Tough Pay and Work at CP for 2010?

I am with GoodBear on that one. Cedar Point would never blunder into those rules. Whomever made those up should be rehired, then fired Memorial Day weekend to send a message to worry about themselves, and no one else.

Seasonal work is hard enough without a single one of those work/living rules. However, as a former employee, it is a pain in the ass to haul it from Frontiertown to get a paycheck, and driving the paddlewheel excursions are much more challenging than the scrambler, as those jallopy boats are not on a track, but no one gets put there who does a mediocre job.

Thanks Agent Johnson. Former employees understand what I am saying.

Sorry Hopman, for getting your name wrong. No disrespect is ever intended in any of my posts.

Carrie M. said:

LostKause said:

My specific job required a lot of ability and talent.

No, you brought ability and talent to the job. But it was not required. There is a difference, but I get the impression you have trouble separating the two.

Nope. My specific ride location requires that a Paddlewheel Captain have certain abilities and talents. It was required. I was assigned that particular job because of my abilities and talents.

Carrie said:

I think the most important aspect of what you've reported above is that you chose to return to the job year after year, despite the now reported unfavorable working conditions. That's interesting.

Yes, it is very interesting. Many people return to work at Cedar Point despite the working conditions. There is a lot of good to go with the bad. The imaginary book, written by me, would be very helpful to new employee hopefuls.

Carrie said:

LK said:
The difficulty of my first year at Cedar Point really took me by surprise, as it does many people who work there. You two should really try it. It may help you to better understand what we former Cedar Point employees are talking about.

I would imagine it would take anyone by surprise who wasn't prepared for the difficulty of labor.

Working at Cedar Point is not just labor. There is much more to it than just work. You work, eat, and sleep there. Many employees, myself included, knew what it was like to work a job before we got there, and therefore were already "prepared for the difficulty of labor". It's much more than just working.

About the "idiot" thing...

Carrie, you really don't understand what the term "idiot's" means in relation to the book series? It's not meant to call the reader an idiot, but to describe that the subject matter of the book will start with the basics, so that even an idiot could understand. I wasn't calling anyone an idiot. Nice try though.

Lord Gonchar said:

Everything you've described applies to any entry-level, seasonal, minimum wage job.

Work is hard and stuff...

Nope. Wardrobe and transport services for the employees are handled quite differently at different parks. Pay check distribution is also handled differently at different parks as well. Some "entry-level, seasonal, minimum wage jobs" are not even at amusement parks.

I only mentioned two small inconveniences. It only gets bad when you start adding the hundreds of daily inconveniences together, then you get the big picture of what I was getting at. Once again, you'd just have to experience it to understand.

Never said it was easy. But no job is. It's no worse than a similar position anywhere else...and in the big scheme of things, it's still an entry level, minimum wage style scenario. Work gets no easier than that.

I understand where you are coming from. You don't need a college degree to check harnesses and push a few buttons, and any kid fresh out of high school could probably do it with minimal training. That's not what I am describing though. I am more describing the stresses that the job does to a person's body and mind. Working that many hours, really hard, in the weather, away from family (some for the first time)is difficult enough. Having to deal with the parks problematic ways of feeding, housing,transporting, uniforming, and paying employees on top of everything else is a little much to handle for an entire season. I'd take my non-entry-level, permanent,higher-paid job any day.

PEACE already. :)

Edited for spaces and stuff...

LostKause said:
That's not what I am describing though. I am more describing the stresses that the job does to a person's body and mind. Working that many hours, really hard, in the weather, away from family (some for the first time)is difficult enough. Having to deal with the parks problematic ways of feeding, housing,transporting, uniforming, and paying employees on top of everything else is a little much to handle for an entire season.

See, that's the kind of things I was referring to. (not the skills, effort and performance stuff everyone keeps thinking I meant)

Stress, long hours, time away from family, issues with your employer's practices - sounds like a job to me.

In my experience, as my circle of influence grows and advances in life, I find that these things just increase (not go away) as you move up. (mo' money, mo' problems :) )

I stand by my earlier comment - it gets no easier than the entry-level. (and if you think it does, then you're probably the kind of jerk the entry level complains about ;) )

Work is hard and stuff...

...

...which is why I live the bohemian lifestyle. :)

LostKause said:
That's just two complaints I have about the job. I could probably write a book on the subject. Hey, that's a pretty good idea. "The Complete Idiots Guide to Working at Cedar Point.". Seriously.

Honestly, I wasn't thinking about the Idiots Guide series when I read this. I see the reference now. But when you are talking about writing a book about your complaints about the job, it doesn't sound like a helpful "how to" book to me.

But regardless, I am just tired of reading post after post of people complaining about a work experience. Seriously. Get over it. It's a job and if you don't like it, then don't work there.

I had a summer job that I used to pay my way through college. I counted circuit board parts for kits... all day... that's it. It was not something I would want to do again, but it served my purpose at the time. I had choices to make related to distance to work without a car, available hours, the ability to work summers and leave for school and come back to work on breaks, etc.

Those were my choices. It was a job. I worked and I got paid. At no time would I consider badmouthing the job or the employer because it was hard or inconvenient or didn't pay enough or didn't provide benefits or didn't entertain me enough.

If you can't hack working at Cedar Point, then don't. Keep searching for the cushy summer job that doesn't stress you out as much, but pays a decent wage and provides the benefits you desire. I wish you luck.

LK, no big deal Bro. For a fellow CP "survivor/wage slave" :) I'll cut you some slack.

maXairMike said:

Hopman said:
You do realize that CP has over 2,100 trash cans in the park, right? Plus, Group U was in charge of hauling all the dumpsters behind the resturants and other areas in the park. They, along with all the trah from the cans, go into the compactors (and their respective 30 cubic yard dumpsters) behind Blue Streak and Mean Streak. CP even has it's own roll-off truck to haul it all away. The park easily generates 75-100 tons of trash PER DAY.

Think about that next time you toss out that empty water bottle.

So you're to blame for every time I walked in to my ride in the morning to find out we got called out, AGAIN, for having bags of trash hanging on our third low zone fences and trash all over the ground there! ;)

Seriously though, 07 Group U was horrible about that. We got called at least 3 times by Oz or Woz and yelled at for bags of trash hanging on the low zone fence and trash all over it. And then the dead seagull in our infield that Park Services refused to come and get, so our morning maintenance guy offered to grab it. Oh 2007, what a great season. :)

You can't blame me!!!! I worked in '05. That year, CP ranked #3 on the Golden Tix as the cleanest park. Carl & Cake were strict on making sure that EVERY CAN got properly dealth with. I got my butt chewed out more than once for missing a can. You had to have thick skin workin' Group U.

Plus, we worked as a team. One one person got their final run done, they would go help the next, and so on. One of the ride ops mentioned to me one night that she wished her crew did that. We put proudly the group "Gorup Utility." Half of Mike Rowe's "Dirty Jobs," had nothing on us. :)

I like the crew shirt phrase, very nice. Although I hate to tell you, Park Services has really dropped the ball the last few years. I couldn't believe it when the sweeps got switched over to the control of the Rides dept., although on the other hand, I kinda knew why it had happened. Working right next to the Services office was sometimes very frustrating. It does sound like your group was on the ball though, and I say hats off to you guys for that. :)

LuvRaptor said:

With the economy grim and unemployment still on the rise (hit me personally) CP will have no problem getting people to work there next season, it would take alot more than what the rumors say to keep them away.

Its the exact same thing with television news. One often hears about those so-called "moral clause" in the contracts they sign before being allowed on the air and how strict they are such as can't be seen in public drinking a beer or smoking a cigarette/cigar, no Facebook or My Space profiles, no personal ads, etc... I known of one NBC-TV station in Virginia who went as far as banning their employees from visiting Las Vegas because the station frowned about the "adult entertainment" that was being offered in that city.

Yet...there is no shortage of those wanting to get into the TV news biz despite having such restrictions being forced upon them.

I think its good for everyone to have at least one incredibly lousy job when they are young. Helps to provide motivation to get better jobs.

Mike, actually in '05 our crew shirt read:

I am NOT...

A weinie,

A wimp,

A liar,

A bum,

A cheat,

or a A weakling.

I AM GROUP U!

I rember a couple of ride crew shirts were risky, at best.

The 'Screw Crew had one that read, " We screwed so hard, we had to install seatbelts."

The Gemini crew that year actually had thier shirt banned for saying "Our wood is ribbed with steel."

Heck, the Raptor crew had hockey jersys made with the Raptor logo in front and a classic name & number combo.

LostKause said:
Sorry Hopman, for getting your name wrong. No disrespect is ever intended in any of my posts.

Awww, see, I didn't get any disrespect...and neither did Hopman, apparently. But we both got a chuckle...so everybody wins! :)

LostKause said:
PEACE already.

Now there's something everyone should enjoy... ;)

edited: because I can't do tags properly today...

It's all in good fun, and can all laugh about it.

Oh, have a Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Carrie M. said:
But regardless, I am just tired ofreading post after post of people complaining about a work experience.Seriously. Get over it. It's a job and if you don't like it, then don'twork there.

An you think that I am the one with a problem?

You see, the people who make up the rules will never know thatsomething is wrong, or inconvenient about the job, unless peoplecomplain. Complaining should be welcome in any situation, as long as it is constructive. It can help Cedar Point to move forward as an employer.

The accumulation of a bonus seems to keep a lot of people from leaving after they determine if the job is worth keeping or not. It is a deciding factor in a lot of cases.

...And that was how I felt my first year. The second and third years, I knew what to expect. Not everyone is as strong as I am when it comes to getting continuously taken advantage of.

I still stand by the motion that a seasonal job at Cedar Point is amuch different situation than other similar jobs, and that's what makesmy so-called complaining worthy of being spoken.

I'm more of a rebel who questions authority, and you are not. That's not a bad thing. It takes all types.

If you can't hack working at Cedar Point, then don't. Keep searchingfor the cushy summer job that doesn't stress you out as much, but paysa decent wage and provides the benefits you desire. I wish you luck.

That was probably not directed at me, becasue it doesn't presently pertain to me...

I don't work there anymore, but not because of the problems with thejob. I simply lost interest in working there. Apparently, I couldhack working there, for three seasons. I didn't work there because Ineeded a job. I wanted to work at Cedar Point ever since I was a tween.

Hopman said:

Oh, have a Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful for CoasterBuzz and for all of you, even Gonch and Carrie.

That makes two of us LK!

I'm also thankful for the men an women serving our country and putting their lives on the line to protect our freedoms.

I'm thankful for my health, the friendship and comradery here at CBuzz, even though I've never met most of you in the flesh. :)

Can we stop with the ooey-gooey thankful stuff, and get back to picking on LK? Please? :)

Personally, out of my two "entry level jobs" I've had, being a ride op was far and away the most enjoyable job I had (the other was working at my local Pizza Hut during high school). In fact, it is a job that I am looking forward to doing again for 7 more months at Disney. I genuinely missed my job this summer and would actually much rather do that at any park than any other entry level job you could throw my way.

The only thing I enjoy more is performing, and I get to do that on a weekly basis (albeit without pay, but I thoroughly enjoy it). Only thing that would make me happier than working a ride is being involved in a theatrical/music production (certainly wouldn't mind being involved in the particular production mentioned in my sig, which was amazing, by the way. 5th year in a row. :) ).

Happy Thanksgiving Hop and LK, and everyone else!

GoBucks89 said:
I think its good for everyone to have at least one incredibly lousy job when they are young. Helps to provide motivation to get better jobs.

I dont think thats a requirement.. Every job I held I had an excellent time at. My motivation to get a better job was rooted in my desire to better myself (based on upbringing, environment, etc).

Though I do miss my laser light show days.. The groupie girls were the best :)

LK said:
You see, the people who make up the rules will never know that something is wrong, or inconvenient about the job, unless people complain. Complaining should be welcome in any situation, as long as it is constructive. It can help Cedar Point to move forward as an employer.

I agree criticism is necessary in any corporation. However, is this the proper place to do that? Complaining on here in this way seems more like whining than criticizing.

It's all in the wording... ;)

But I do think this is an appropriate forum for listing areas where employment could be improved. Happier employees makes for happier guests, and parks probably should be skimming sites like this for helpful information. I know of a couple that do...people (and businesses) that "seek out" criticism are those that really care about being/doing the best. For instance, if I were someone higher up at CP, I can see a couple areas where employees have some reasonable "complaints" (uniforms, paychecks). Always have to wonder who's listening and where. Sometimes you find out sooner than others. ;)

Now, just for Josh....you may resume picking on LK. (I've met many of you in person, so I can get away with that). Seriously...just for one second...Happy thanksgiving, we really do have much to be thankful for, considering...

Gobble gobble.. :)

Didn't meant to sound like I was whining, Andy. Many of my posts come about because I know that the people who may have a need or desire to know my opinion may be silently cruising the boards.
I don't see it as being picked on; I see it as an opportunity to show people that not everyone thinks the same way.

Off topic... I'm very lucky that I will be visiting two or three different relative's homes and maybe a friend's home tomorrow, which means I'll get both turkey AND ham. :p

LostKause said:
Complaining should be welcome in any situation, as long as it is constructive.

Agreed. Where does 'bitching employee' end and 'constructive suggestions' begin?

I'm more of a rebel who questions authority, and you are not. That's not a bad thing. It takes all types.

Just because you're unique...

;)

I kid because I love.

And yes, Happy Thanksgiving, gang. This place wouldn't be the same without any of you. :) :)