge I'm stationed on and started to dance, clogging up the flow of customers and cussing out anyone who told them to move. Then they stopped and starting yelling at people through the fence, telling them where people were hidden. All attempts we made to tell them to get out were futile, and of course we weren't allowed to touch them. We have a security guard on the premises, but he wasn't where he could see what was going on at the moment and we couldn't leave our positions to go get him. What would you suggest for dealing with customers like this?

[austind]

Sounds like a problem with comunication. There should be a radio in each section so that security can be contacted and escort the guys out. This falls on management and how they have planed to deal with unruly customers. These guys should have been pulled aside and told that they need to respect the other customers experience or they will be escorted of the property by the police. Some kids today have no respect and they are not the customers that you want or need. But in order to deal with these type of situations you need to have a plan in place before a problem so everyone knows what to do and it can be handled quickly and easily. Hope this helps.

Phatman

[Dreamreaper]

Sounds like a problem with comunication. There should be a radio in each section so that security can be contacted and escort the guys out. This falls on management and how they have planed to deal with unruly customers. These guys should have been pulled aside and told that they need to respect the other customers experience or they will be escorted of the property by the police. Some kids today have no respect and they are not the customers that you want or need. But in order to deal with these type of situations you need to have a plan in place before a problem so everyone knows what to do and it can be handled quickly and easily. Hope this helps.

Phatman

Yes we also do this , every area has radios and security cameras all over. We also have roamers that are carector's that go anywhere in the haunt/parking lot, they can fallow any problem people and give them one warning and i'f they still act out they will take them out of the haunt at that point. We have warning signs and audio on the rules in the beginning and also states no touching actors or props so when we see anyone hitting props on the cameras someone is sent there to take care of the situation. Lets not forget there is a real problem with smoking that we have to watch for.

[Marr Branch]

Any one who buy's a ticket to go thru my haunt is a guest. As soon as they start acting stupid they are trespassers. They will be dealt with accordingly, because they are on private property.

[Jim Warfield]

I let a few comments "go", unless it is a group with youngsters and one obscene commentor. Then we have this "Talk": "If I can't right now convince you to be more quiet, then at the end of the house tour, some of the others in your group might be asking Me for a refund or a whole new tour. I am just lazy and cheap enough that I really don't want to do either of those things, just because you are mouthy. If you can't stifle yourself you must leave."
I will modify my demand if it is determined that the group all came here together and if everyone in that group doesn't mind if a person among them is distractingly mouthy because then Jim just says less and does less of what I would normally say and do, afterall it is their time and money, just trying to "please". This offer, the few times it has is taken up, fails very quickly as the yammering people fail to be or become entertaining enough for the rest of the group to tolerate.
Then they demand I do what I was paid to do here, which was to provide stimulating,nocturnal entertainment, in my own words, and odd style.

[HauntLover]

I remember one night last October when two twelve year old brats came through my haunted house. They were trying to act tough and cool, and generally just causing a bunch of trouble. What I saw of them, they stopped on the bridge I'm stationed on and started to dance, clogging up the flow of customers and cussing out anyone who told them to move. Then they stopped and starting yelling at people through the fence, telling them where people were hidden. All attempts we made to tell them to get out were futile, and of course we weren't allowed to touch them. We have a security guard on the premises, but he wasn't where he could see what was going on at the moment and we couldn't leave our positions to go get him. What would you suggest for dealing with customers like this?

We can text our Security or Management if there is a problem like that. It works well.

[Frightener]

If you guys can't get real radio gear, get a fake one. Or a broken one. Act like you use it, pretend to talk to 'management' and sign off saying 'radio off and returning to character' so they hear you.

Most of the time they'll 'fear' consequences and move on. If they don't. Let them back the patrons up... then alert the other patrons that the hold up is the culprets and let them take care of it. Might even say "Rest of the actors aren't going to entertain unless you guys straighten up and take off" I've been a patron and in this incident. I've seen this method work with a few young boys. They walked down the trail and acted back up. I told them, "Look, if you guys are gonna keep this up and ruin my $12, I'm whippin someone's azz" .. they shut up the rest of the tour lol.

[Motograter]

Our haunt is designed with a center "security hallway" that is the length of the entire maze. We put peep holes in every room so the 2 security guards can watch and look into every single room and follow the "troubled groups" from behind the walls. There is a emergency door about every 15 feet so the security guard can have rush access into the room to either follow the group from behind and make sure they behave or escort out a group through and down the security hallway and out the exit.