In the 2-1/2 years that we have lived here I have used the Yokosuka hourly CDC once. I never went back because the one time I did use them they refused to change my sons diaper the entire time he was there because he was wearing pull-ups. That is the DUMBEST rule I have ever heard of. Now that he is potty trained I thought (against my better judgement) that I would give it a another go. I went in today only to find out that you cannot make reservations in person...another DUMB policy. Then they told me that I had to go through the entire registration process all over again because we had only used the CDC once in 2009. SERIOUSLY? There isn't an easier way to do it? While I was starting to boil on the inside my son said he had to go to the bathroom. I asked if we could use the toilet and they said no! I had to run in the rain carrying a 35lb 2 year old doing the peepee dance up to the second story of the community center to get to the nearest toilet. I was so furious at that point that I went back inside and told the receptionist she could keep her forms because come hell or high water I will NEVER use the Yokosuka CDC EVER. She looked at me with an "oh well" look and I wanted to choke her out. I am still boiling on the inside and furious that with such limited options for childcare the hourly CDC isn't more accommodating for those of us that only need it in dire situations. Thanks - just needed to rant...

And then when you call the reservation line it is always busy or she answeres and says "HOLD" no "hello" or anything. They are so rude over there I like the main CDC better and won't take my son to hourly anymore either. I think you should go to the Main office and have a chat with them I can't bleive they wouldn't let your baby use the toilet, they could have at least escorted you back there. I'm fuming for you!

that just churns my stomach, and my kid is full grown. The lack of consideration to family needs is inexcusable (see my rant under the Iwakuni section). Someone above CDC needs to take a serious round turn.

I don't have children, but this makes me irate with you. Not changing diapers? Not letting a kid use the restroom? What is wrong with these people!? It's the policy, sure, but it's RIDICULOUS.

And the rudeness... just seems to lurk everywhere on base... *sigh*

I don't have any kids, but I'll just chime in with my 2 cents. I've heard plenty of horror stories about the CDC, and it just falls in line with the disgusting customer service on the rest of this base. On this base, people apparently get this perception that Yokosuka is its own isolated little world with very little overhead from people back in the states, and they think it gives them free reign to do what they want. Look at the Americable thread. And the threads about the NEX/Comissary. And I'm sure there's plenty more.

I am sorry for your bad experience! I too had stopped taking my child to the CDC due to bad experiences. Neither my husband or I wish to use it ever again and try our hardest to work things out when we need childcare. If you need childcare you can get a list of CDH (Child Development Homes) that do drop in care in their homes. I can't believe they wouldn't let you use the bathroom! Terrible.

Posted By ThaiGuy on 15 Apr 2010 05:25 PM
that just churns my stomach, and my kid is full grown. The lack of consideration to family needs is inexcusable (see my rant under the Iwakuni section). Someone above CDC needs to take a serious round turn.

Just a slightly off-topic question, but how many of these services are being run by people who have been here for 10+ years?

Allan, are you talking about upper management, or the ones that are working the front desk. The upper management have been around for quite some time for the most part.

I'm sorry to hear you had such horrible experiences there. My daughter spent the first year and a half there, and I have NEVER had a single bad experience with them. The front office was great with both myself and my daughter, and so were the staff. A couple times a year we still got there for special events, and the ladies there STILL remember her...even after a year.

I'm sure there are policies in place regarding certain things, and it's not the admin's choice on how things are run, however I agree that maybe she could have explained things a little better. Like, if she couldn't let your son use the restroom, maybe it's because of rules. Or if she could have escorted you back but no one was at the front desk and she had to ask someone to come watch the desk (if they were available to). Anything is better than just saying "no." Sometimes there are rules that don't make sense to us, but it still helps that there's SOME sort of reason, and it's explained.

I can tell you that that particular job is VERY difficult. Even if you don't see it, there is SO much that they do. I understand the reason for taking reservations by phone only. But I also agree that there is a level of customer service that needs to be adhered to. I would definitely see about talking to the manager there (there's one in particular for that site). If you feel like she doesn't handle it appropriately that you move on to her boss (the CDC director- maybe schedule an appointment to talk to her?), and if that doesn't work, an ICE comment. Sometimes the managers don't know what's going on when they aren't there. Staff have a tendency to be on their best behavior when the boss is around, but completely different if they aren't.

Again, sorry to hear you had such horrible experiences! =(

I personally have had good experiences with the care of my kids... but I agree the reservation system sucks. I never know if I'm on hold when I call or just lost in limbo- their message stinks.

I don't understand why we can't make a reservation in person- it's easier to just stop in instead of trying to call them sometimes. I stopped in once, and they told me I had to do it on the phone...
"Ok, so I can stand right here and call you and make it?"
"there's no cell phone signal here ma'am"
"well let me try... ring ring ring"
I stood there, 2 feet from Marlena and made my reservation on the phone. How ridiculous was that??

sounds about as ridiculous as when I was given one number to call and the lady answered and told me to call this other number...Hello.....same lady answered the phone....duh...i am not stupid...
I don't need to hear things like this b/c i am out of options with a husband that is leaving for deployment how do us single parents handle the lack of childcare....and also how do I get that list of CDH providers?
Jennifer

@ Jenn---you can go upstairs at the MWR CDC office same complex as the Taco Bell

Posted By Tirani on 15 Apr 2010 08:50 PM

I stood there, 2 feet from Marlena and made my reservation on the phone. How ridiculous was that??

That is hilarious!  I would credit Monty Python with staging such a ridiculous scenario, along with the Ministry of Silly Walks and the dead parrot gag.  I'm sure you were not amused at the time but it probably made a great letter to home.

Posted By KRushPhoto on 15 Apr 2010 07:32 PM

I understand the reason for taking reservations by phone only. 

Could you share it with the rest of us please? Based on the other comments (calling the desk while standing 2 feet away) the rationale for such a system escapes me.

This was what was explained to me a couple years ago...
They had many complaints from people who were calling on the phone...staff not answering the phone because they were too busy taking a reservation from a person who walked up, and the people walking up asking for multiple (I do mean MULTIPLE...like 10 at a time) days and then they get caught up with that vs taking payments or getting kids checked in and checked out. The reservations were being streamlined through the phone system so they could service customers that needed to be service for care at that moment...not care that you want 2 weeks from now. I'm sorry if what I'm typing is confusing...I'm tired.
Anyway, maybe this scenario will shed some light... Customer A walks up to the counter and wants to book 10 days of child care. Meanwhile, customer B is calling on the phone, and customer c on the 2nd line. Then walks in customer D wanting to check in their kid, customer E wants to check out their kid, and customer F wants to pay. If you were customer D, E, or F, wouldn't you be just a bit peeved? Especially if you were on a time constraint and had an appointment to get to, or a child to pick up from school? Meanwhile customer A is still standing at the counter trying to consider booking a 11th or 12th day they want to book (now that they allow booking up to 1 month out), the entranceway is getting backed up, and if you want to get technical, is starting a fire hazard because they are blocking the exit.

Granted, I agree that standing 2 feet away from the clerk and looking at her in the face while you are talking to her on the phone is a bit silly, but they have to have some type of protocol to follow, otherwise the whole situation could go to crap. If a customer got to book at the counter one day and was told she couldn't the next day because there were too many other customers, they would probably get a bit irritated too, right? Some of us are understanding of situations, but not all of us are. =/

Passed this thread onto my wife for her to read, as she has had issues from time to time with both the hourly and main CDC, and this was her response:

The infant room is seemingly great. I do not like the main for drop in care for my infant. (full time care for infants is supposedly fine, but that comes from someone who worked there, so they had no choice but to be good with her child.) The main cdc does offer hourly space available care. Both CDCs have their issues, the main has a horrible staffing issue and they show favoritism as well - Filipinos and Japanese. I have witnessed staff being less than tactful to other staff and I have seen some questionable behavior to some of the kids. Though I would like to say that there are a lot of kids that are of really bad behavior.

On our oldest child's first day going there, he managed to make it in the school from the playground, through the doors from the classrooms, then out in to the parking lot with another woman. I question if they would have even told me it happened had I not walked in right as he was being "returned" and they still had him at the front desk. The couple times I dropped him off, the staff in his room didn't say 2 words to me and did not try to make him at ease, because we had gone through the move of coming here, I was pregnant with complications that required weekly appts. I finally gave up and took my child to my appts with me. He is now full time at the main cdc and I am fine with him there although like I said, they do have their issues that do in fact need to be improved.

As for the scheduling appts for the hourly. I haven't had much issue with them being rude. There are a couple of different numbers 4101 and 4102 I think it is. One is specifically for reservations and the other one is for other problems, questions, concerns. There are often lots of issues getting available times though because they do allow people to schedule up to a month in advance.

As for the rudeness on base. It goes with the territory. It is not just specific to Yokosuka. In general customer service has gone out the window. There are still a lot of people that are nice and courteous, but there are a lot of people that aren't. This could very well spark a whole other debate, but a lot of the issue on this base comes down to ethnicity (pay attention and see). At the commissary, MOST of the cashiers are pretty nice, the baggers there are a few that are really good. The NEX has a few good ones. The autoport is pretty much crap though. I do not remember things being this bad when we were here before, but at the same time, I am in contact with more people in lots of different areas on the base this time. The thing is customer service is crap all over the place no matter if you are here or in the US or where ever. You are gonna come across it in some way shape or form. There is no real reason for everyone to be so rude.

Jest her 2 cents on the subject. I hear about it enough at the house, so I figured I would share!

OMG! How does a kid get past a MINIMUM of 3 sets of doors and no one sees them??? Especially considering the last door is usually alarmed?

Just for the record, I'm not Filipino or Japanese. Plus their front desk staff are hispanic, japanese, and black at the main CDC, so that's a little strange...

I DO agree that there is a lot of rudeness everywhere (less likely off base though). But I found that it helps that if you keep your cool and are really nice to them anyway that MOST of the time people change their tone. Should it have to be like that? No.

KRush, the way I see it, the "rush hour" problem has an easy solution. There is enough staff to designate one person to take reservations on the phone. When the phone is not ringing, which happens at certain times of the day, she can be taking care of paperwork or helping customers at the desk.
I have have my share of problems with the hourly CDC. Intrinsic issues at the hourly CDC, the staff at the front desk are rude to most of us, they have their favorite people, and have been getting away with murder for too long. Their reservation system is archaic. I can't believe MWR doesn't have a software that will fit or is easily adaptable to the needs of the CDC's. Any small hair salon (to name a business) uses something comparable already. Their hand written books that can't only be used by one person at the time creates confusion and brings problems upon them that could be avoided easily.
I have no complaints about the staff in the classrooms, my experience is been great with all of them. They need more people working in the classrooms not so much at the front desk.
More staff working in the little ones classes will open up more spaces there will be no need to stress about getting a spot there but they don't pay enough that's why they have a hard time filling those jobs.

I have always been very nice to everyone there, I make sure I wish them a good day when I leave and use all my please and thank yous. I have been there next to my friend, she is NOT filipino, japanese or hispanic, and they were all smiles to her and when it came to me they were all straight faces. I had never confronted them of lost my cool with them, it is not my style. I don't know why I have always felt a bad vibe coming from them or what is their criteria to pick their favorites, I am possitive it is not ethnicity. I have to say there is a new, relatively new, girl there who has always smile and been nice to me. I don't know her name and feel bad for it because she remembers who I am. My personal issue came after I had notice the bad vibe I was mentioning. It was with a lady who is gone now and the problem was a misunderstanding on both, hers and my, parts. The way that she choose to fix it was to cover her mistake up making me pay therefore putting me at fault after she "fixed her books". My experience is only with the hourly CDC, I have never been to the main CDC, so I can't talk about them.

I agree that there should be a better way to keep track of openings...even if it's on the computer. But if I remember correctly, they have computer issues (like my place does), so for now it wouldn't be the way to go.

I also agree if there are 2 staff, that one should be in charge of answering phones and the other the desk that they help each other out if one is slower than the other (obviously). It still doesn't solve the situation of customers A, D, E, and F (the ones that are all present at one time)....not to mention any other customers that walk through that door.

Like I mentioned before, it's been awhile since I had my daughter at the hourly on main base, so I don't know how many staff they have. Last I knew, they only had two people at the main desk, and these ladies also have to do timecards, scheduling, and other internal paperwork, which I know first hand is not the easiest to do when you have fluctuation in needs as well as possible shortages of staff.

CNIC requires a ceratin ratio of teachers to children at any given time, plus they have to schedule one hour lunch breaks and one break per 4 hours. Personally, that's not something I would want to do....it's too hard to schedule things like that with limited personnel and then what happens if someone calls out sick?

All I'm saying is that there are things behind the scenes that not everyone sees (not saying that I see it all either, but I DO know some of the things they have to do) and it's easy to say that things SHOULD be done this way or that, but unless you know everything that goes on, it doesn't necessarily mean that certain things are possible (ie: taking reservations at the counter). Again, certain times they would be able to IF everyone was on a set schedule (everyone dropped off at the same time, or everyone set in the computer and the kids come in every day), but with traffic in and out the way it is there, it's difficult to be able to do everything ALL the time.

As for rudeness, I'm sorry to hear about those of you who had to deal with it...again why I suggest talking to the manager. If one of my staff were to do that, I would LIKE to hear about it so I could correct it. If they are always super sweet when I'm around, then how would I know that I had a problem?

BTW, that really sucks about the last situation you mentioned. =( I would have again brought it up with the manager when it happened. We are all people and capable of mistakes. Sometimes you have to have a 3rd party to find the common ground (or the problem/solution) and to explain things differently because all of our personalities are different.

I don't mean to tell anyone that they don't have a valid complaint...that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm just trying to shed some different light on the subject so it doesn't seem that these places are 100% bad all of the time, and sometimes there ARE reasons why we can't get things the way WE think they should be handled.

Just for the record, I'm not Filipino or Japanese. Plus their front desk staff are hispanic, japanese, and black at the main CDC, so that's a little strange...

I don't want to misunderstand you, but what's so strange about the front desk?

First of all, let me just say that I've been in Child Development on and off for the past eleven years. I have worked for nationally accredited CDCs in both the civilian and military sector, and worked practically every job within a CDC short of being a director--including being an Aide, a Lead Teacher (in the two year old classroom, even!), and an Asst. Supervisor. I've been inside the classroom, at the front desk, and in the office. My last job was at an hourly-care CDC run by MWR, where I had gone from the classroom to acting director whenever my boss is away.

Now that I've established myself as some sort of insider, here's what I have to say on this subject:

a) I've never heard of a rule against changing a pull-up. EVER. Are you absolutely sure this is the actual rule? Usually, if a child is in a pull-up, he/she is taken to the bathroom as much as and whenever possible. If a pull-up gets soiled, it gets changed. The only time it doesn't is when there's nothing to change into.

b) They should've let your kid use the bathroom, period. It's in our job description to help parents with potty training, fer chrissakes! Was the toilet broken?

c) Krush, whoever explained to you the rationale behind the "reservations by phone only" rule is making excuses for incompetence. I have DONE THAT EXACT JOB. I've had to deal with talking to parents while answering phones and running the register all at the same time, and while it can get hectic, it is definitely doable. Any person with proper training and good judgment should be able to juggle that. While I can appreciate your sympathy, I have to say that in this situation, it's a little unwarranted. Just a little

I'm surprised at how differently hourly-care CDC is run here. I've never heard of having to attend an orientation first before making a reservation! It makes sense for full or even part-time care, but for a drop-off center? Am I missing something here?

I called the Main CDC this morning to see about the special openings tomorrow. The lady on the phone was pleasant, and I could hear phones ringing in the background and could over hear her telling at least 2 people she was the only one there. Yeah, I was put on hold a few minutes, but she was nice and asked if she could call me back. About 20 minutes later she returned my call and I got my reservations all sorted out. She was very apologetic and you could hear in her voice she really meant it. I guess I had every opportunity to get irritated and mad about having to wait and for a call back, but it was obvious she was juggling a bunch of things at once. It all worked out fine in the end =)

"I don't want to misunderstand you, but what's so strange about the front desk?"

Hoff made a statement that they show favortism towards Japananese and Filipinos.  I was stating that there is a mix of people working the front desk, so it's not like there are just Japanese and Filipinos working the front desk showing favoritism towards the same race.  It was strange that a mix of hispanic, japanese and black would only show favoritism towards Japanese and Filipino.  Sorry for the confusion.  I should have quoted his statement.  =)

That's great that you are able to do all of that and that everything ran smoothly at your establishment, but that doesn't mean that every place is the same.  You may not have dealt with as many people coming in and out, payments for each and every visit on a system that is slow in processing credit cards (this was a frequent problem when I would pay...but it's not their fault), and you may not have had similar systems as the one here, and last of all the rules don't and regulations may not have been the same (orientation, pull ups, etc).  Where you worked is not where these people work.  If you  have some great ideas on how to improve the system, I'm sure that they would appreciate some ideas.  It still doesn't mean that they have access to all the things that you did at your last job (faster systems, etc).

When I went through indoc with the hourly CDC, as well as the CDC that my daughter is with now clearly stated that pull ups are NOT allowed.  They pointed this out SEVERAL times.  I DON'T believe that this warrants not changing the child because the parent didn't understand (IF this is even still their policy or even was the policy when she went).  If there was a misunderstanding, they need to address it with the parent...not avoid the fact that the pull up needs to be changed.  Then again, I don't know what they have been instructed to do.

Also, for you to state that "they should've let your kid use the bathroom, period" without knowing what their policy is a little unfair as well.  There are rules that have to be followed...again, NOT saying this IS the rule.

KRush, I have to agree with you, I am sure there is a lot more going on that what we see so what might seem to have an easy fix to us outside, in reality is not that easy. Their attitude though is not the correct. Now that I think about it, the problem might be that they feel like the need to act defensively?. Maybe when they are nice to some people is because in their interaction with that person over time they found out it's ok to lower the guard? and it takes time to gain that "trust"? I don't know, I am playing psycologist here, not a good thing, he he.
My personal situation wasn't one to bring up to management because you could say I was also at fault. My problem was the way the employee chose to go about it. It was one of those... I thought you said... no, I said... but you told me. There is no record of the reservations other that what they write in their papers and what we write down in our paper, that gives so much room for errors, which brings a lot of the bitterness around doing business with them. I'd be curious to hear reviews of other Hourly CDC in other overseas locations. If it is a system problem, this cases should be repeating in every other location, if not then it is a management/staff problem.

I know that being over here that the computer systems we get are not nearly as efficient as stateside. I don't even know where to begin to tell you what issues I've had with mine. Although they say mine's a special case (not sure why I'M so special...LOL!), I hardly think this is the case. I hear too many issues. Most days I want to throw my computer out the window and tell them that someone tried to steal it and changed their minds. =)
Either way, I don't think there's really any good excuse to be rude to a customer. Sometimes they have to say things that they know the customer doesn't want to hear, but it doesn't help for them to be rude relaying it (or failing to relay it at all). Although we all think differently, I feel that there should still be somewhat of a sense of respect. It just makes me a little...I don't know...sad? Not really the right word, but...sad when I see a situation that went to crap due to a little miscommunication. I know it happens, and I know I'm at fault for it more than my fair share, but I try my best. It also makes me sad when I find out that the problem could be avoided a 2nd or 3rd (or more) time if only the person who "gave in" had brought it to someone's attention who could fix the issue. =( I hear these stories at work too many times. The first thing I ask is "why didn't you say something to them?" Usually the response is "I figure it's just the way things are" or "they will never change." I tell my staff to carry with them a notepad and pen, and if they have to deal with a major issue (harassment or not obeying a direct order that they gave), to write it down, address the issue, and if it continues, to pass on the info to me of date, time, and what happened...exactly.
Again, I want to be clear that I am very sorry for the situations that everyone has gone through. =( I'm not saying that anyone DOESN'T have a valid complaint. If it bothers you, then it's valid. I'm just saying that sometimes there are reasons, and when there's not, it should be addressed. And if you don't know the reason, ask! Maybe there's a way to fix it! =)
I'm very interested in hearing about how stateside facilites are able to run smoothly like RodandNise said, and if it's possible for some of that to help the deficiencies on this side. I'm sure many people (including those that work at the CDC, but not just them) would appreciate it!

Not to specifically address CDC cuz I don't know them, but a comment about Yokosuka customer service in general...

A big part of the problem are entrenched powers that feel like they "own" this or that service. I was there in the 90's and we used to see this in the Exchange, Commissary and HRO. People who lived in the community a long time would move up to management and hire their friends. Employees didn't have to be nice cuz they knew their friends in management would cover for them. It got to be little empires; if you weren't in their crowd, you couldn't even get hired. These dictators would hold open positions knowing that another friend would be PCSing to Yoko soon, and they would hold a job for them. Very illegal, but it happened.

From the gripes I read on this forum about customer service, I believe that is still happening. This is one reason why, after about 2 tours, families were forced to leave even though they wanted to stay. Military would say it was due to the serviceman's career requirements, but the reality was to bring some balance back to the community. It didn't really work well, since another friend would move into the vacated management spot, and the little mafia would continue. One tour later, the missing family would be back.

Again, this is NOT about CDC. I suspect there is a more mundane management problem there. But the issue of fiefdoms at Yokosuka may well be going on. FWIW, I don't see this AT ALL in Iwakuni, which is a major reason why it is so pleasant to live here. Customer service and community cooperation are at very high levels here.

ThaiGuy - that's why I asked about how long the people in charge were in place there. I saw it on Gitmo where the long time base residents (10-20 years) developed a lot of competitive fear. They just didn't care nor did they have any incentive to change their ways.

Another factor is the mostly transient nature of the majority of the base population. With tours of 1-2 years, the long termers knew that, essentially in the blink of an eye, anyone dissatisfied or unhappy would be gone.

You should have let him whip it out and pee right there on the counter!