My first shift
My first shift was the afternoon shift today. I showed up and got an introduction to what I’d be doing. I just greeted people and invited them to sign the visitor log then tell them what the exhibits are. I also kept a tally of the visitors. That was about it.
There were about 25 visitors during the shift. Some spent a fairly significant amount of time looking at the displays and a few people were in and out in 3 or 4 minutes.
People seemed to show up in waves with long periods of no activity in between. I had quite a bit of time to walk around the exhibits and look through the different books that are available. I also spent some time flipping through the docent binder that is under the table. It didn’t have information on the exhibits but it did have some history about the area and a page on how to work the cash register (along with information on emergency procedures incase there is an earthquake or something).
Leon handled the majority of the visitor interactions and fielded most of the questions. He has quite a spiel about the history of the mission’s name that he gave to the 3 different families that came in with kids doing their 4th grade mission report.
Someone did ask me if the chairs were original from the library. They are. There’s a photo of the library in the display just inside the front door that shows the chairs and tables from the reading room (the tables are downstairs now).
Overall it was a pretty uneventful afternoon but it was interesting talking with Leon and the other docent.
