Sept. 15, 2011
By Chardonnai Johnson, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - There's a team of amazingly talented individuals here at Penn State. Their team poster can be found anywhere on campus, they practically live in Beaver Stadium especially on game days, and you've probably talked to one of them at some point during your Penn State career.
Now you're probably thinking that I'm talking about our Nittany Lion football team, but my friend you are sadly mistaken. The team I speak of is famous for playing many different positions in one game and all from the confines of an office cubicle. They are the Customer Relations department made up of Patricia Rees, Lynne Pate, Patricia Ann Wenrick, and Wendy Gill.
Their mission is to help make the game day experience easy and pleasant for everyone and on Sept. 10, I got to see them fulfill that duty. Take a look at life for the Customer Relations Fantastic Four on Alabama Saturday.
8:42 a.m.
After a short walk from the bus stop on Curtin road to Beaver stadium, the day began with a greeting at the glass doors of Gate E. Patricia Rees, Customer Relations manager, led me into the department's headquarters giving a quick tour. Football posters from past and present years covered the walls as well as calendars of the times and dates of football games this season.
The remaining team members, Lynne Pate, Patricia Ann Wenrick, and Wendy Gill were already seated in their cubicles and preparing for the day with coffee. They had been in the office since 8 a.m. and very few calls had come in since their arrival. "We get a couple hundred calls on gameday," said Rees. "Not too much during the game." The staff said they didn't expect to get many calls at that time since the game was scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.
9:29 a.m.
The office wasn't hectic yet. Some calls had come in, but very few in comparison to what they were expecting closer to game time. "Noon is going to be when it starts to get busy around here," said Rees. One of the phones rang every 20 minutes, so the team socialized with each other to pass time. They laughed and joked about their children and talked about the recent celebration of their teammate, Lynne Pate's birthday. Balloons surrounded her cubicle and a half eaten birthday cake was sitting on the snack table near the front.
9:57 a.m.
Rees tweeted parking and ticket updates and information about Saturday's game on the department's Twitter account: @1_800_NITTANY. A few minutes after the tweet was posted, calls started coming in more frequently. All four of the representatives were answering calls then, most in reference to how to get to campus from their current locations. With their game faces on, the team played the position of human navigation systems, guiding the lost and confused fans to our very own Beaver Stadium.
10:34 a.m.
The once silent office started to get busy with the voices of all the representatives talking at once. They answered calls and gave help simultaneously, but didn't seem to notice how many different conversations were going on all at once. They're used to working with each other and hearing each other's voices at the same time when the calls start to come in.
10:51 a.m.
Rees walked outside to check the clarity of the sign at Gate F. It only allows access for certain tickets and her department had been getting a lot of calls about the sign. She wanted to make sure it was clear and easy to understand. After looking at it from both a far and close distance, we deemed it comprehensible and made our way back to the office.
11:00 a.m.
Rees and I took a seat in the media room where the second staff meeting (the first was at 6 a.m.) was scheduled to take place. The meeting was basically a briefing of the plans for game day. Mark Bodenschatz, the Director of Athletic Facilities, heads the meeting to discuss procedures and plans for the day's game.
11:51 a.m.
The office got even busier than before. The buzzing of phones, clicking of computer mouses, and hum of many voices speaking simultaneously filled the room. The ticket windows located in the same office as Customer Relations are open and crowds of people are waiting in line to pick up tickets. The entire Customer Relations team was occupied with phone calls. At that time, their positions switched again. They became news reporters, updating the probing callers on traffic flow in order to ensure an easier route to the parking areas.
12:16 p.m.
"Can you give me a landmark?" was heard repeatedly from the mouth of Wenrick, as she took calls from more lost fans. It is a common method for helping people who weren't familiar with the area at all. "Sometimes they don't know where they are, what street they're on," said Wenrick. "A landmark helps us pinpoint their location and we help them find the stadium from there."
12:22 p.m.
Traffic had picked up consistently on all roads leading to the stadium and the phones are ringing off the hook. Once one caller's problem is solved, the next caller has a concern that has to be addressed. Their job was getting more demanding at that hour and the traffic situations weren't helping. The callers showed hostility because of it. The team remained kind and pleasant despite the antagonism because of their commitment to the fans. "Our job really is to make game day, the game day experience, better for the fans," said Rees. "We strive to always do better because it's really all about the fans." Instead of returning the unpleasant attitudes, they took on the role of confidant calming the nerves of irate and frazzled fans in need of venting their concerns. That takes great willpower.
1:00 p.m.
The number of incoming calls was overwhelming, giving Rees, Wenrick, Gill, and Pate no time to take a breath.
1:35 p.m.
It was lunchtime. Everyone's coffee mug was empty and they were running low on snacks when Wenrick, saved the day. She brought the crate of lunch bags around for everyone to grab, receiving smiles of relief from everyone in the office. The bags contained a turkey sandwich, potato salad, an apple, and a bag of plain chips. The rattling of plastic and paper bags joined in with the hum of phone conversations. Rees said that over 300 calls had come in since that morning and a lot more were expected especially at that hour.
1:51 p.m.
While the phone calls started to level out, Rees gave parking updates to the other representatives. She pulled out the parking map and they gathered around Wenrick's, desk to view which lots were full. They then had a consensus on where to direct callers to park at if the caller was supposed to park in one of the lots that had become full.
2:51 p.m.
Rees and I did a stadium walk around just to take in the football energy. Fans had begun to fill up the stadium with the Penn State student section dominating all of the others. Their white shakers and T-shirts could be seen from the lowest level of the stadium. Kickoff was in less than an hour and the Penn State fans were already in high spirits and showing their pride. Rees and I stood on one of the higher levels and watched the fans for a while before heading back inside.
3:30 p.m.
The game day journey came to a close just as the actual football game started. The Fantastic Four, as I' grew accustomed to calling them, gathered around the television mounted on the wall and watched as the players warmed up on the field. The phones seemed to stop ringing all together and the loud purr of voices simmered to the low hum of silence. Smiles were set on the faces of Weinrick, Gill, Pate, and Rees as they watched their Nittany Lions with pride. On a commercial break, I snapped a picture of the team that always goes unrecognized before walking out the doors of Beaver Stadium and heading home.
I spent several hours observing meetings, listening to phone calls, and trying not to get in the way, but in the end something unexpected was learned. The football players, shakers, tailgate parties, and Penn State White Out T-shirts aren't the only things that make game days experiences that we will never forget.
It's the four women of Gate E helping us find our way, guiding us through traffic jams, and listening to our complaints. The four women, Patricia Rees, Lynne Pate, Wendy Gill, and Patricia Ann Weinrick, trying to make sure we remember the day not for any complications, but for the football that was played and the memories that were created. So when I left Beaver Stadium on Sept. 10, I left with a new found appreciation for all that the team of 1 800 NITTANY has done and will continue to do.