I was on a road trip from San Diego to San Francisco and thought I would hit Skydive Santa Barbara and Skydive Monterey on the way north. After getting stumped at SSB with fog and low clouds, I arrived at Skydive Monterey the next morning with beautiful blue skies. When I walked into the terminal, I noticed lots of tandem folks waiting around; that should have been my first clue. I asked around but no one knew if there was a local instructor or coach around to get me oriented (clue 2), so being an instructor myself observed how they did things for a little while, noticed the boarding and landing areas were on the far side of the airfield (you have to take vans to and from), and the nice packing and training areas. Walked into the office and stood in line while watching the staff lose their minds trying to deal with the five tandems that where in there. After nearly 30 minutes of waiting and repeated questions that went ignored, I asked again to get started with the waiver, etc. After finishing with that I tried to manifest and was told that there would be a 2.5 hour wait. No apology or anything. I am an instructor at a busy DZ myself, and I know how easy it is to get focused on taking care of the clients and forget that there are fun jumpers running around that are looking for a good time, often at a new and different DZ than their home. But making these folks welcome can pay dividends for your business over the long haul, and they might even bring in a tandem or two the next time they are in town.
