GL Employees Quiting Left and Right

In 8 hours the opening day ceremonies will be happening

WE SHOULD ALL BE SO EXCITED! ;)

And to think, I have some friends in Cleveland this weekend, If i could have afforded it, I would have went too...

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oldschool said:
A corporate policy that by legal means needs to be objective across the board.

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Legal means? What? They can pay whatever they want where ever they want as long as its over minimum wage.

Jeff:

What I meant by "legal means" stems from a myriad of lawsuits that challenged subjective pay raises, as well as undefined job rules and responsibilities.

Now, before people start talking about their personal experience at work, and not having defined work responsibilities, let me say up front that not all companies adhere to a defined job description/merit raise/pay scale plan.

Sure, in theory a company could pay whatever they want to whomever they want. And, they would probably be alright if they had a local company that only drew from one specific gender and type of person in their locality. There have been a considerable number of lost lawsuits by companies on this front.

I have already admitted that I am not from the amusement industry, so I am unfamiliar with exact specifics on the pay scale/job descriptions/HR formalilties. But, I would at least venture a guess that CF, combined with a few other areas I highlighted previously, is attempting to have the employment scales look similar to current corporate policies. While a majority of people probably do enjoy working for CF, there are bound to be a few from any company that are looking for an angle. Oftentimes that angle comes from employment procedures.

And, after seeing some of the complaints over the years against companies, one may be surprised how weak some of these cases make it to arbitration and/or are allowed to even get started. That is not to say some do not have merit.

The entire premise of what you're saying is absurd. They can pay whatever they want to anyone. For the thousandth time this topic, these are seasonals, not career skilled union workers.

Not by much, but CF pays seasonals a little more than non-seasonal Universal or Disney. It seems to me that most parks offer low pay because they can always find someone willing to work for the low wage (teens, college kids, retirees, part time housewifes, ect.). Their employees are easily replaced. They don't care that someone may want to make a carear out of working at a park. Parks, along with a lot of other business, just want the cheapest labor that they can get away with.

I would have wanted nothing more than to work full time at Universal and CP and make it a carear. It was my dream, and my percieved destiny. It hurt when I realized that those two parks didn't want/need me as much as I wanted them. It's very hard to get a full time non-seasonal job at CP. What time I did spend there was fun, I just wish it could have been a lifetime.

My year long, full time job at Universal didn't pay crap. I lost a lot working for them. Can anyone really make it on their own living in FL on a ride op's wage? If so, let me know the secret.

I have always been told that I am an exceptional employee, just so I'm not confused with those workers who always complain of not getting what they want, in reality because they do not deserve it.

I now work at a non-amusement job, in the wonderful world of retail. It's not the career that I long for, but it pays the bills. In an alternate universe, I am the happiest employee at a park, all the way until my retirement.

GL employees quiting left and right. LOL. Maybe they are, but you wouldn't know it from being in the park today. There was an abundance of employees at every ride I went to. Almost to the point where it looked over staffed. Even the food stand way off in front of the deserted Mission Bermuda Triangle was open with four employees.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw eight (yes eight...no exageration) midway sweeps during my walk from the former boomtown to the main gate.

Rihard,

Besides the employees, did the park look different? Does it look completely different than how it did for the past 4 years? What are the prices like now?

Not much different in the way the park looks except for it being clean. A few minor things like the six flags signage being gone, but nothing really drastic. No metal detectors and seatbelts on Big Dipper seem to be the biggest changes, besides multi train operation on Double Loop and Villian.

The only thing I paid for was a $2.50 vending machine water and a $4.00 hotdog. (It was HUGE)

Check out the trip reports for more info.

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Jeff said:
The entire premise of what you're saying is absurd. They can pay whatever they want to anyone. For the thousandth time this topic, these are seasonals, not career skilled union workers.

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Nothing absurd about his statements at all. You, Jeff, are correct in theory sir, but not in real world application. Large corporations have defined pay scales for their own protection. Sure, they can "pay whatever they want to anyone," but if one protected class of workers (based on race, age, sex, whatever) AVERAGES less pay than another group...CLASS ACTION TIME!!! And the corporation will pay through the nose every time.

Oh, and Wahoo...No offense, but what is your hard-on against "seasonal employees" earning a living wage? I worked cheap in my younger years too, but I didn't seem to develop your attitude that low wages are a rite of passage for the young.

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igron said:
Nothing absurd about his statements at all. You, Jeff, are correct in theory sir, but not in real world application. Large corporations have defined pay scales for their own protection. Sure, they can "pay whatever they want to anyone," but if one protected class of workers (based on race, age, sex, whatever) AVERAGES less pay than another group...CLASS ACTION TIME!!!

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Right, because a company with several parks in different regions of the country are all surrounded by the same economic and racial demographics. Sure. Whatever you think. You aren't talking about protected classes, you're talking about people that work in businesses hundreds of miles from each other. If you're going to make a case, at least make the right case.

And Wahoo doesn't have anything against anyone. Seasonal workers work, well, seasonally. Four months out of the year. Let it go.

midwave, exactly what did you expect? Costs of food to go down? If you think traveling to PA is going to make the cost of in-park food affordable, you are sadly mistaken. $2.50 for a pop is a bargain in-park.

Yet another we should all be glad isn't running the show for any corporation that matters ...

oldschool, i completely understand what you're saying about the legal issues that a park may be concerned with, and while i myself would think that someone looking for a suit in that nature is highly unlikely, i can also see how the ever safety concious CF would try to prevent any such problems.

And i wouldn't worry about Jeff he doesn't aknowledge any opinion other than his own; after all he's never wrong because he's quoted in national publications.

Gene: If all you can do to make an argument is make personal attacks at me, go elsewhere. Move along.

Jeff said:

Right, because a company with several parks in different regions of the country are all surrounded by the same economic and racial demographics. Sure. Whatever you think. You aren't talking about protected classes, you're talking about people that work in businesses hundreds of miles from each other. If you're going to make a case, at least make the right case.

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Igron replies:

Jeff, you don't appear to have any idea what you're talking about. I don't mean to flame you, but Christ, you seem to be living in "computer world" and don't have the foggiest notion of how thinks really work. My "case" as you put it, is 100% logical, defensible and correct. Let me take a moment to educate you in EEOC labor laws. Oh, never mind, it is your site; so you can think and say what you will. *** Edited 5/2/2004 2:23:48 PM UTC by igron***

Nice come back... now educate me instead of insult me and we'll talk. Address my points, not my personality. What about the fact that Aurora, Sandusky, Muskegon, Allentown, etc., all are about as different as can be demographically?

I'll take the Pepsi challenge, but you need to offer Coke as well to make the comparison.

... and all he can do is choose Jif, Jeff. ;-)

Although this has nothing to do about pay rates of seasonals (or the bickering about pay rates of seasonals), it's evident that the crappy workers must be quitting...because I didn't run into one bad employee there today. And they were well staffed, even for a rainy, slow day.

Let the complainers leave and let the people that WANT to work there get the jobs. If you're looking for a seasonal job for the money you've got a lot of looking too do!

I am going to leave the corporate laws, EEOC edicts, court decisions, and real world applications behind, and let this one die out on my end. It would appear people are going to be entrenched in their thinking, and that is where it is ending.

Now, what I would like to hear are people's experience at GL.

Might I suggest:

http://www.coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=37733

As a bonus, you get 4 full TRs in one thread!