Navigating the Stadium (2/21)

On Monday, February 21, the plan for the day was to complete various tasks that had carried over from the last week. This meant walking through most of the Stadium, continuing to document locations of fire extinguishers and testing the badge readers on all the doors, as well as applying and documenting new labels on each of the elevators. This process, while somewhat menial and not incredibly exciting on its face, was a good opportunity to better familiarize myself with the Stadium. I have already noticed that working in a Stadium means learning the various paths from different locations. In Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, the biggest learning curve comes with the elevators. There are several elevators that only travel to certain levels or areas of the Stadium, so if you have to get to a certain location then you first need to know which elevators will take you to the right floors or areas of the Stadium. Additionally, this process was a good practice of mindfulness of my situation. Yes, I might have just been walking around documenting fire extinguishers, but I was doing so in a beautiful facility built for the purpose of hosting exciting events. By reminding myself of this fact, I have been able to create a better mindset for myself and that has resulted in making even menial tasks feel more exciting and worthwhile.

(Photo credit: sportscasting.com)

I am starting to feel more confident in navigating the Stadium, and I am starting to understand why certain paths are set up with guests in mind. While some decisions seem confusing or unnecessary, it has made me realize that operating such a large event facility means making decisions for guests more than for employees. Stadium operations, then, feels much more similar to a job in hospitality than I had expected.