Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Confusion; Situational Awareness; Communication Breakdown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors
On station arrival at ZZZ our marshaller used incorrect/non standard marshaling signals to bring us into the ramp area. Rather than marshal us into what is probably the most congested ramp in our system he continued with the move forward signal and offered little or no guidance for a turn onto the J line. Once we were parked he appeared agitated at where the jet ended up being parked. I attempted to talk to the marshaller to see what the issue was and ask that he be directive with his marshaling signals. I was intercepted by the Ramp Lead who told me that he would relay any comments I had. When I told the lead what my intent was he responded with 'you guys don't pay attention to our signals anyhow.'On our departure; the same marshaller we had inbound was used for engine start and departure. When we were ready to taxi; I flashed the landing light and got a very soft/non standard signal that appeared to be 'move ahead.' It wasn't clear that was what he was signaling so I flashed the landing light again. The marshaling signal did not change. I came forward using the marshaller for guidance and realized that he wasn't going to offer effective guidance for our turn towards the taxiway and started my turn late. Because of the close proximity of the neighboring ramp and taxiway construction and the ineffective marshaling I didn't have the energy to make a departure towards taxiway delta at idle thrust. I chose to make a right turn back towards taxiway charlie which is contrary to our 10-7 procedures. I verified that the thrust levers were at idle and the N1 rpm were at idle before making the turn.Once clear of the ramp I asked the station if there were any problems caused by the non standard turn. Nothing was mentioned.Standard marshaling is a problem throughout our system. In a perfect world; I would be able to park the jet using nothing but guidance from the marshaller. In reality; it's rare to get a marshal-er that actually marshals the jet. This leads to a combination of using the marshal-er and pilot experience to park jets. This generally works OK in stations that don't have congested ramps. Not as well in stations like ZZZ.The company needs to provide more/better training for the people marshaling aircraft and they need to ensure the supervisors enforce standard marshaling practices. As a pilot; trying to overcome a systemic problem with marshaling by using the marshal-er as a secondary source of guidance rather than a primary source; I contribute to the problem.
Air Carrier Captain reported receiving incorrect and confusing hand signals; a problem throughout the system; from the ground marshaller during push back. The Captain proceeded to move the aircraft in the direction he felt was the safest without the marshaller.