Dear Listers,
One of our historic sites has recently had a problem with a
visitor who is disruptive and difficult during tours and programs. Said
visitor is not threatening, per se, but does sometimes intimidate our guides
and gets in the way of enjoyment of the site by other visitors. This
visitor has come to the site on multiple occasions, and has stayed for hours at
a time (much longer than an average visitor). Our staff are afraid that this
person may return, and would like to have a plan in place to deal with the
situation.
Do any of you have policies or procedures for asking
disruptive (but not physically dangerous) visitors to leave? We don’t
feel like this is a situation where the police necessarily need to be involved,
at least not at this point, but we also feel that we need to find some way to
assert our right to refuse service to visitors if deemed necessary by staff.
Many thanks,
Catherine E. Dean
Curator of Collections
Preservation Virginia
804-314-5049
FAX: 804-648-5880
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