Yosemite (flame)
The people manning the entry point and ranger station at the highway 120 entry point to Yosemite have to be some of the dumbest specimens of humanity I’ve ever encountered.
I pre-purchased an annual National Parks Pass specifically to avoid some of these hassles. It took me about 20 minutes to make it to the head of the line, which I initially thought was because of the visitors, not the staff. Boy, was I wrong…
When I made it to the head of the line, I handed in my pass and said “I need a window decal because this is an open car” (the literature I got with the pass said that window decals are available for convertibles, motorcycles, etc. because the standard procedure is to hang the annual pass from the rear-view mirror, where anyone could just take it).
They acted like they’d never seen an annual pass before, and then proceeded to have a 10-minute debate, involving 2 additional employees and a phone conversation. They then asked to see my car’s registration, which I handed over. Despite having a huge “05/2011” expiration date on it, they proceeded to tell me it was expired. After another 5 minutes, additional employee, and another phone call, I got my registration and annual pass back and was handed the window decal and park newspaper / map.
Rather than blocking the entry gate, I pulled into the ranger station / visitor center so I could put all my paperwork away.
By this time I was incredibly hot and thirsty. There was a water vending machine there (while I had water in the car, it was hot and I wanted a cold one). It was sold out of all water. There was also a soda machine which had a dollar bill slot that wouldn’t take any of the 6 bills I tried.
I went into the information center / ranger station and explained (after waiting on line, again) that both vending machines were broken, and asked if I could swap 2 $1 bills for 8 quarters from their tip jar. They refused. They then told me that the next water was 6 miles down the road at Crane Flat, and that I could complain about the broken vending machines there.
As I slowly made my way out of the information center and back to the Atom, I discovered that there was a working drinking fountain around the side of the building.
Idiots.
I reserve a special spot in hell for fools like these.
