Communications

Posted by Barry Houseknecht Jun 4, 2006

As a workamper it seems to me that communication is one of the biggest hurdles in a campground. We can all talk but can we communicate? Getting an idea across is not always as easy as it may seem.

"Hey Bobby would you crack the window for me?" This is one of my favorites lines, right up there with "Cut out the light". In either case it's not at all what we meant is it? We wanted Bobby to open the window. So why did we tell him to crack it?

Have you ever listened to a presidential speech? Did you understand all that he said? Probably not in fact most of the speeches I've heard he could have been speaking a foreign language. The real problem is we just don't use the same terms in our daily speech as the government does.

What about in your work place do you understand when the boss gives an assignment? You probably do if you have worked there for any length of time. Here you probably do use the same terms as he does in your daily conversation.

As a group Rvers and Workampers could not be more diversified. When we arrive at a new job we are always amazed by where people are from and what they did in their previous life. Workampers seem to be from everywhere but "there", while Managers seem to be from "there". For this reason managers need to take great pains to assure they use language and terms that we all can understand. On the other side us workamper need to step up and ask if there is any doubt in our minds as to what is being asked of us. It's a lot better than a broken window don't ya think?