Memorable Park Moments: Cave Tater
Cave Tater - Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park
First off I can't believe I am telling this story but anyone who has known me long enough is bound to hear this story at least once, if not a hundred times. Cave Tater, a name that will stay with me forever, especially if I keep working at cave parks, but I admit it is a well deserved nickname.
In the field of interpretation you are asked many questions on a daily basis. Although interpreters spend many hours, days, weeks, and a good portion of their work time and personal time researching information we aren't encyclopedias. As much as you think we are geniuses (or we think we are geniuses) we are bound to fault at some point. As a good interpreter you learn that we may not know the answer to all the questions but we can always try to find out for you... at least that is what someone should do. There is no fault in not knowing the answer; it is more wrong to try and make up an answer... and this particular experience helped me to accept that idea.
Prior to working at Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park I had never visited a cave. I really knew nothing about them nor really had a huge interest in them prior to my employment there. While working my first summer there my 'style' of interpretation was very different from how I present myself today. I was there for "interpretainment." Sure, if the visitors got the right information that was great, but that was secondary to idea of the visitor having a great experience. It was all razzle dazzle... or so I thought.
On a hot summer day in the summer of 2005 while giving one of my entertainment filled tours, I had a very enthusiastic group who asked lots of questions. All was going great, batting a perfect score, answering every question that was thrown at me. I thought as interpreter it was better to know everything, even if that meant embellishing. As this particular tour went on we were a little more than half way through when I a gentleman who was interested in my knowledge of caves asked...
"Well, you know a lot about caves; are you a spelunker?"
Spelunker?!? I had NEVER heard this term before... but I had to have an answer. Well here goes my failed logic...
Spelunker... 'speu' sounds like spud, spud equals potato, spelunker must be a potato farmer. So there it was I had figured it out, or so I thought.
I answered the man back, "no, I didn't harvest potatoes." The man looked at me oddly and then laughed he teased back and said "oh, you're so funny, but really are you a spelunker." Immediately I became defensive and I am not sure why but i quickly replied, "no, I really don't harvest potatoes." That was it I ruined all my credibility. The man looked at me and said, "you don't know what a spelunker is, do you?" Ashamed I replied, "no, I don't, I'm sorry!"
Well you bet that my group was still entertained but they probably questioned everything I said the rest of the tour. I could sense it... I did it to myself. But like I always say not all mistakes are bad, mistakes are only bad when we choose to repeat them expecting a different outcome. As embarrassing as that was and as much grief I get about it today I did learn not to make something up but instead to become better prepared and admit when I don't know the answer.
Prior to working at Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park I had never visited a cave. I really knew nothing about them nor really had a huge interest in them prior to my employment there. While working my first summer there my 'style' of interpretation was very different from how I present myself today. I was there for "interpretainment." Sure, if the visitors got the right information that was great, but that was secondary to idea of the visitor having a great experience. It was all razzle dazzle... or so I thought.
On a hot summer day in the summer of 2005 while giving one of my entertainment filled tours, I had a very enthusiastic group who asked lots of questions. All was going great, batting a perfect score, answering every question that was thrown at me. I thought as interpreter it was better to know everything, even if that meant embellishing. As this particular tour went on we were a little more than half way through when I a gentleman who was interested in my knowledge of caves asked...
"Well, you know a lot about caves; are you a spelunker?"
Spelunker?!? I had NEVER heard this term before... but I had to have an answer. Well here goes my failed logic...
Spelunker... 'speu' sounds like spud, spud equals potato, spelunker must be a potato farmer. So there it was I had figured it out, or so I thought.
I answered the man back, "no, I didn't harvest potatoes." The man looked at me oddly and then laughed he teased back and said "oh, you're so funny, but really are you a spelunker." Immediately I became defensive and I am not sure why but i quickly replied, "no, I really don't harvest potatoes." That was it I ruined all my credibility. The man looked at me and said, "you don't know what a spelunker is, do you?" Ashamed I replied, "no, I don't, I'm sorry!"
Well you bet that my group was still entertained but they probably questioned everything I said the rest of the tour. I could sense it... I did it to myself. But like I always say not all mistakes are bad, mistakes are only bad when we choose to repeat them expecting a different outcome. As embarrassing as that was and as much grief I get about it today I did learn not to make something up but instead to become better prepared and admit when I don't know the answer.
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