The kid who worked in groundskeeping was a good worker, maybe a little hyperactive, but not always the sharpest, or overburdened with common sense. I thought about that on the morning when a small child, running ahead of her family wildly as small children are prone to doing, tripped and skinned both knees badly. The groundskeeper was the first to arrive, and it was he who radioed the zoo asking for help.
"I've got a visitor with two skinned knees. Can someone bring us a first aid kit?"
I was in the office at the time, so I said sure. "Where are you?"
"Over by the lemurs."
I grabbed the first aid kit, and off to lemurs I went. When I got there, I saw plenty of visitors, including several children, but none who looked like they were suffering from skinned knees. I also didn't see the groundskeeper. I radioed for confirmation, and he confirmed, he was at the lemurs. I confirmed again that I did not see him.
This went one for a few minutes, both of us getting progressively more irate with the other, while the small child wailed loudly in the background whenever he was on the radio. He insisted that he was at the lemurs. Of course that's where he was. We only had one lemur exhibit, and I could see pretty clearly in every direction. Finally, I had an idea.
"Humor me. Go to the nearest exhibit and just read the sign to me. What animal does it say?"
"It says... oh, huh, 'Serval.' I always thought that those were the lemurs."
I facepalmed... then picked up the first aid kit and jogged to the other end of the zoo. The groundskeeper spent more time in the public areas than almost any other member of the staff, including the keepers. He was probably one of the most visible members of our staff to the public, and the one who fielded the most questions about basic zoo operations, such as directions to animals. I began to wonder how accurate some of those directions were.
One thing I learned from that day - besides how some people can confuse a small, arboreal primate with gray and white fur and a ringed-tail with a medium-sized spotted wild cat - was that it pays to make sure that your non-animal staff are at least reasonably versed in the animals of the zoo. They don't need to go spouting off all the facts in the signage, but that should at least know what the animals are, where they are in the zoo, and be prepared to answer the most basic of questions. For example, if you have a geriatric animal that looks a little rough, or walks with a limp, the groundskeeper, concessions staff, etc should all be prepared to explain the situation to visitors, with the ability to accurately convey information that will let the visitors know everything is alright.
Conversely, the frontline staff should also have a basic understanding as to what is NOT right and needs to be conveyed to animal staff immediately - an escape, an injury, a person or object in an enclosure that is not supposed to be there. The best way to convey this information is to give every new employee, full-time and part-time, regardless of their job, a basic tour of the zoo during orientation. Periodic emails or newsletters can be sent out to provide updates.
This goes in reverse, too - keepers should be prepared to answer basic questions about the non-animal aspects of the zoo. There have been a few times, especially during the transition seasons of spring and fall, when I've been asked about the hours of our gift shop or concessions and was embarrassed to realize that I didn't know the answer.
The kid worked in groundskeeping for a few more months, but was still a bit of a bungler, with lots of enthusiasm by less sense. One afternoon (right before closing, of course), he decided to weed-eat alongside the marmoset exhibit without asking us first, and got a bit too close. He opened a slit several feet long in the bottom of the mesh, allowing one of the marmosets to escape. It took an hour to coax her back down to where we could grab her.
I don't remember seeing the kid again after that, come to think of it.
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