Cedar Point mistreating its employees?

Raven-Phile said:

You relished that amusement park job.

Pardon me, I'm just trying ketchup on this thread, and for some reason I kept dwelling on this sentence. I wasn't going to, but I mustard up the courage to reply. You mayo may not like what I have to say, so take it with a grain of salt.

I like how you peppered your post with puns. Really spiced up the thread. I don't know whether I'd consider the OP a reliable sauce.

I really didn't mind the housing when I was there because I came in with the mindset that I was there to work, not to live in luxury. Granted, most people don't like to think in those terms because their personal life is more important than their professional life.

The worst part is, I don't believe that Americans spend enough time on themselves, and too much time on their work.
The thing is, we've forgotten that we work to live, not the other way around.

Sure, there are certain responsibilities involved with having a job and being an adult, but too often, I think things that aren't emergencies or urgent responsibilities get labeled/treated as such for the sake of being a "model employee" that people end up burning out on their jobs and hating their lives.

Don't get me wrong, when I'm at work and things need done, I do them. I work like a bulldozer, and get everything I need done and out of the way before I even think about taking time for myself, so I'm guilty of it, too. There have been days I don't even stop to eat, but I've been trying to change that. I find that life/work is much more satisfying when you don't allow it to consume your life. (Same can be applied to anything, I guess)

The Disney housing is basically condominiums that have 2-3 bedrooms (maybe more) with multiple roommates. But, they also have kitchens, living rooms, multiple bathrooms and amenities such as tennis courts, swimming pools, etc.

It isn't much of a comparison. Now, WDWCP Cast Members pay more for their housing...but it was worth it in my opinion. Frankly, I think Cedar Point should pay their employees hazard pay for living in the dorms.

^Do the Disney dorms have air conditioning?

It was definitely crazy times when I lived at the Cedars at Cedar Point. And that was before I ever picked up an alcoholic beverage. It really was a great time, but I couldn't live there again.

Yes, the Disney dorms have A/C. It is Central Florida after all. The first incarnation of the College Program housing was called "Snow White's Village" and it was, in effect, a trailer park. I believe Vista Way opened in the late 80s (I was there in '92) and it is at the intersection of I4 and 535...near Vistana. They have added a number of buildings since as I'm told.

Cedars was crappy in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and continues that streak today. I've known many instances of first year employees walking into those dorms with their parents only to turn around and drive home...choosing to find some other summer job. I honestly don't have any idea how the on point housing passes any kind of fire inspections.

^Funny thing about the Cedars. When I got there the first time in 1991, I didn't really notice anything b/c I was so damn excited to be basically LIVING at an amusement park! My room was the first inside the breezeway next to Wildcat - very cool! 4 guys (and an occasional girlfriend *not mine, of course*) in that tiny room.

My friend used to say Cedars was built with paper and spit. I was just so psyched to be by the park!

Yea, Billy. I lived in that part of Cedars one time too. I loved waking up to hearing the Wildcat testing. And being able to walk just across the street from the park to get to my bed was awesome. But living in Cedars was a very poor experience other than that.

wahoo skipper said:
Yes, the Disney dorms have A/C. It is Central Florida after all.

Which, during 8 months of the year, is cooler than Sandusky in July and August. Just sayin', for comparison's sake.

True that. And, consider that at Disney you are more than likely to work your 8 hour shift in air conditioning. (Not everyone, obviously.) At Cedar Point you are more than likely to work your 12 hour shift in the same heat you will then go back to try and fall asleep in.

Funniest comment I ever heard about the conditions of living at Cedar Point was a group from operations at Geauga Lake that went up to help during difficult staffing days and they came back saying they could fall asleep watching the bugs and spiders having sex in the corner of their dorm room, lol. Is it any wonder HR has to go out of the country to find people willing to work/live at the Point even in the middle of a depression?!

I have to admit, that's ridiculous. How much would it cost to clean things up and spruce them up a bit? Are they intentionally trying to punish their employees for deigning to come work for them?

Just as a point of reference, back in the mid 1970's we would take a blanket and go sleep on the beach over near the Breakers most nights in July and August, as the rooms in the Cedars were unbearable most of the time. As far as the "other" occupants of the rooms, yeah they were there then too, so things haven't changed all that much since then. Frankly it was barely above camping in a tent. Now considering the people who have been running this place since I left, it doesn't surprise me that little in the way of improved ammenities have been added.

I really can't believe the 1400 building at Commons hasn't been closed and forcibly gutted. The mold in there was ridiculously bad when I lived in that building in '07, and I know it hasn't gotten any better, because the levels in there aren't taken care of by a surface cleaning. There were other issues, but mold was definitely the biggest, most disgusting issue.

Cedars and Golds are a whole other issue entirely. They should both be demolished, because I doubt it would be cheaper to renovate and bring them up to where they should be than demolishing and building new.

I'll chime in as a former employee of a few seasons. Yeah, it was not a glorious job by any means and the park in general showed little concern for seasonal employees. For example, they used to have an employee relations committee every few weeks where seasonals (usually some kind of team leader) from each department in the park would meet with management and share concerns and suggestions from their fellow coworkers. They would then publish these meeting notes in the employee newsletter for everyone to see. Myself and my coworkers found this very entertaining every few weeks when these came out. Employees would often voice concerns for issues as big as with something in housing or as little as a break area candy machine's cooling system broken causing chocolate to melt. However, for NEARLY EVERY item, the meeting notes under management's response it just said, "will review." -- and nothing ever developed from there. Needless to say, a few seasons ago, they did away with the employee relations committee altogether because nothing was ever resolved and they probably did not want to pay seasonals to sit around and talk about concerns.

The living conditions in the dorms were pretty awful. I never stayed on-point, but did visit them and I'm not sure how Cedars passed any kind building codes, but apparently was just enough to be liveable. Commons dorms were considered "nice" because of the air conditioning. However, the 1500 building has had an awful bed bug infestation every season and the 1400 building has been plagued with mold, at least in the bathrooms. In the 1400 building, the showers from the 3rd floor would leak down to the 2nd floor, and the 2nd floor down to the 1st floor, causing the ceiling tiles to be saturated with water and as a result, lots of mold. Eventually to fix this problem, they started replacing the ceiling tiles with plastic ones that didn't hold water (however there were still leaks and mold). I think I eventually saw a guy finally patching the shower tiles which would maybe help the problem a little bit, but who knows.

If you complained to any of the old ladies running housing, they would simply roll their eyes at you or just say "no" to most reasonable requests. I complained about the mold a few times and they would just kind of brush it off by saying "we'll let someone know"... of course nothing was ever done.

It seemed to me like the general consensus was, if it cost money and there is no return on investment, they simply would not consider spending it on employees if it was just to fix something (like housing conditions). I'm really not complaining so much myself, but a lot of things the person said in his long forum rant do match up with reality. I put up with the poor conditions because the positives, at least for me, definitely outweighed the negatives. I always had a good time, enjoyed my work, and did the best I could to brush things off and make some money throughout college. I could go on and on about many other things, but it's just going to sound like all other complaints about it that go nowhere - people are still going to work there regardless and they know that.

I do admit - when I worked at the point - I was housed in the top floor rooms of the Breaker's Rotunda - My room overlooked the beach and pool, and it was only that feature that made the abysmal accommodation one step above that of a homeless shelter.

Working in accommodations had it's perks, and I only had to run downstairs when it was time to work.

We shared a shower on the third or fourth floor, but it wasn't as bad as the gang showers in Cedars or those in commons.

I saw a few of the rooms there a few weeks back, and to be honest, they haven't improved in 20 years time.

The employee rooms in Breakers are really, really abysmal. They make Commons look like an upscale college dorm by comparison, and its hard to make Commons look good.

I stayed at Cedar's for two years and didn't really think they were all that bad. But, then again as someone who put themselves through college I had to stay at some real dumps. In hindsight Cedars was a four-star resort to me at that time.

^Sounds like you had it tough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo