Six Flags: cut your hair or don't come to work

He earns $11/hr working as a seasonal food stand managaer at an amusement park? Is it me, or does that seem like a lot of money?

It sure does seem like a lot!

I tend to agree with the policy. However, the kid has a point. It's not universally enforced, not by a long shot.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

$11 is not a lot of money considering how many years he has worked and his responsibilities. It IS possible (contrary to popular belief) to make good money in the seasonal park business as long as you are willing to pay your dues.

Back to the topic at hand...These parks will learn, sooner or later, that the grooming standards need to be relaxed with the times. Heck, even Disney is allowing mustaches now. As long as he follows health codes (which is the purpose of the hairnet) I don't see the problem.

In the day when hanging on to good employees is a challenge at best, why not make accommodations? Management gets so hung up on rules, regulations, authority and so forth that it blinds them to common sense. It is one of the reasons I left the business.

WOW - That's a boat load of cash for a seasonal food mgr at a Six Flags Park. SFGAM doesn't even pay their higher up ride employee's near that.

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BMCOASTER

bmcoaster@wi.rr.com

Geeze, It's not like his hair won't grow back! He probably looks like a girl anyway, those kinds of things make me nervious!

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Rollercoasters are the secret of life!

http://www.woodencoaster.com

I thought Six Flags has toned down their grooming policy. At SFGAm I have been seeing more guys with lengthy hair and also fad hairdos have been allowed. Hey bigkirby, that statement about looking like a girl is out of line. Not everyone wants to look like they just enlisted in the military.

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""Coaster riding is a disease and SFGAm is the cure!!!!!!!""

Just another way SF*whatever* is trying to look like Cedar Point. For years, Cedar Point has had the same types of policies, and they are STRICTLY enforced there. It is part of the image of Cedar Point and actually Cedar Fair as a whole.


Dave --Who bets that the same grooming guidelines guy and girl are in all of the employee handbooks for all Cedar Fair, L.P. parks

i say make him cut the mullet



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HurricaneGeauga- Just in case

I can't belive this 6 flags bashing! You don't see this " Newsworthy subject " when McDonalds or T. G . I. F's or some other restaurant gives this ultimatum to its employees.

first, $11/hour isn't a lot. I made 10 my first summer working and I was just a phone monkey.

second, let SF do what they want as long as its across the board. I went to a Catholic high school and had to deal with simillar rules. its not so bad as long as you're getting something back (in his situation: money).

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this park is not copless so please don't go topless

If all I had to do was cut my hair (which grows back as we all know), I'd do it in a heatbeat!!! $11 an hour isn't bad at all! That beats my $5.35 an hour I make bagging groceries.

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Cedar Point kicks Magic Mountain's ***! MILLENIUM FORCE RULES!!!

I'd have to go with the kid on this one. Thats sad that a park will do that.

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Live to have FUN!

Go Shamrocks!
Go Wolverines!

$11 an hour is a lot of money, especially in the midwest I believe. What's he going to do in the fall? I believe his hair will grow back just fine, provided he hisn't already balding. People take you much more seriously with short hair. Otherwise you look like you're trying to be a rock star.

These standards aren't uncommon for any service-oriented company. Look here:
http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/jobs/impressions.cfm

I think the issue the kid has is that he's being picked on and other employees are getting away with it. From what I've seen there, he's got a point.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

What I think the thing is, people have not yet accepted "cornrows" as an acceptable 'professional' hairstyle for dudes (or females for that matter). And since the kid is now a 'manager' of sorts they dont want him sporting such a hairstyle....which while trite in my opinion, would be totally their call. EXCEPT that the rule isnt enforced across the board. THAT is the crux of the story to me...
lata,
jeremy
--who wishes he could grow cornrows...but is currently sticking to the MJ-esque bald head

Just cut your hair I had to laugh that he's worried that his hair won't grow back at 17, also who is he sampson that he can't cut his hair. As for other's in the park point them out after you have your haircut then you have a gripe. As for him being singled out he is a manager, you leed by example and his example is its ok with me who cares what the SF says, maybe he is the one of the employees that everyone complains about. Think about it this way he does not care about the uniform code, why do you think he will listen to customer policy codes. It seems rules where made to be followed if you break one rule whats not stopping him from breaking another.

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Army rangers lead the way



*** This post was edited by supermandl on 6/18/2001. *** *** This post was edited by supermandl on 6/18/2001. ***

As I customer I could really care less what length his hair is. As long as it is cleanly taken care of, let him do his job. It seems like Six Flags has enough trouble getting quality help. This guy is apparently good at what he does and I don't think his hair ever plays into quality of performance.

Adam

I think it's absolutely ridiculous that people in this country are STILL so freaked out by men with long hair that companies are STILL legally getting away with this form of DISCRIMINATION! You don't hear any big news stories about women being forced to cut their hair to keep their jobs, do you? So why should this man be getting this message from his employer while the female employees of the park continue to enjoy retaining their locks at whatever length they see fit? It's DISCRIMINATION based on GENDER, plain and simple, and it should be ILLEGAL, but the short-haired clean-cut suits & ties that continue to run most of this country still have most of the judges on their side, so nevermind that we live in a FREE country where discrimination in any form isn't supposed to be tolerated, by all means make this long-haired menace to society cut his hair or suffer the consequences! You would think that in this millennium people would finally be open minded and liberal enough to adopt a nationwide policy of live and let live, as long as no one's life or property is at stake, but obviously dicrimination is still very much in vogue, while justice, equality, and freedom remain randomly granted and enforced, depending on the voice of the all powerful short-haired clean-cut suits & ties of the world, just like it was in the last millennium! How SAD that this man is being discriminated against in this way, and most of the other Buzzers are all for it! How much more dangerous than a woman's long hair could that man's long hair possibly be? It's just hair! Grow up and deal with it! Obviously he keeps it in a hairnet while he's at work, as per health requirements, so what's the big problem? Some short-haired clean-cut suit & tie doesn't LIKE it, so by all means it has to go! This sort of "dress code" is one of the most unwarranted and unfair forms of discrimination still in existence today, and I think that it should be ABOLISHED once and for all with a new law guaranteeing all men the right to grow and groom their hair and facial hair in whatever manner they see fit, to whatever length they see fit, whether everyone else in the world likes it or not! A man's body is his own body, and he alone should be the master of it, not some closed-minded corporate suit who just wants everyone in the world to look as short-haired and clean-cut as he does! It's absolutely ludicrous that most people tend to react to this sort of controversy with the statement "it'll grow back". #1, when it grows back, he'll be unfairly forced to cut it AGAIN, #2, it takes YEARS for it to grow back to the same length, and #3, he shouldn't be FORCED to cut it just to keep his job in the first place unless ALL female employees are forced to cut their hair to below a certain length as well, and that is NEVER gonna happen, so this type of discrimination should be ENDED, not applauded! And yes, I am a man who happens to have long hair, a moustache, and a goatee, and the world is still turning, my appearance hasn't disrupted the cosmic balance not one tiny little bit, except for the fact that the short-haired clean-cut suits & ties of the world CAN'T STAND the fact that I look like this, even though it doesn't doesn't endanger their health, their life, or their property, in any way, so take that, corporate America, DEAL WITH IT, because I'm not cutting my hair or shaving for ANY job, no matter how much it pays! I would rather be poor and FREE than be rich and forced to conform any day!

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http://www.angelfire.com/tx2/GayRollerRide/

When I worked out at SFGAm (of course, this was between 1988 and 1993) they actually had Grooming Checks throughout the season. When the employee's would walk out of Wardrode (there was only one exit), there would be at least 2 or 3 Park Managers from the HR department checking each employee that went by, to make sure they were properly groomed for the day.

If you did not meet the standards, you were either sent back into wardrobe to correct the problem (remove makeup, earrings, etc), or sent home. You had no choice.

Of course, these grooming checks were never told to anyone. The days they happened were a surprise for all of us.

From what I remember, SFGAm did a good job about this, and it was across the board at that park.
No one was excluded in the grooming checks, and it was very clearly stated in the Employee Manual, at the Hiring Sessions, Interviews, and Training Sessions. If you worked at SFGAm at did not know about the grooming policy, then you were really dumb.

--Brian

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Brian A. Plencner
E-Mail: saurses@home.com