From the pages of In Business magazine.
Have you ever wondered about the people manning the pay booths in Madison’s parking ramps? Are they there all day? What if they have to use the facilities? Do they stay warm? Do they stay cool?
June Goglio has all the answers. The 64-year-old parking revenue cashier has worked with the city for 21 years, 16 of them inside glass booths while accepting payment from drivers and helping those who occasionally struggle with the machines. It’s all about customer service, she explains, and Goglio likes people.
“Some people think it must be mind-numbing,” she admits, “but I talk to people all day long, give them directions and help them if they have an issue.”
She’s come to know many of the drivers entering and exiting the Government East Ramp through the years. She feels lucky, too, because the ramp stays busy thanks to its proximity to the downtown business district, including those heading to the Madison Club, Monona Terrace, the City-County Building, or to court. This morning, the ramp is full. The city tries to alert staff to nearby meetings or events it knows about that might affect ramp usage, but this overflow was a surprise, she comments.
Usually Goglio’s workweek is more predictable. “Most people enter the ramp between 7 and 9,” she says. “On Mondays, they pick jurors at the courthouse, so normally the first to be cut will leave around 10 a.m. Court starts on Tuesdays so I’m busy all day. Wednesdays are busy in the summer months thanks to the downtown farmer’s market.”
Goglio works 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. now, but she’s worked just about every job, every shift, and at different ramps through the years. “You have to gear up for the night shift and just have fun with people.”
The Lake Street ramp caters mostly to students and instructors, she says, while the Government East ramp attracts city, state, and county workers. All activity is monitored and money collected must match with computer reports at the end of each shift.
About every three years, Goglio says, the city increases parking rates and cashiers hear the grumbles. “We try to give people plenty of notice, but we hear about it even though we have nothing to do with it,” Goglio remarks.
Goglio spent her first six years working as a “permanent part-time” employee before being rewarded with a full-time position. She is paid hourly and rarely gets overtime, although her shifts occasionally change depending on goings on around town.
Parking pressures
Video cameras are on site and sensors monitor entry and exits and automatically activate “Full” lights when the ramp is filled. The sensors at the gates, she explains, are placed far enough apart to allow vehicles to clear before lowering. Gates are padded, she adds, and for good reason: “Sometimes people walk behind the cars. They really need to be careful.”
She’s seen people drive through the gates or back into gates by accident, tickets fall under cars, into dashboard consoles, or even inside car doors when windows are open, and she offers simple advice to those who lose tickets: “Leave them in the car!”
Goglio estimates that more than half of the Government East ramp drivers pay with credit cards. “Many people just don’t carry cash anymore,” she observes. And while she’s all about customer service, there are times — when everyone leaves the ramp at once after a meeting, for example — that can be more stressful. “I try to be as fast and pleasant and accurate as possible, but when people are leaving, all they want is to get out!”
She describes her booth as “big” by city ramp standards. It’s air conditioned in summer and heated by a furnace over the winter. A large space heater on a wall provides extra warmth if necessary. A fresh air system also pressurizes the booth to keep carbon monoxide at bay. “They take good care of us,” she says of the city. Breaks are scheduled during the day and covered by a relief attendant that travels from ramp to ramp. “I try to limit what I drink,” she admits.
JBM Security provides extra monitoring at night “I feel very safe,” she says. “The area is well lit and people can see us. Most ramps have two cashiers and you’re only an intercom call away.”
Goglio insists she hasn’t had many unusual experiences over the years, though she recalls the day a dog was found wandering the ramp. It was a Gordon setter and she sensed that it belonged to someone parked inside. Concerned for its safety, she received permission to bring the dog into the booth with her. “The dog was very well behaved but after a while it started whining.”
Her relief person found a rope so Goglio could walk the animal while on her break. Up on the Capitol Square, a couple approached and commented on the “beautiful dog,” remarking that it looked just
like theirs. It was!
“What are the chances?” Goglio laughs. “They would have gone back to their car and freaked out.” She believes the couple didn’t latch their van door properly, allowing the dog to escape. To this day, she keeps dog biscuits on hand.
(Continued)
A familiar face
Parking points |
|
Good days are when everything goes smoothly, Goglio says, “but all it takes is one person to really spoil that good day. The important thing is not to carry that on to the next person because he or she had nothing to do with it.”
She’s been a familiar face to many over the years and was surprised by cards from regulars when a health issue forced her to take some time off work. One student in the Lake Street Ramp really touched her heart. “She was from a foreign country and was very homesick. She gave me a card at the end of the year saying she was so happy to see my smiling face every day. You just never know how you can affect someone else, but smiles matter. I cried.”
Meanwhile, changes are looming downtown. Work will begin soon on the massive Judge Doyle Square project replacing two city blocks, including the Government East Ramp which will be demolished in a couple of years. “I don’t know what will happen to me,” Goglio says. “I’d like to work as long as I can and I’m still feeling great,” though she admits her husband has already retired and she’d love to have time for volunteering.
If Goglio has any complaints it’s that people are becoming too distracted by technology and are on their phones all the time. Whether they’re playing Pokémon Go behind the wheel (“I’ve seen it!”) or otherwise engaged with their phone, “they don’t look at what they owe and they’re busy talking so you don’t want to interrupt them,” she says. “I always try to engage people, so that’s my biggest beef — rude behavior. I think the advent of smartphones has made people less attentive to what’s going on around them.
“Other than that, I love working here.”
Click here to sign up for the free IB ezine — your twice-weekly resource for local business news, analysis, voices, and the names you need to know. If you are not already a subscriber to In Business magazine, be sure to sign up for our monthly print edition here.
