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CoasterAuditor

Theme parks are cool
Jul 5, 2017
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Richmond, VA
Hey all,

I figured it would be a good idea to discuss how to manage stuff like interacting with people in the workplace, friends and family. I kinda fear my coaster enthusiasm (among many other things) may have led to a perception that I lack "soft skills." So I just wanted to bring this up as an honest discussion how does everyone handle this hobby with their friends family and co-workers? I mean the easiest solution is to just avoid discussing it with people most of the time because not everyone wants to hear about others passions. I feel like I've learned over time to manage it based on the persons reactions. Some people are very genuinely interested in the fact this is my hobby and are even incredibly supportive. Some people are indifferent, some people want to strangle me for mentioning I went to Kings Dominion at some point in the last 2 weeks.

Typically I've found if they are supportive, you can talk about it a good amount and they will just be curious and inquisitive but I encourage showing some interest in their own hobbies as well when they do this, if they are indifferent you have to shut it off after an early point, if they absolutely despise when you talk about them it could be because they are simply afraid of them, or they make them sick due to motion sickness, or "FFS dude were trying to talk sports betting shut up about something that isn't sports I mean we HAVE To discuss this home run Baseball Player X on the City Y Team As hit yesterday it was Xhundred feet.............or Tiger Woods played golf yesterday!" (I say this as somebody who absolutely loves sports at the end of the day).

It's just a lot to really deeply suppress a part of ones personality to just "fit in" in like a professional environment. I'm starting to get to a point where I will never talk details at the parks because seriously a ton of people outside of thoosies do not take the time to realize something like "Dominator goes upside down" and refuse to comprehend that information unless they are going up the lift hill with you on the ride itself. So I guess the point of this topic, how do you guys manage stuff like this with your interactions with people that aren't enthusiasts? What point do you think we need to lay off theme park/coaster discussion on average? What point are we "overloading" people with information? Me personally I am just gathering information to work on soft skills for myself.
 
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My parents hate it, and the lackluster group of friends I have are fine with it. The rest of my family is fine with it too. But my parents think I’m a fucking nutcase. Whatever idc. It’s my hobby not yours mom and dad
They also hate that I manage YouTube videos about them, saying I’ll go nowhere
 
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Maybe I've just been fortunate, but I generally find a lot of positive engagement from folks when I use "thoosie" as ice breaking material. I always frame any initial introduction of my thoosie-ness in the travel-related aspects of the hobby though (eg. "I'm big into road tripping—typically to new roller coasters or visit new theme parks." or "I've visited [number of amusement parks] during road trips through [number of states].") Similarly the "What did you get up to this weekend?" question is always a good opening for "I drove out to [city] to visit [park] to check out [current new attraction/event/thing]." If people seem interested in the parks part of those statements, it's an easy launching off point for a parks-related discussion, but it also offers a clear path towards broader road tripping or general travel conversations too if the other person/people pick up on that instead.

Overtime, I have developed a reputation as the "amusement park person" for basically everyone I've been a consistent acquaintance with. Eventually, the conversations start coming to you in my experience.

I'm not going to say that I'm a paragon of social interaction or anything, but as with talking about any hobby, it's all about knowing your audience and never ending up in a situation where you're just talking at someone. Frame the hobby within relatable or personal experiences you've had through it. If people are interested in knowing more about the coasters, that will be clear. If not, that's cool too—the interesting or fun stories that result from engaging in thoosie-type pursuits are often interesting to folks regardless of the setting. Visiting new places, going to a neat event, meeting someone interesting, having a bizarre experience, trying some strange new food, ending up in a weird/interesting situation—these are all interesting narratives regardless of their setting. Just focus on those.
 
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A couple people I work with were actually on the DK team so the BGW fan in me has been welcomed by those who loved building that ride. Others though definitely don't understand why I have an Apollo's Chariot CoasterStatix or various DK memorabilia at my desk. Typically just say "I am a big parks guy" when they don't recognize the specific park and it goes fine, people aren't really judgmental considering industry parallels. I can see how it would be seen as strange in a non-related field though, as everyone just assumes a park enthusiast is the same as the negative stereotypes surrounding the "Disney-adult"
 
Funnily enough it came up on a road trip not too long ago - was out with a few other couples with an adventure tour (think multi-day camping activities), and some folks in the van started talking about TTD... But all they seemed to know was it was tall and fast. When they tried calling it Magnum, I politely tried to mention that they were thinking of two different rides... But it was obvious they didn't want to know more so I stopped.
 
It was a bit irritating, the one lady mentioning anything was so sure about it, yet I'm over there with my thoosie knowledge ready to roll. However, better to pick my hills to die upon, and that isn't one of them.
 
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