Carowinds to seasonals: Go home after your shift

My first reaction to this was negative, but when I stopped and thought about it, I've seen what they describe at a lot of parks, and it's annoying. When it's about your safety, it's more than annoying.

We have the same policy at the restaurant I work in. If you want to grab a bite to eat, so be it. But if it causes a disturbance in the guests experience the manager will tell you to box up your food and hit the bricks.

I see your point Jeff, but what about those seasonals who AREN'T in the park *distracting* those who are on-duty, simply enjoying one of the SUPPOSED benefits of working at a park...

Many MANY times I've seen off-duty employees yakking with, and distracting those who are ON duty....but I don't like the idea of punishing everyone for the actions of a few....then again, it sounds like they DID try to work out a solution with the employees, and it failed.....so.....

It sure puts a damper on one of the employee perks but I understand the rationalization. I didn't register to read the article, but I wonder if they couldn't start with some discipline before going to this extreme.

Have the rule be you can be in the park but not in the "zone" you work in. If a manager finds you in that zone you are subject to the disciplinary system which might ultimately end up in termination.

Bad idea. They should have dealt with this in a different way (like not allowing them to hang out in their area). It is annoying, but they pay the employees so little, this was a major perk for attracting workers.

Why not revoke the priveleges from those who broke the rules? Should be easy to "deactivate" their passes for free-entry.

They should punish the offenders, not everyone.

Why should an employee who followed the rules be punished because someone else couldn't?

I understand that customer safety is #1, but I think the park is going at this the wrong way....

I agree. This penalizes those that are not socializing. What they should do is simply write them up. Then if they get several write ups, bye-bye. Simple as that.

What usually happens when a policy such as this goes into effect is the ones who were the rulebreakers in the first place will still be the ones that violate the rule and may end up getting fired anyway. Meanwhile, the peeps that just want to hang out in the park and not cause trouble and ride a few rides will no longer be able to do so. Lame.

Paramount should have thought this out better.

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"the guest experience is compromised" when off-duty employees hang around.

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It is also compromised by bitter employees. ;)

I think it sounds like we ALL agree on this one: Paramount threw the baby out with the bath water...

gator, bringing old-timey phrases into the next century since 1967...;)

Is it throwing the baby out with the bathwater? or Shotgun Management? Or Both?

I don't think keeping employees from their area is fair either. What if a lot of the rides you want to go on in your spare time is located in you work area? Or, do you mean by work area, around the booth and such?

Here is a simple solution to those seasonal employees who feel they have been done wrong to.

Purchase a season pass!

Regards,
Kevin Reid
www.PCWjunkies.com

Wonder if this policy will take place at the other Paramount Parks?

Who knows what steps the park management took prior to the outright ban? It would be interesting to know what steps were taken first.

Some people missed the 5th word in the news article, SOME. As in not all. As in those who ARE being disturbing.

Here's the real solution. Don't let employees off the clock into employee areas. Problem solved.

Sound like this is a chronic problem that management lost control of. So instead of disciplining the offenders and nipping this in the bud, all the seasonals become defacto offenders. Bad, bad management. Verbal, written, and then you're outa here. How much you want to bet that there won't be too many returnees next year?

Mole, if you're talking about this sentence,

The edict implemented last week removes a coveted perk that helps lure some 2,000 mostly young workers during the park's operating season in spring, summer and early fall months.

"Some" does not mean a portion of the employees, "Some" means (from dictionary.com) "An indefinite additional quantity: did the assigned work and then some. " In this case - you could remove the word some and replace it with "approximately" or "more than"...

*** This post was edited by redman822 7/20/2004 3:08:20 PM ***