Staffing The Inter-Reality Dino Park

20250429

Prompt from DailyPrompt.com

Inter-reality tourism sounded like such a good idea. And maybe it was for the people embarking on exciting adventures to worlds unlike their own. But when you were stuck doing customer service for them it just ratcheted all the usual minimum wage nightmares up to eleven.
Terry had resorted to painting his own unofficial info board. Which was probably against guidelines, but his managers tacitly agreed there was only so many times someone could explain “yes, dinosaurs whistle” before going mad or quitting.
Sadly having it written down in nice big letters didn’t prevent everyone from demanding explanation.
“They must have been modified!”
The woman was flustered and angry, presumably because the child clutching her hand was in tears.
Terry’s smile didn’t waver. His drone was unfaltering. “No, these are unmodified dinosaurs from the wild, currently being kept for rehabilitation following disease or injury. Their behaviour is entirely natural. Did you know that every dinosaur has a unique whistle pattern which can be used to identify that individual? In species which raise their young there’s even a pseudo-hereditary-”
“This is absurd!”
One day an upset customer would stop shouting to listen to Terry’s Phd findings. One day.
“It’s a T-REX!”
“Yes, their upright stature and large nasal cavities allow ‘trumpeting’ to be heard from as much as-”
“It sounds like it’s snoring! Is this some sick joke??”
“There’s nothing funny about her health issues.” Terry permitted himself a momentary frown. “Osteoporosis is a debilitating-”
“That doesn’t explain the noise!”
“Wilma’s vocalisations are perfectly normal for an mature female tyrannosaur. Though, having spent so much of her life in captivity, her trumpeting pattern has shifted to-”
“The tour didn’t say anything about this!” The woman’s voice continued to rise, until she was nearabout trumpeting herself. “My son’s birthday is RUINED! I DEMAND my money back!”
Terry sighed and pointed to the third item on his board. “Then you will need to contact the support line for the tour provider you booked with-”
“YOU HAVEN’T HEARD THE LAST OF THIS!”
“Oh, I know.” Terry wearily told her vanishing back.
In the pen behind him Wilma whistled a complex trill to proudly warn any nearby tyrannosaurs who might be thinking of intruding on her domain that she’d just finished reestablishing her dung perimeter.

Prompt was “In another dimension, dinosaurs walk among humans, but they’re not at all like how the archeologists of our world predicted.”