Campground late departures.

[AbdRahim]

So how do you handle doctors appointments? They seem to always be stealing my time, which is far more valuable than their time is

Ok, I don't like waiting in a doctor's office either, but from the inside view, I can tell you that most of the time when they are behind, it is not their fault. Many times a patient will make a 10 minute appoint ment for a cold and when they get in the exam room, they reveal all kinds of other complaints (ie. depression, they start crying, etc., or someone ends up with chest pain in the office which involves a lot more stuff than a 10 minute visit.). Now the 10 minute appointment turns into 1/2 hour. They also, must schedule one patient every 15 minutes. Medicine is no longer all about patient care. They now must produce numbers, like the rest of the corporate world, in order to generate enough income for them and the corporate entity to which most belong, these days. This does not even account for the extensive documentation required after each patient visit.

 

[redbaron]

Ok, I don't like waiting in a doctor's office either, but from the inside view, I can tell you that most of the time when they are behind, it is not their fault. Many times a patient will make a 10 minute appoint ment for a cold and when they get in the exam room, they reveal all kinds of other complaints (ie. depression, they start crying, etc., or someone ends up with chest pain in the office which involves a lot more stuff than a 10 minute visit.). Now the 10 minute appointment turns into 1/2 hour. They also, must schedule one patient every 15 minutes. Medicine is no longer all about patient care. They now must produce numbers, like the rest of the corporate world, in order to generate enough income for them and the corporate entity to which most belong, these days. This does not even account for the extensive documentation required after each patient visit.

I don't disagree, but rather was illustrating that being flexible is the best way to not get bent out of shape. .makes life happier for you and those you interact with.

 

[ManlyMan]

This is really about camping etiquette and not doctor's appointments. As far as I'm concerned late departure without a good cause is a breach of camping etiquette. That's my position.

 

[Jim]

I'm a stickler about being on time.

I hate for someone to make an appointment to meet me at 1:00 and then show up late, sometimes not at all. And with no call either. I understand there are exceptions for everything, but if I'm scheduled for a 4:00 check in, and the people have had all day to get their sh*t together and they're still there, I'm gonna be unhappy.

I can almost guarantee you that I have scheduled something to do later that evening as well, and I counted on getting my rig in and set up in time for me to get to my next scheduled event. Which may be dinner, a show, or whatever. Now I'm going to be late because these other people had no concern for anyone else except themselves.

Not the end of the world, but I'm sick and tired of inconsiderate people. And that lack of consideration is becoming more and more common it seems.

Just my .02.

 

[RKins]

I put blame firmly on the park rules and management. I don't care if it is a COE or what - who has people checking out or in at the same time. My experience is that there is usually an hour buffer so that the staff can check the sites that will be moved into.
Let's say that they do have a 1 hour buffer and that the current camper pulls out on time, some people, having been there before and knowing the checkout/in times, try to check in an hour early to get more camp time - that is what @Neal is referring to. The problem is that some people will bend any guidelines or rules to suite themselves .i.e. "I'm not leaving until someone shows up for the site". Or everyone is checked out at 11 and no one is staffing the CG, so the person intentionally arrives an hour early to bend the rules to get more camp time.

I remember arriving at the main gate of a CG 10 mins early and being told I must leave the property for 10 more mins. I was miffed, instead of letting me sit there for 10 mins, I had to unhook our towed, do a u-turn and get off the property. I knew when check in time was, I happened to arrive from the 125 mile leg, just a few minutes, not hours early. So now that I know how strict they are I wait at the nearby Publix until just before check-in time and arrive at/just after the time (and btw, when I get there at check-in time, there are always a backup of RVs at the gate that refused to vacate the property)

 

[dedobias]

Showing up early to a vacant spot is not the same thing at all. Dumb question, trolling.. No one is going to show up one hour before departure time.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Showing up early to a vacant spot is not the same thing at all. Dumb question, trolling.. No one is going to show up one hour before departure time.

Wow! I told you I didn't know it all. How much time is there between customers? Is there a time allotted for management to clean or inspect a site? You see I read the above quote as the same time and forgot that there may be a time between customers.

 

[Neemer]

There are no trolls on this board.

 

[dedobias]

Wow! I told you I didn't know it all. How much time is there between customers? Is there a time allotted for management to clean or inspect a site? You see I read the above quote as the same time and forgot that there may be a time between customers.

Wasn't you I responded to. A more snarky question was asked - this is trolling "Applying the same standard you use for departures, the campsite belongs to someone else until 4:00 pm.". Yes rangers will check a site and sometimes clean it. If arriving early, that would be on you. Hovering while someone is packing is another matter and poor behavior before the previous users departure time..

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Wasn't you I responded to. A more snarky question was asked - this is trolling "Applying the same standard you use for departures, the campsite belongs to someone else until 4:00 pm.". Yes rangers will check a site and sometimes clean it. If arriving early, that would be on you. Hovering while someone is packing is another matter and poor behavior before the previous users departure time..

I know you weren't The response just left me with a question is all.

 

["EZ"]

I put blame firmly on the park rules and management. I don't care if it is a COE or what - who has people checking out or in at the same time. My experience is that there is usually an hour buffer so that the staff can check the sites that will be moved into.
Let's say that they do have a 1 hour buffer and that the current camper pulls out on time, some people, having been there before and knowing the checkout/in times, try to check in an hour early to get more camp time - that is what @Neal is referring to. The problem is that some people will bend any guidelines or rules to suite themselves .i.e. "I'm not leaving until someone shows up for the site". Or everyone is checked out at 11 and no one is staffing the CG, so the person intentionally arrives an hour early to bend the rules to get more camp time.

I remember arriving at the main gate of a CG 10 mins early and being told I must leave the property for 10 more mins. I was miffed, instead of letting me sit there for 10 mins, I had to unhook our towed, do a u-turn and get off the property. I knew when check in time was, I happened to arrive from the 125 mile leg, just a few minutes, not hours early. So now that I know how strict they are I wait at the nearby Publix until just before check-in time and arrive at/just after the time (and btw, when I get there at check-in time, there are always a backup of RVs at the gate that refused to vacate the property)

Holy Cow! That CG is taking it to the extreme. I doubt I'd ever stay there again if I had to unhook a toad and go through all that because I was 10 min early. Good grief!

 

[RKins]

It is a Thousand Trails in FL and it was during snowbird season - they have about 1100 sites and you can imagine the chaos if they were not diligent with their check-in process. But 10 mins.....
In the non-snowbird time it's not so rigid although the gate is manned so you can't abuse the time.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

It is a Thousand Trails in FL and it was during snowbird season - they have about 1100 sites and you can imagine the chaos if they were not diligent with their check-in process. But 10 mins.....
In the non-snowbird time it's not so rigid although the gate is manned so you can't abuse the time.

Ahhhhh, Thousand Trails. We were members for about 20 years and finally dropped our membership because of the problems that ensued after it was purchased by "venture capitalists." They sucked all the money out of the company and left the "preserves" in shambles, at least out here in the West.

Our membership was one of the first issued when the company was formed in Bellevue, Washington. LadyDi's mom and dad purchased it and, eventually, passed it down to us. It was hard to let it go for sentimental reasons, but made absolutely no financial sense to keep it. All of the good sites in the preserves were being leased out on an annual basis and could not be used by anyone else, even when they were vacant. Staff was reduced to a skeleton crew and turnover was very high due to low pay and poor working conditions. Very sad to see a once-thriving membership organization become just another profit center.

TJ

 

[NWIP]

Most of the Thousand Trails I’ve past along our travels, I wouldn’t want to stay at. My sister had a membership and used for awhile but eventually let it go like @TJ&LadyDi

 

[RKins]

I haven't been to any in the west yet. Some I've been to in the east are not horrible but not great either - very old infrastructure. Some of the TT CGs are re-investing in the future, the one in Orlando just added 164 sites in a new area. They do have a lot of annual leased sites though.