Letter to Governor of Ohio

As I stated in my earlier blog, I would write the Governor of Ohio a letter about the two rude women in the Ohio Visitor's Center. Here is the letter as I sent it to him:

Dear Governor Strickland,

My friend and I recently made a very long, and enjoyable road trip circumnavigating the United States. We stopped in every Visitor’s Center that was open as we came into a new state, and in each and every one we were greeted with smiles and welcomes – until we entered Ohio.

We traveled with ‘Flat Stanlietta’ – a female version of Flat Stanley – and all the Official Greeters were eager to hear about Flat Stanlietta, and her travels, and gave her, and also us, ideas of where to go, what to see, then gave her bookmarks, or whatever freebies they had. Except the Official Greeters in Ohio.

When we crossed over the Pennsylvania border into Ohio and entered the Visitor’s Information Center, there were two women behind the counter. One sat as far away from the counter as she could and glowered at us as she ate her lunch. She did not put her food down, apologize for eating on duty or for lack of a break room; she did not offer to help--she just kept eating, and glowering. The other, somewhat younger one, was on her cell phone, and she was NOT happy that I had the temerity to stand at the counter to request information. With a great theatrical sigh, she asked her friend if s/he could hold the phone for a bit, as someone was there. She did put down her phone, and she did give us a map and some information, but she was not pleased that we had interrupted her phone call!

There were no smiles of welcome, there was no warmth, or kindness at all. These women are the Official Greeters to the State of Ohio, and we couldn’t wait to get out of their domain – and across and out of the state!

Fortunately, the grounds keeper outside smiled and greeted us, and I told him how positively rude the women had been. My friend and I had not planned on taking the Turnpike—we like the Blue Highways – but we decided the Turnpike would be the quickest way out of Ohio, so we took it. We did meet a Greeter, Tom, at one of the rest areas (at about mile post 100). He, though, works for the Turnpike system, not the State.

I understand that these women probably come under the domain of the Ohio Tourist Bureau, and not your office; however, they are representing YOU. I tried to call the Tourist Bureau, but could not find a contact phone number in the Tourist magazine Tom gave me. I did find a phone number but the person who answered the phone only wanted to mail me information, he did not want to take any comments.

In our two months of travels, we only met three impolite and rude people. One was in a restaurant in Arizona—one my friend’s family frequented until the incident, and shall not return to--and the other two are your Official Representatives welcoming visitors to your state.

Please be advised a copy of this letter, and any response I may receive, will be posted on my blog.

Sincerely,

Lenora R. Good
http://roadtripsandmore.blogspot.com

As I said in the letter, any responses I may receive will also be posted.

Here is the first response, obviously an automatic one:

Thank you for contacting the Office of Governor Ted Strickland.

You email message is important to us. If your email includes time sensitive information, please contact our office by phone at (614) 466-3555 between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM Monday thru Friday. We will work with our executives agencies to reply to your message as promptly as possible.

Again, thank you for writing.

Ted Strickland,

Governor