Tony Clark gone from CP?

Echo chamber? You haven't been around long enough to know that, new guy. You haven't even lurked that long. And tell me why I should let you keep that name? I keep missing that you're not the guy who has been here for four years.

To me, the best two reasons to not live in Texas are the weather and privatized (kinda) utilities. But mainly the weather.

I don't know why you think I have an attachment to that name to the point that I would care whether or not you let me keep it. Go ahead and do whatever, my point has been made.

I have been reading these forums for a long time. Long enough to know that you turn into a condescending person that talks down upon those who do not agree with your specific subset of beliefs, as exhibited here. I certainly hope that's not how you treat people you interact with outside of the internet, as I don't think that's a healthy way to treat people and go through life. Perhaps it is something you can discuss at your next therapy appointment.

Well that made it easier.

I find it humorous that a troll would use a play on a name that actually has historical meaning in the attraction industry.

Sometimes those of us who have walked the midways and put in the long hours over many years just don’t have time for the nonsense that has overtaken the enthusiast community, particularly those individuals who are the loudest but have never worked a day in a park in their lives. I once asked an enthusiast organization to help on a difficult staffing day do some PAID volunteer time as a “thank you” to the park(s) for the decades of accommodations the parks have made to host enthusiast events. The answer was no. Yet the teams running each park still try really hard to do what they can to support enthusiasts, even as their management teams are being decimated and it doesn’t feel like they are getting much support in multiple ways.

We haven't had a serious troll in awhile. Some things are consistent though, in that they still come in hot, blame me and insist that they don't need us anyway.

Brett makes a good point about the experience walking out the door. It's not just that either, because context and domain knowledge also walks. This is the thing that isn't easy to replace without extended tenure of any replacement. But the replacement that isn't in the market will never gain the context. Again, a hospitality business requires hospitality. You can't do it remotely.

BrettV:

There is so much institutional knowledge on what does and does not work at each park on the local level, not to mention decades of relationships with other businesses and organizations in the communities where the parks are located, that are just gone.

This is mostly what I was alluding to in the corporate-moving-to-TX thread. And it's not just the fact that folks were let go, but how it was done. I understand the corporate world can be a cut-throat culture, with little-to-no-room for emotion when it comes to making difficult decisions, but I would expect more from a place like Cedar Point. I guess I shouldn't.

And Brett points out another important aftershock. After nearly two decades of working to build and maintain a productive (and fun) win-win working relationship with the park, I unfortunately find myself on the losing end of one of those that is now just...gone. 16 years of collaboration essentially erased. While I'm hopeful it can be rebuilt, I'm not exactly optimistic.

Gunkey Monkey:

I find it humorous that a troll would use a play on a name that actually has historical meaning in the attraction industry.

I'll bite. What historical meaning does it have?

kpjb:

I'll bite. What historical meaning does it have?

At Geauga Lake/Funtime Inc. the “Fun Bunch” park mascots were: Geauga Dog, Gunkey Monkey, Penny Panda, and Dandy Lion. Photo attached of the four characters out greeting park guests.

Ohio Stater, your comment about how employees are being let go has a personal meaning for me. From the days of Premier Parks as “Six Flags” up until today, the Six Flags company brand has a history of sending park security/police officers to fetch said terminated full-time employees, handing them a small box for personal effects, and marching them out the security gates. There is no dignity shown. Just another tidbit that outsiders don’t realize happens to people who dedicated themselves to bringing happiness and “fun” to generations of guests.

Security waiting by your desk with a box was the way Cedar Fair let go of people in my days there, though I don't know if they would have handled a layoff differently than a termination for cause. I've seen many good, loyal, tenured individuals from the Cedar Fair days unceremoniously shown the door.

I don't pretend to speak for Matt Ouimet, but I suspect he saw this coming, and I further suspect he knew he wouldn't be able to stomach it. I've had to fire people I have cared about. It is brutal.

That's the way in pretty much all corporate environments, even if it's purely a reduction in force and the person was an exemplary emplpyee. Providing a box and time to gather personal items is a luxury some aren't even afforded.

Gunkey Monkey:

At Geauga Lake/Funtime Inc. the “Fun Bunch” park mascots were: Geauga Dog, Gunkey Monkey, Penny Panda, and Dandy Lion. Photo attached of the four characters out greeting park guests.

I don't see Jiff in that lineup:)

Remote layoffs are real special. When it's a big RIF, it's usually an executive explaining that if you're on the call, sorry, we're "ripping off the bandaid." If it's individuals, it's your boss and an someone from HR. I've had to do it. Sucks, even when you know it's the right thing.