Before entering society, it should be a right of passage that people work in the service industry for at least a year. As someone who works in the industry, the entitlement astonishes me! And in your case, maybe it should be a prerequisite that people spend some time understanding the weather before joining your trips LOL. Great read and I hope you have a stress-free fall.
Things don’t change much. When I guided in the boundary waters as a college student back in the 70s, there were a more than a few who didn’t get it. Stuff like “can you route us around the bugs” and humping their gear on portages when they were “too tired” & “that’s what we pay you for”.
It was the best job I ever had, but some days it was the worst.
When I’m not working overseas, my home’s Munising, MI, gateway to Pictured Rocks. A classic tourist town. I avoid it in the summer- to damn many tourists.
Good writing as always and a pleasure to read. Hope you have a great off season!
Oh man those are all classic!! “Can you route us around the bugs” is a real one— that and the “ well there goes your tip” as a joke if you mess something up
I am sorry about people’s entitlement and lack of awareness and kindness. It seems as if social media is making some people so disconnected that they can’t relate to others with kindness and consideration. I haven’t taken any trips with you yet but I am sure from all the content you put out and these well thought out newsletters that you are fantastic!! 💜
Appreciate this reflection! I live in a whitewater area and have many friends who guide.
Guiding is very much service industry with a much higher stakes. I didn’t hack it as a horseback riding guide.
There were many factors related to the care of the horses that made me walk. But also, peoples sense of pride (yeah I’ve ridden before/how hard can it be?) and entitlement (he’s not listening to me! why can’t I use my phone?!) is maddening.
Yes exactly! The entitlement gets really hard, and while I love so, so many aspects of guiding it can be really hard to move past some of the downsides!
Maddy, I subscribe to your essays because of love your writing and love the subject matter of which you write. I so much identified with this essay. I've never guided professionally, but I have spent a lifetime traveling in the wilderness (climbing, hiking, and paddling), and I've taken along many less-experienced friends and friends-of-friends. One of the first rules I explain is that they will be expected to pitch in on camp chores, listen to my technique advice, and the weather may shit on us, in myriad ways they may not have thought about. (For example, folks who've never paddled the Boundary Waters have a hard time understanding that the wind may in fact pin us down in camp for a day, and may cause you to miss your flight home.)
Thankfully, these trips have nearly always gone well. I suspect it's because I have the freedom to choose my friends, and they aren't paying.
But understanding that my experience is different than yours, but sometimes overlapping, it's easy for me to come to a conclusion. Your clients were not understanding the rules of the game. Oh, and they were rude.
I’ve definetly found friends trips to be easier because they aren’t paying and are happier to pitch in, and in general the paying folks are awesome as well— it’s just a quantity game at a certain point probably, you’re eventually going to encounter difficult people if you’re running as many trips with as many folks as I have!
Last weekend I had Airbnb guests who wanted to cancel after my info form letter warned them not to leave food in their cars or outside because we have bears. I saw another review of a campground “glamping tent” that said they left after an hour because there were spiders. I guess holiday weekends could be called amateur time.
I’ve done four overnights in the islands on vacation (three guided, one trip with a paddle club). I am 0/4 on those trips going as planned and two of them have been cut short a day due to conditions. For me, that’s the magic. Small craft advisory and stuck on an island? Do nothing but read, Sudoku, snack, and nap. How often do I get that chance? Never. Conditions building and you’re paddling 14 miles into the wind with one out of boat rest stop for the whole day, then you also have to get cars from the mainland to Madeline and load boats/gear? Well I found out I was tougher than I thought that day.
If I wanted a chill vacation, I wouldn’t be packing up sea kayaks and sleeping in tents. 😂
I’m so sorry that people can be, well, people in the most negative ways. Thank you so much for your writing, which has prompted me to go on some great weekend trips and ignited my own small flame of love for Lake Superior. I hope I have the pleasure of catching one of your trips in the future!
Before entering society, it should be a right of passage that people work in the service industry for at least a year. As someone who works in the industry, the entitlement astonishes me! And in your case, maybe it should be a prerequisite that people spend some time understanding the weather before joining your trips LOL. Great read and I hope you have a stress-free fall.
Thank you so much!! People really should spend some time understanding the weather 😂
Things don’t change much. When I guided in the boundary waters as a college student back in the 70s, there were a more than a few who didn’t get it. Stuff like “can you route us around the bugs” and humping their gear on portages when they were “too tired” & “that’s what we pay you for”.
It was the best job I ever had, but some days it was the worst.
When I’m not working overseas, my home’s Munising, MI, gateway to Pictured Rocks. A classic tourist town. I avoid it in the summer- to damn many tourists.
Good writing as always and a pleasure to read. Hope you have a great off season!
Oh man those are all classic!! “Can you route us around the bugs” is a real one— that and the “ well there goes your tip” as a joke if you mess something up
I am sorry about people’s entitlement and lack of awareness and kindness. It seems as if social media is making some people so disconnected that they can’t relate to others with kindness and consideration. I haven’t taken any trips with you yet but I am sure from all the content you put out and these well thought out newsletters that you are fantastic!! 💜
Thanks so much Monica 💗
Appreciate this reflection! I live in a whitewater area and have many friends who guide.
Guiding is very much service industry with a much higher stakes. I didn’t hack it as a horseback riding guide.
There were many factors related to the care of the horses that made me walk. But also, peoples sense of pride (yeah I’ve ridden before/how hard can it be?) and entitlement (he’s not listening to me! why can’t I use my phone?!) is maddening.
Yes exactly! The entitlement gets really hard, and while I love so, so many aspects of guiding it can be really hard to move past some of the downsides!
Maddy, I subscribe to your essays because of love your writing and love the subject matter of which you write. I so much identified with this essay. I've never guided professionally, but I have spent a lifetime traveling in the wilderness (climbing, hiking, and paddling), and I've taken along many less-experienced friends and friends-of-friends. One of the first rules I explain is that they will be expected to pitch in on camp chores, listen to my technique advice, and the weather may shit on us, in myriad ways they may not have thought about. (For example, folks who've never paddled the Boundary Waters have a hard time understanding that the wind may in fact pin us down in camp for a day, and may cause you to miss your flight home.)
Thankfully, these trips have nearly always gone well. I suspect it's because I have the freedom to choose my friends, and they aren't paying.
But understanding that my experience is different than yours, but sometimes overlapping, it's easy for me to come to a conclusion. Your clients were not understanding the rules of the game. Oh, and they were rude.
I’ve definetly found friends trips to be easier because they aren’t paying and are happier to pitch in, and in general the paying folks are awesome as well— it’s just a quantity game at a certain point probably, you’re eventually going to encounter difficult people if you’re running as many trips with as many folks as I have!
You’ll never be small. Thank you for making me step out of ‘me’ and see a bigger picture.
Thank you 💞
Last weekend I had Airbnb guests who wanted to cancel after my info form letter warned them not to leave food in their cars or outside because we have bears. I saw another review of a campground “glamping tent” that said they left after an hour because there were spiders. I guess holiday weekends could be called amateur time.
Omg☠️ that’s rough, sometimes people have no real concept of what words mean, like glamping tent is still a tent
I’ve done four overnights in the islands on vacation (three guided, one trip with a paddle club). I am 0/4 on those trips going as planned and two of them have been cut short a day due to conditions. For me, that’s the magic. Small craft advisory and stuck on an island? Do nothing but read, Sudoku, snack, and nap. How often do I get that chance? Never. Conditions building and you’re paddling 14 miles into the wind with one out of boat rest stop for the whole day, then you also have to get cars from the mainland to Madeline and load boats/gear? Well I found out I was tougher than I thought that day.
If I wanted a chill vacation, I wouldn’t be packing up sea kayaks and sleeping in tents. 😂
Exactly!! I just did a four day trip where we were windbound on Sand Island and it was actually so much fun
I’m so sorry that people can be, well, people in the most negative ways. Thank you so much for your writing, which has prompted me to go on some great weekend trips and ignited my own small flame of love for Lake Superior. I hope I have the pleasure of catching one of your trips in the future!
Aw thank you Morgan!! I’d love to have you out sometime and happy to hear you love Superior!