Shadowing

In order to learn more about the Phoenix Zoo from the perspective of a paid employee, I chose to shadow Jessica, a trail guide, last week. I was able to follow her throughout her day on both Tuesday and Thursday, each day for four hours. While Jessica has certain responsibilities and duties that remain the same everyday, each of her days at the zoo is quite a bit different. On Tuesday, I met up with her at Monkey Village where she was working at the entrance, informing guests about the experience in which they are about to take part. Jessica’s responsibility is to inform guests of the rules as well as watch out for any problematic behavior or situations, such as guests with food or drinks that they might try and feed the animals. About an hour of her time at Monkey Village is spent at the door, until she rotates with other zoo trail guides in the enclosure. Next, she moves into the exhibit and monitors the behavior of the guests and monkeys as well as answers any questions the guests might have. Depending on how busy the zoo is, Jessica might spend as many as six hours at Monkey Village, or she moves to different exhibits when the zoo is less crowded. On Thursday, we spent time at Wallaby Walkabout, an exhibit much like Monkey Village, where guests walk through the wallaby exhibit. The responsibility of the trail guides at this exhibit is to monitor the behavior of the guests and ensure that they are respecting the wallabies and not feeding or teasing them. Jessica is also responsible for knowing information about the animals at the various zoo exhibits and will often do impromptu information sessions using a microphone and speaker so that the guests are able to learn about the animals in a more formal presentation. These are just a few of Jessica’s responsibilities as a trail guide. From shadowing her, I was able to learn more about guest and animal behavior, as well as animal information that I had not previously acquired. It was exciting to learn about her enthusiasm for her job, and her overall gratitude to her position. You can learn a lot about a company by asking their paid employees, and I was happy to learn that she really did enjoy her job and the company that she works for.